South Korean women are destroying cosmetics and cutting their hair short to fight back against unrealistic beauty ideals in what is being dubbed the “escape corset” movement.

In posts across Instagram, Twitter, and other social media platforms, women have been denouncing the use of cosmetics and a culture that pressures as many as one in three women to undergo some form of plastic surgery.

One post on Instagram by a user confessed that she had low self-esteem and felt she had to use makeup as a mask just to leave the house.

“I liked pretty things. I wanted to be pretty. I hated my ugly face,” she posted.

“Self-esteem came and went. I was always putting on makeup. I did not go to school on days when I did not have good makeup.

“But now you do not have to. In the meantime, I took off the mask that plagued me and ruined my life.”

Another user said, “Today is one month since I decided to cut my hair and take a bath!”

“Cosmetics, lenses, and clothes that are not easy to wear are now used as memorials.”

Beauty regimes commonly require women to spend hours applying makeup each day — often involving waking up two hours before work to do so or carrying out lengthy skincare routines that involve 10 steps or more at the end of each day.

It is the latest development in the Asian country’s exploding feminist movement in the age of #MeToo. South Korea was ranked a poor 116 out of 144 countries on gender equality by the World Economic Forum.

The women abandoning demanding cosmetic regimens call themselves “beauty resisters” and are part of a broader push back against South Korea’s highly patriarchal society which places a huge emphasis on a woman’s appearance as being key to success in life.

Stories about young women transforming their lives after having plastic surgery and makeovers are abound in soaps and movies, and popular on reality TV.

South Korea has a massive beauty industry and in 2017 it was estimated to be worth just over US$12.7 billion, according to retail researchers Mintel.

Seoul is the global plastic surgery capital and the wealthy neighborhood of Gangnam reportedly has 500 aesthetic centers.

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【束腹】shùfù corset a close-fitting undergarment worn, especially by women, to shape and support the body

【折磨】shémó plague trouble, annoy, or torment

韩国正掀起一场名为“逃脱束缚”的运动，许多韩国女性扔掉化妆品、剪短头发，以此抗议对美不切实际的追求。

在Ins和推特等社交媒体平台上，韩国女性开始反对使用化妆品，并且对迫使多达三分之一的女性接受不同程度整容手术文化氛围进行抨击。

有Ins用户发贴承认自己自卑，出门前必须化妆来“武装”自己。

“我喜欢漂亮的事物，想变得漂亮。我讨厌自己丑陋的面孔。”

“自尊心总是时不时爆发一下。我总是在化妆，如果哪天妆化的不好，我就不去上学。”

现在，她的想法发生了改变。

“但是现在你没有必要那么做。同时，我摘掉了自己的面具，它困扰我许久，毁掉了我的生活。”

另一名用户说：“从我决定剪短头发并且泡个澡开始，已经有一个月了。

“化妆品、隐形眼镜和好看却不好穿的衣服，现在都被我当做纪念品了。”

在韩国，女性通常每天要花好几个小时化妆。她们每天上班前要提前两个小时起床化妆，每天睡觉前还要进行冗长的护肤程序，一般有10多个步骤。

“逃脱束缚”运动是在#MeToo运动之后，韩国爆发的最新一次女权运动。根据世界经济论坛的排名，韩国的性别平等状况在144个国家中排在第116位。

不再化妆的女性称自己为“美丽抵抗

者”，她们以此抵制韩国高度男权的社会。韩国社会一直强调女性的美丽外表是人生成功的关键。

年轻的韩国女性在整容和化妆后过上更好生活的故事频频出现在肥皂剧和电影里，在真人秀节目中也颇受欢迎。

根据英敏特市场咨询公司的数据，韩国的美容产业非常庞大。2017年，其美容产业估计价值超过127亿美元。

首尔是全球的整容之都。据报道，富裕的江南社区有500家美容中心。

(Chinadaily.com.cn)