Commentary
Annie
Q: Do you think you changed as a person after the surgery? Identity wise. A: I think everyone changes after a surgery that alters the way you look. I did. I became more confident in the way I look and I guess the way I view myself. Before I wasn't ugly or anything but I wasn't like pretty. So I guess this new look gave me a boost of confidence. Q: Do you feel like you've gained acceptance in society? A: I do. I think I've gained acceptance in both America and in Korea. White people are always like you don't look Asian anymore you look mixed with white. And then they offer me a compliment. Koreans too are very kind and nice to me and always telling me I look pretty and so "natural" looking when I'm not natural. |
JJK
Q: Do you think you changed as a person after the surgery? Identity wise. A: Everyone changes when they go through something like this. Identity wise, I think I changed for the better. Q: Do you feel like you've gained acceptance in society? A: Yeah definitely. I feel like I belong now, more so in the US than in Korea. After I've gotten surgery in Korea and came back home here, a lot of people have told me that I look different and that I got prettier. They told me something looked different and that I look more white. I know it sounds weird but hearing that I look white was sort of like an achievement. |
R.R.
Q: Do you think you changed as a person after the surgery? Identity wise. A: My identity did change. I hated my nose. My nose was the problem of all things for me. I never liked it. Never was I happy about it. After I got a rhinoplasty I felt happy. I gained confidence and what not. I was so ashamed of how I looked that my identity was seriously based off of my insecurities. Q: Do you feel like you've gained acceptance in society? A: Of course I did. It's hard to be Asian in America let alone Korean. There's all these annoying kpop stars that look the same with their high nose bridges and big eyes with their circle lenses and their thigh gaps that this alone puts images into people's minds that Koreans look like that in Korea. In all actuality regular Korean girls my age don't look anywhere near that. Everyone is all average looking with all the same hair cuts with their big glasses and complex skin problems. So getting surgeries that make my eyes bigger and a nose so small and high that makes other people jealous makes me feel like I've marked my spot in society. |
These girls shared very interesting points about identity and acceptance. All three of the girls shared that they gained confidence after their surgery and that they gained acceptance into society. Before conducting my interview I had the notion that maybe plastic surgery doesn't really change a person's personality and the kind of person they are but I was wrong. According to the answers I've been given, although a major identity change hasn't happened for these girls, they did gain a whole new trait to add onto their identity. They shared that before surgery they weren't as confident in how they looked. Rinny R. pointed out that her identity was based solely on her insecurities and that she was ashamed with how she looked. But after receiving her procedures she became more confident and happy. This answer is quite similar to what Annie and JJK said about their change in identity.
The real shocker was when I asked the question about acceptance into society. Every one of them admitted to feeling more accepted by people after they received their surgery. The most interesting part of their answers was that they felt accepted into the American culture as well. It was interesting to find out that they were told that they looked more white or that they looked like a certain beauty image that society upholds. What got me more interested in this whole topic was when JJK told me that she felt like she had achieved something when someone told her that she looked white. It's almost as if she wanted to look Caucasian.
Conducting these interviews and analyzing these specific answers has shown me that not only has their identity changed by just confidence but it has changed in order to be more like another group of people.
The real shocker was when I asked the question about acceptance into society. Every one of them admitted to feeling more accepted by people after they received their surgery. The most interesting part of their answers was that they felt accepted into the American culture as well. It was interesting to find out that they were told that they looked more white or that they looked like a certain beauty image that society upholds. What got me more interested in this whole topic was when JJK told me that she felt like she had achieved something when someone told her that she looked white. It's almost as if she wanted to look Caucasian.
Conducting these interviews and analyzing these specific answers has shown me that not only has their identity changed by just confidence but it has changed in order to be more like another group of people.