Korean femininity on the Web

I found the chapter on Korean girl’s use of digital media interesting because I had noticed several of the gestures that were discussed as typical of the girls who live in Southeast Asia. When I was younger, my father was in the Marines and our family was stationed in Okinawa, Japan. My mother taught English in two Japanese schools at the elementary and middle school levels. The girls, and sometimes the boys too, were always making peace signs. I had always thought of this as a gesture symbolizing peace, the same as in the United States. According to our text, “Such hand gestures typically consist of their hands covering their mouths or chins and/or V-shaped fingers placed around the faces. These unique cultural behaviors convey both “cuteness” and an ideal of Korean beauty, a small face” (94). As I reflected on this new found information, I thought about how I will throw up a peace sign when having my picture taken. I’ve done this ever since I was younger, and it’s something of a trademark in pictures of me from the last ten years. I think just like the Asian girls I learned this behavior as a way to appear “cute.”

Korean-American girls use a website called “CyWorld” to create online profiles and interact with other Korean girls. The pictures that they post will often feature the same hand gestures that make their faces appear smaller in everyday life. The desire to be cute is foremost and their comments on the photographs reflect this as well. There is some gentle taunting but the girls are careful not to offend one another by being too harsh. This differs greatly from the use of social networking by American girls which can often be quite cruel. I’ve heard of young girls creating groups, notes, etc, for the sole purpose of making another girl’s life miserable. It seems to me that when a social networking website caters to a certain culture, the morals of that culture are intrinsic to the content of that website. As with the Arab girls, the Korean girls were conservative in their postings.

The last thing I’d like to bring up is the influence Korean virtual girls have had on American virtual girls. I’m pretty sure we’ve all seen some form of “precura” on MySpace or Facebook. Nowadays most media editors come with options where you can change the background of a picture, add shapes, squiggles, stars, banners, words, and so forth. I believe this stems from the Korean style of photo editing. Unfortunately, I was not able to find any American websites for creating “precura” when I googled it. It makes me wonder why for Korean girls it is a social activity, done publicly, whereas American girls take and edit their photos primarily from their bedrooms. It seems to me that American girls feel a sense of shame in taking pictures of themselves, but why us and not Koreans?
Here is my weak attempt at precura!