Korean Job Discussion Forums

[nicholas_chiasson]

Internet fight! yeah! talk it outside.

[kentucker4]

My GF here where high heels all of the time but she is also very athletic. You have to understand that Korea is all about competition. They are all raised to compete with each other. This mindset is ingrained into all of them. Wearing high heels and acting extra feminime is all because they want to be the most attractive. Simple explanation but true.

[princess]

When people say Korean girls wear heels and dreses/skirts everyday, I have to question what girls they are talking about. I am very feminine and I wear dresses/skirts as much as I can, and I love my heels. But, I don't wear them EVERYDAY because I teach kindy and our school makes us wear slippers instead of our normal shoes. I work with some Korean girls who NEVER EVER wear a dress or a skirt. Our front desk girl does not teach and she always has many parents to greet, and yet she NEVER EVER wears a skirt or a dress...always pants. I see plenty of slouchily dressed ones on the streets too...and they are in their 20s/30s, too. I also had a tomboy roommate in 2003. She was Korean and she never wore skirts/dresses/heels. Always pants and on weekends pants and baseball caps. She also didn't care about guys, dating, and wearing make-up. She laughed and said people probably thought she was a lesbian and she didn't care. She was 31 and had no desire to get married. Her Mom finally stopped bugging her about marriage. So, there are exceptions out there. Also, my boyfriend's former boss's girlfriend always wore pants and a baseball cap every time I saw her. Yes, she was Korean. I saw her once in heels ad a skirt and she had that silly baseball cap on with the skirt and heels. They used to dress much much better here in the early 2000s.

[bovinerebel]

They dress pretty badly here in my opinion . I'll say that .

And that's coming from someone who lives in a country where kharkis shirts , shorts and long socks with sandals is acceptible attire .

[TECO]

Does anyone remember in 2000 - 2002 or so when many girls wore:

- a baseball cap
- khakis
- brown ankle boots (like doc martins) or those clown like shoes?

BUT! Korean women aren't the worst dressed women in Asia!

[ciccone_youth]

i think they dress quite nicely. i love the fashion here (most of it).

[birdfool]

[nuthatch]

Hi birdfool,

Thanks. Try this and choose(?):

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=tufted+titmouse&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2

[IMF crisis]

I hate the overly feminine thing. The women here are not encouraged much to play sports and they mostly control their appearnace by dieting too much, wearing loads of make-up, and wearing black. They are encouraged to be weak so that smallish men can feel strong. I think it's sick. Strong women are attractive if you're not an insecure wuss.

[sojusucks]

You try running in high heels. It's not fun. I don't blame Korean women for running like "girls."

As for speaking like kids, I find that annoying. Perhaps its from Confucianism or because this country is sooo conservative that men and women are shy around each other. Or maybe because they have some fantasy about foreign men. Who knows. Go ask them.

[littlelisa]

[PR317]

Omg, I'm soooo glad other people find this young girl behavior annoying too!!!! It drives me crazy to see 30 or 40 year olds (or anyone over the age of 9 for that matter), acting like little girls.. And it sickens me when guys find this endearing. It shows a lot about the guys, I think. It seems like they need to feel unthreatened by a meek, little submissive girl. It also strikes me as pedophelic. (I know that's not a word) Hahah Oh man I'm gonna get harassed for saying that, but I don't care.
Yes, I'm a western girl, but I think I'm hot as I am and don't ever aspire to come across as a giggly, ruffle-wearing school girl. Yes, some Korean girls are hot, but I only think this is when they aren't all done up like a kindergarten student (ie. flowers and baubles hanging off of every part of them).
I also agree, it must have something to do with a lot of Korean guys' small size and femininity. The girls seem to try to overcompensate to make the guys feel more manly.
Also, their 'heels' are not very high at all. They all seem to be on average 1"-2" high.... Not hard to run in at all.

[nateium]

[PRagic]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, no matter the country.

In Japan, it's sexy for the girls to walk like they're wearing a kimono, even if they're in jeans. Looks funny to me, but it turns on the hometown boys so they tell me.

[Mr. BlackCat]

There seems to be a lot of anomosity from foreign men here in Korea directed at foreign women. Not just on this site, but in my personal conversations with friends and others. I don't get it myself. I could assume that most of these men were unsuccessful back home, or that they simply want a submissive doll at their side. But that would be unfair, I guess.

The thing that strikes me is that when a female (anywhere) is in public wearing less than stellar clothing or without make up some men act like its an afront to them personally. Some posters have mentioned that here. I am curious as to why it has become the responsibility of individual women to satisfy your individual ideal of femininity. I would wonder further what makes you believe that your idea of what makes a woman attractive is what makes me, or others, see beauty. When I think about anyone, male or female, who is so disgusted by their natural appearance that they can't run to the Family Mart without half an hour of fixing themselves up, I feel nothing but pity and anger at a society that would create that self image.

The idea of femininity has been raised here, saying that Korean women are more feminine. Based on what grounds? Is femininity a universal and rigid ideal? Or are we to assume that by 'feminine' one means 'submissive' and 'pretty to look at'?

I personally find the Korean act of being perpetually 8 years old very tiring and annoying. When I see a 30 year old man with a girl acting like she's 13, I have to question that man's ability to relate to and match wits with a woman his own age. That is definitely not to say that all K women are like that, or that every Western man with a K woman is like this either. My major issue is when those men who choose to be with a Korean woman continue to bash and belittle Western women. Give it a rest guys.

To clear up some misconceptions I have read/heard in Korea:

1) Guys, you don't actually look like Brad Pitt no matter what your students and co-teachers say. For all the complaining about Western women's looks here, I hardly ever see a guy above a 7 here. Get over yourselves.

2) A woman leaves the house for an hour with no make up? So what? The majority of Western guys I see out in Hongdae on a Saturday night don't even have a clean shirt on. If you can't even find your deoderant, I'm not going to worry about a lady who applied her eye liner incorrectly.

3) There are lots of good looking Korean women. But not to the extent that it's made out to be. Look around on the subway. Really look. Maybe one stunner out of a hundred. Maybe two. But some guys make it sound like everything walking around here is gold.

4) Some guys like some meat on their women and find bones sticking out of everywhere a turn off. It's true! Some guys want to have a conversation with their significant other. Really! I'm not harping on anyone for wanting it the other way, but don't harp on the ladies that fit this ideal of beauty for the rest of us.

5) Guys, the sole reason for the existance of women is NOT to serve and satisfy you. I just don't get why some men are so offended personally when they see a lady that does not try to match their ideal of beauty or speaks her mind.

That is all.