Korean Job Discussion Forums

[excitinghead]

Yesterday there was a thread titled "Wow. Just. Wow, " which had a picture of a Korean woman in a bikini. Being an enterprising sort, I found the picture, which turned out to be of Kim Jun-Hee, and gave a quick summary of the article which went with it, which basically said that ajummas are challenging the stereotype that they don't have great bodies and aren't sexy just because they are ajummas.

Good point I thought: Kim Jun-Hee is only a week older than me and I've still got a lot of life left in me at 31, thank you very much, and she looked in the photo like she clearly has too. The stereotype that ajummas are a third sex really does need to be challenged, so best of luck to them.

So why on Earth was that thread deleted?? Sure, websites have reason to be wary after things like EnglishSpectrum, but then why was that thread deleted, but one on the Korean porn star Almond Tease at http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=95156 for instance hasn't been?? Not that I'm against it: "A book, I has it..." But that's got pictures too. Where's the logic in deleting the thread I posted in but not that one (but please don't!) ?

Anway, I said I'd translate the article later. Here it is:

_____

유뷰녀 스타들, 벗고 있다

[일간스포츠 2007-08-11 09:13]

[JES 이현 기자]

Married Female Stars are Undressing

[Daily Sports 11th August 2007 09:13]

[JES Reporter: Lee Hyeon]

　
20대 미혼 여배우들의 전유물이었던 노출 행보에 유부녀 스타들이 과감히 동참하고 있다.

In the past, only unmarried women in their twenties would expose bare skin, but now married women are determined to do so too.
　
장신영�김준희�이혜원 등이 환상적인 S라인 몸매와 함께 비키니 화보를 공개했는가하면, 김지혜�이송정�조은숙�변정수�김민 등은 심지어 임신 중인 만삭 몸매를 드러내며 변함없는 '관리 상태'를 과시했다.

Women like Jang Sin-Yeong, Kim Jun-Hee, Lee Hyae-Won have produced photobooks of their fantasy-like S-line bodies in bikinis, while women such as Kim Ji-Hyae, Lee Song-Jeong, Jo Un-Suk, Byeon Jeong-Su and Kim Min have gone so far as to even show off their still beautiful bodies in their last month of pregnancy.
　
'결혼한 여자는 조신해야 한다'는 사회 통념에 유부녀 스타들이 반발하기 시작한 것. 스타들의 화보를 진행하는 업계 한 관계자는 "유부녀 스타들은 결혼 후 정체돼버리는 것에 대한 두려움과 위기감을 갖고 있다. 그로인해 여느 미혼 스타들 못지 않은, 또는 그보다 월등한 몸매와 미모를 공개함으로써 연기자로서 또는 스타로서 자신의 건재함을 홍보한다. 노출 화보는 청순했던 그들이 성숙한 여성미를 선보이기 위한 전략으로도 사용된다"고 분석했다.

These women are against the conventional wisdom that married women should be modest and reserved. According to people in the photobook industry, this is because "female Stars have a lot of fear and anxiety about their careers after they get married. They are disadvantaged compared to ordinary single stars, but through following a strategy of revealing themselves in bikinis for the first time they can generate a great deal of publicity about their outstanding bodies and attractive faces, and thus can remain in the public eye. In so doing, they display their more developed female beauty rather than the innocent looks of their single counterparts."

▲저들이 유부녀라고? S라인 비키니 몸매

▲These people are married women? S-line Bikini Bodies.
　
비키니는 일종의 자기 과시욕이다. 굴곡없이 늘씬한 S라인을 만천하게 공개하는 기회가 되기 때문이다. 그래서일까. 노출을 거부하지 않은채 카메라 렌즈 앞에 서는 용기있는 유부녀 스타들이 줄을 잇고 있다. 그들은 모바일이나 잡지 화보 또는 자신들이 운영하는 쇼핑몰 홍보를 위해 옷을 벗어던진채 비키니로 갈아입고 있다.

Because the opportunities to present their curved, slender bodies to the whole world have presented themselves, then it is has been very tempting to take them. So these women, very confident in front of the camera, have been lining up to reveal as much of themselves as possible these days. Afterwards, they have promoted themselves via selling the photoshoots to mobile phones companies, magazines, and on their own personally-managed websites.

비키니를 입은 유부녀 스타들 중 가장 파격적인 변신을 한 인물은 바로 장신영이다. 지난 4월 출산 이후 16kg을 감량한 장신영은 비키니 화보를 통해 소위 '무결점 S라인'을 드러냈다. 결혼 전 노출 연기조차 제대로 볼 수 없었던 청순한 이미지의 그가 보여준 파격적인 섹시함에 관심이 집중된 것은 당연한 일이다.

Out of the women who have done this, Jang Sin-Yeong stands out the most. This past April, after losing 16kg after giving birth she presented her �Flawless S-line' body through a photobook. Before she got married, she had revealed very little of her body in her acting and so had a very innocent image, and so revealing by her photobook that she was in fact exceptionally sexy has generated a lot of renewed interest in her.
　
장신영은 비키니 화보를 찍은 이유에 대해 "빨리 일을 하고 싶었다. 결혼 후 기존과 다른 이미지를 보여주고 싶었다. 그래서 화보 촬영에도 적극적으로 참여했다"고 변신에 대한 변을 내놓았다.

Jang Sin-Yeong says that the reason she produced a bikini photobook was that "I want to start working again soon, but I want work of a different standard and want to project a different image. This is why I was so positive about producing a photobook"
　
김준희�이혜원 등 유부녀 스타들의 몸매 과시에는 또다른 포석도 깔려있다. 미혼일 때부터 '몸짱'임을 과시했던 김준희는 자신이 운영하는 인터넷 쇼핑몰 홍보를 위해 호피무늬를 비롯해 다양한 스타일의 비키니를 입고 글래머 몸매 자랑을 했다. 안정환의 부인 이혜원은 그와는 달리 발랄한 느낌의 비키니 룩을 보여줬다.

This strategy of married female stars like Kim Jun-Hee, Lee Hyae-Won and so forth of showing off their bodies is spreading and developing. Actually, from when she was single Kim Jun-Hee has been known for her good body, but now to show off and generate publicity for her home shopping mall she is beginning to embrace different styles like tiger-skin patterns, bikinis, and also more glamorous clothes. Also, footballer Ahn Jeong-Hwan's wife Lee Hyae-Won has been presenting a distinctive lively bikini look.

_____

Sure, my translation may leave much to be desired, but I think I got the gist of it. One the one hand, it says a lot that ajumma actors have to have shots of them in their bikinis to get noticed by the media, but on the other hand it's not saying that that's a bad thing - quite the opposite. You go girls!

Sorry, but for the original picture and some more commentary, you'll have to look at the post on my blog at: http://thegrandnarrative.wordpress.com/2007/08/14/ajummas-on-top/.

[newton kabiddles]

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