The eyes have always been the sensitive area of Chinese people's aesthetics.
In the "one pair of eyes destroy the whole face" and "one pair of eyes save the whole face" challenge on social platforms, as long as there is a pair of large eyes, other defects in the face can be ignored. The eyes are not only the windows of the soul, but also the decisive element of appearance.
Now, in addition to the beauty of the eyes and filters, there are also long-popular open eye and double eyelid surgery, and behind this is the large eye anxiety that has affected East Asian women for nearly half a century.
In fact, the enthusiasm for oculoplastic surgery throughout East Asia can be seen.
Needless to say, 20% of young women in South Korea have done eye-related plastic and aesthetic surgery; next door Japan pursues the "big-eyed Barbie" aesthetic, double eyelid surgery is their invention; and in China, the public's acceptance of eye surgery is also increasing, and double eyelid surgery is even classified into the category of medical beauty - "But pull a double eyelid, can it still be called plastic surgery?" ”
Looking at the world, except in East Asia, almost no other country has such a preference for double eyelids, and even people in many other regions do not have the concept of double eyelids.
This is why double eyelid surgery is also known as "East Asian heavy eyelid surgery".
Double eyelids can make Asian eyes, especially swollen eye bubbles, look bigger and more energetic, but when exactly do double eyelids represent beauty? We have to break it.
There is a saying that East Asians' pursuit of the big-eye aesthetic is influenced by the aesthetics of whites.
Judging from the existing figure paintings, until the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the People's Republic of China, the Chinese people's aesthetic of the eyes was still single eyelids and slender phoenix eyes; the popular female stars hu die and Ruan Lingyu in the Republic of China period were also Dan phoenix eyes; until the impact of Western civilization, the aesthetics of Asian compatriots changed.
A study in the 1990s found that Asian-American women were keen to change the shape of their eyelids and the corners of their eyes through cosmetic surgery so that they could get rid of traditional Asian stereotypes such as "sluggish", "passive" and "narrow-minded".
Take South Korea, for example, which loves eye plastic surgery. The popularity of double eyelid surgery in South Korea originated during the Korean War. At that time, a Korean translator believed that his Asian appearance would affect his career, so he asked the plastic surgeon at the time to pull two "folds" for himself, and since then he has embarked on the peak of his life; later, more female sex workers and Korean women who want to marry American soldiers have also chosen surgery to increase their attractiveness; then, South Korea's first plastic surgery hospital opened, and it was even more difficult to change the appearance through plastic surgery.
Although the public is rarely affected by this white aesthetic when doing double eyelid surgery today, the preference for big eyes is still left behind as a solidified aesthetic. However, with the development of the times, Asian people will not blindly pursue "width" when doing double eyelid surgery, but seek the shape and curvature that is more suitable for their Asian faces.
In a society where appearance is paramount, in order not to let their children lose at the starting line, many Chinese parents have also begun to take the initiative to plan plastic surgery for their children, such as double eyelid surgery as a graduation gift, to their children who graduated from high school.
Little Q is one of those who have had this type of surgery. She said that she was originally small eyes, single eyelids, always had facial anxiety, very inferior:
"I can still recall that at that time, the more popular non-mainstream style of selfies, girls opened their eyes wide, creating a sense of innocence and purity, I tried many times at home, holding an ancient flip phone, I wanted to take a similar feeling as a QQ avatar."
But no matter how hard you try to keep your eyes open, or use various double eyelid stickers, you still can't reproduce that charm. "Since then, I have realized that the shape of my eyes is defective, the kind of triangle eyes that are difficult to improve without surgery." In addition to her small eyes, she felt that her eyes were still very unspirant, and she was always called nerd by others, without femininity.
After the college entrance examination, Xiao Q began to think about plastic surgery for the eyes. The recovery from surgery during the holidays was very smooth and became a turning point in her life, and in college, no one knew the "black history" of her surgery. Her mother was more open-minded in this regard, and when she learned of her daughter's idea, she immediately helped her make an appointment with a specialist clinic at a public hospital.
"In fact, I just wanted to do double eyelids at the beginning, and only after giving the doctor a face-to-face examination did I move the idea of opening the corners of my eyes, because the shape of my eyes was not very good, and the improvement of my double eyelids would not be too obvious." Ten years ago, there were already many people who had double eyelid surgery, but with the opening of the eyes, many people still need to do some ideological work for themselves, and I am no exception. ”
In order not to leave scars, she chose surgery for the inner corner of the eye. Because the eye skin itself is more fragile, compared to only opening the double eyelids, both do the recovery period is longer, postoperative care is more troublesome, Xiao Q was smeared with ointment for several months, and the scar slowly faded after half a year.
Schematic diagram of surgery for an open inner corner of the eye on the web
But from now on, the hardships she suffered in those months ten years ago have benefited her very much later, and the biggest change is that after college, no one has ever said that her eyes are small.
Xiao Q believes that big eyes and white skin are still the mainstream expectations for beautiful women: "Many people criticize straight men for having a single aesthetic, but you live in this aesthetic system most of the time in your daily life, giving people a good first impression, and indeed you can eat a lot of face value dividends." ”
Another function of the eye opening surgery is to make her whole person become confident. What used to be a single compliment of "good intelligence and good grades" has now become "beautiful and smart". Xiao Q's boyfriend in college is the senior of the same school in high school, and it is precisely because of his appearance that he is somewhat inferior and dare not chase, and he decided to try it when he went to college, and the result was successful.
"I actually didn't hide the fact that I opened the corner of my eye from my former friends, and the more I went back, the more I felt that no one actually cared if you had ever used a knife, and it would be over if you looked good."
Paradoxically, however, while Asians are desperately trying to make their eyes look bigger, some Westerners are beginning to "hide" their double eyelids.
Some Western bloggers have turned dan phoenix eyes, used whiter foundation numbers, dyed their hair black, emphasized the characteristics of Asian women in makeup and dress, and dressed themselves as white skinny Asian girls - this "outrageous" move is actually trying to attract the attention of people who love Asian women.
In the West or around the world, there are stereotypes of Asian women: submissive, gentle, and weak. Some men love such Asian women, so these bloggers who cater to their preferences also achieve the purpose of attracting attention. But then these bloggers were quickly criticized: just as blackface (blackface) was considered classic racism, deliberately dressing up as An Asian woman was also considered an act of impersonating Asians—clearly not experiencing the class pain of Asian oppression, but dressing up as Asians to gain profit or attention on the outside.
People call this behavior "Asian fishing." The reason why Asian fishing has been attacked is not only the controversy of "cultural appropriation" by caucasians, but also because these bloggers dressed as asian young girls, without exception, are deepening the stereotype of Asian women in the West, using erotic clothing and suggestive sexual actions to make Asian women once again become white sexual entertainment props.
Katherine Hepburn plays an Asian female character
Imagine that as a white male, the so-called "Asian women" you see on Tiktok are all flattering you, and the next time you see other Asian women, will you naturally feel that they should please themselves?
Asian fishing white bloggers can continue to enjoy white privileges after removing their makeup, but Asian women have to bear the invisible danger of being harassed and attacked.
Fortunately, politically correct Western societies have made them realize this and say no to Asian fishing: Just a few weeks ago, the famous American pop singer Ariana Grande was hit hard.
The reason is that Ariana Grande has revealed her new look, yes, small white face, Dan phoenix eyes, Korean flat eyebrows, wearing a bow, she is more like an Asian than a white person.
Too many elements immediately caused a war of words among netizens. Some people think she's just in Asian fishing "good big double eyelids, why give it smaller and smaller?" A small number of people also think that she has the freedom to dress, after all, the actress has also been criticized for Blackfishing (dressed as a black person) before.
Under the great pressure of public opinion, Ariana Grande still deleted this group of photos, and after the incident fermented, the actress's Twitter was also disabled.
It is worth mentioning that in China, due to the popularity of pure desire and first love aesthetics, opening the corner of the eye is no longer a necessary option for crush plastic surgery, and even some Internet celebrities have wrapped up their own corners of the eyes - compared to the narrow corners of the eyes, the inner corners of the round inner bag look more delicate and less aggressive, a well-known beauty blogger just wrapped the corners of the eyes, Xi Ti "looks younger" evaluation.
It's just that whether it is the big eyes of the double eyelids or the "first love eyes" of the corners of the eyes, the traditional Chinese women with cherry small mouths and Dan feng hanging eyes in the text are still difficult to become the mainstream of aesthetics after all.
Regarding how to be "beautiful" (how big the eyes) are, what both the East and the West can accept is the standard of "three courts and five eyes": the distance from the hairline to the eyebrows, the width of the eyelids, the distance between the nose and lips... and other data can match the best golden ratio of faces.
The size of the eyes and the shape of the double eyelids are closely related to the wind direction of each era. For example, ten years ago, the popular European-style double, how many fashionable actresses turned themselves into sad frogs; and now the "ice-type" internet red face has become obsolete, and then there are plastic surgeons who propose to do European-style doubles, I am afraid that I will be reprimanded by guests, and then complain to "1818 GoldenEye".
People have judgments about eye size, but aesthetics are fluid, and each era has its own template for "beauty", which can only be said to be blindly pursuing big eyes/catching up with fashion. It is wise to use plastic surgery and other means to leave room - for the beauty of the eyebrows who are not afraid of moving knives for the sake of beauty, first wrap the corners of the eyes, if the European style double is popular again, then it will be time to open the corners of the eyes, how big.
However, it should be emphasized that there are risks in becoming beautiful, and plastic surgery needs to be cautious. For example, a kind of "eyelid down to" surgery that was popular in the early years was once welcomed because it could amplify the eyes immediately - this kind of surgery to remove the lower eyelid tissue will destroy the normal physiological structure of the eye, resulting in inferior eyelid valgus, excessive whitening, incomplete closure, eyelid retraction and other sequelae, after the operation did not become miserable, but first closed the eyes, day and night tears, it is really not worth the loss.
In addition to the eyes, the current medical aesthetic plastic surgery projects are even more varied:
Elf ears - play hyaluronic acid on the ears to make the ears stand up horizontally, so that the contrast makes the face look smaller;
Right angle shoulders - play hyaluronic acid on the shoulders to make the shoulders straighter and wider, and the whole person looks better proportioned;
Cranial augmentation surgery – Filling the top of the head with bone cement or a prosthesis to increase the top of the skull to achieve the effect of "showing a small face"
……
The scope of facial anxiety covers all parts of the body, and even extends to the arm socket, on the vibrato, there are girls who send out "real beauty even the arm socket is beautiful" tag, triggering a group of "arm socket beauty" to follow the display.
What is more exaggerated is that this trend of facial anxiety has also spread to minors and has become more and more serious. Last year, a young mother was scolded out of the circle for giving her 5-year-old daughter double eyelid surgery; this year, a group of mothers put on a plaster helmet to make their baby's head look better: babies under one year old were put on a plaster "orthopedic helmet" and worn 23 hours a day, just to have a better-looking "round head".
Adults' appearance anxiety can always be alleviated to some extent: either through technological means to improve their appearance, or gradually reconcile with yourself as the years go by – one day, your anxiety about appearance will only be the rising hairline. But the children did not even form a basic aesthetic, rushed to join the appearance game, and even caused irreparable damage, really do not have to.
Written and interviewed by tt, MK
Edit: Sebastian
The pictures in this article are from the Internet
Ownership is owned by the original author