Ideal Body Types in Hong Kong free essay sample

?Topic: What are the ideal body types for men and women in Hong Kong society? In what ways are these body types perpetuated through mass media, technology, and medicine? According to Bartky (1999), is body modification a form of self-empowerment or self-punishment? Introduction Human body is one of the elements used to assess the attractiveness of a person. Since the aesthetics theory varies in different countries and regions due to different history and cultural background, the description of general accepted aesthetically pleasing body will be different between communities. In this essay, the discussion will be focus on the ideal body types in Hong Kong society, how they are promoted and affect the society. Also, body modification and its effect on individuals will be discussed base on the Sandra Bartky’s study. Ideal body types in Hong Kong Due to its special history, Hong Kong is at the cultural boundary between Western culture from England and Asian culture, especially Chinese culture. The hybrid culture makes the standard of ideal body type a mix of beauty concepts from different cultures. Affected by Western culture, men in Hong Kong often perceive a more muscular, heavy male body as being ideal. Bodybuilding mainly focuses on large muscular arms and chest, broad shoulders and slim waist. Fats and muscles should be distributed more on the upper body. The muscular body helps to deliver a sporty feeling and show that the man willing to take care of his own body and can maintain self-discipline for exercises. A masculine image is developed to attract others by the protection, resources and high social status showed by the regular trained body. Height is another factor that determines the physical attractiveness of a man. The volume-height-index is a reliable measure of body attractiveness for man. In Hong Kong, the optimal volume-height-index for man equals 17. 5 to 18 liters per square meter (THE PERFECT BODY MEASUREMENTS FOR MEN). Somehow affected by the man-taller norm, in Hong Kong taller man will be praised because of his height and it is often to hear someone being regarded as attractive since he is tall and handsome. A tall and muscular male can give a feeling of security to others. Besides of Western culture, the Asian culture also affects the concept of ideal body type for male in Hong Kong. Unlike in Western culture, which prefers more masculine traits such as chiseled jaw, defined cheekbones and broad forehead on the face, in Hong Kong less masculinity are preferred on male’s face. A face showing kids features such as supple skin will be preferred. Man’s face with feminine features is also praised by the public. Singer Leslie Cheung is a typical example of the preference on feminine face traits. In 1993, he played as a Chinese opera performer who was trained to paly female roles in the movie called â€Å"Farewell my Concubine† (Farewell My Concubine (film)). The movie was a great hit at that time and Leslie Cheung was praised by his acting and beautiful feminine appearance. Also affected by Japanese and Korean pop culture, where pop stars have muscular body and young, feminine face, the ideal body type or appearance of male in Hong Kong is to have a masculine body and a face with gentleness or even femininity. Women in Hong Kong mainly consider light weight and being slim as the ideal body type. The slimming trend becomes very popular in Hong Kong in the past few years. It is reported that more than half of respondents think they are overweight and show intention to lose weight (AC Nielsen, 2004). In 2011, there are about 280 slimming and weight control services providers in Hong Kong (InvestmentHK). Ideal body types and the society In Hong Kong, mass media plays an important role in the productions and publications of ideal body types. Slimming advertisements appear everywhere, magazines, newspapers and television programs. According to some estimation (A, 2006), 30% of the pages of entertainment magazines advertisements are directing at women, includes slimming advertisements. In these commercials, a particular female image which proposes ideal body equals slim. These advertisements often compare the attractiveness of a thin woman and fat woman in some recreational places and show that a slim woman has more advantage in attracting men and the spotlight in the event. Artists and idols from the entertainment industry often being the spokesperson of some slimming centers in Hong Kong. Joyce Cheng is an example and she aroused public attention and interest towards being slim. Her dieting diary was one of the best-selling books in the Book Exhibition 2004, selling 25,000 copies in just a few days (Sze, 2005). Besides of the advertisements from slimming centers, advertisements from fitness centers and gym rooms are abundant in Hong Kong society too. Muscular models are hired to film for the commercials. Cameras focus on the muscles and the body shape of the models. An image of muscular men is delivered through these advertisements. The Mr. Hong Kong Contest organized by the Television Broadcasts also shows the preference of muscular bodies in the Hong Kong society. In the beauty contest, when judges are required to evaluate the physical attractiveness of the contestants, muscular contestants usually will have a higher score. In the society, there are a lot of medical methods, drugs or food products claiming they can help users to achieve the ideal body types. Advertisements of these products can be seen everywhere and creating a trend in the society. Take slimming and dieting as example, many drugs, foods and drinks claim that they can burn fat or reduce hunger while the customers can still enjoy eating other foods. They organized large promotion campaign and tasting events to convince customers that they can have a slimming body easily by ingesting these products every day. Medical surgeries are another popular way in Hong Kong to achieve ideal body types. Plastic surgeon, Botox injection and other different types of medical techniques are used by Hong Kong citizens. To convince customers, doctors or biomedical scientists’ researches are quoted. Some companies also claim that they are authorized to do certain medical operations and customers are safe throughout the process. Body Modification, self-empowerment or self-punishment? According to Bartky (Bartky, 1999), the process of women being feminine seems painful. She mentioned that the feminine image is a result of patriarchal culture. Women must make themselves to meet the standard of beauty in men’s eyes. They are judged by a patriarchal other and they must do their best to be feminine. However, the effort they put in to provide a beautiful or sexy body only give them attention and some admiration. Bartky stated that being feminine cannot help the women to be respected by the society and increase their social power. Women are still being treated as â€Å"object and prey† for men. Men are still the owner and director of the society. Women are restricted to participate in construction of the society and their only goal is to be feminine and being the â€Å"sex object† of men. In this situation, the body modification of women to be feminine seems to be a kind self-punishment to them. However, in the past few decades, the society started to recognize the ability and importance of women. The role of women in society started to change and they can participate more to social activities and flow to the upper-class by their wisdom and experience. They can pursue personal advancement and make for living. In this situation, the body modification process becomes purely pursuit of beauty. Being feminine is not being â€Å"sex object† of men, but is a method for women to seek intimacy on equal position with men. â€Å"Career Women† can pursue their dream in the society and enjoy intimate relationship at the same time. Women being feminine are no longer treating themselves as â€Å"object† of men and depreciate their values and contribution to the society, but to meet the generally accepted standard of physical beauty in the society and enhance their ability to develop intimate relationship. The weaker body of women does not mean a weaker performance in the society. In this sense, body modification is no longer a self-punishment that depreciates an individual’s social value but self-empowerment to pursuit a more accepted or admired physical appearance in the society. Conclusion To conclude, I think that as feminism being more popular and accepted, the improvement in social status of women will make them being more important to the society as an individual. And I think the surveillance from a patriarchal body does no longer exist, everyone, both male and female, should have a chance to pursuit their own beauty regardless of their social roles.