2006.03.13. MON / Beatiful man? Yes? 05쑤기

[현중]

Ladies and gentle men, welcome to the 2006 conference.
  We have five members who have each prepared a speech about "the beautiful man." We have chosen this topic because it is a kind of social phenomenon and this will help you to understand it better. I hope you enjoy it.

　Now, let me introduce myself. I'm Kim Eunsuk. I am currently studying Accounting, here at Kangwon National University.

  What do you think of men's beauty? Is that good or bad?
  Let me introduce my boyfriend to you.

  Before : My boyfriend was a countryboy. His hair was tangled. His hair smelled of  laundry soap. His face was rough. He didn't care whether his skin peeled or not. In addition, he used to complain that I was always late, spending too much time on my makeup, whenever we had an appointment.

  Now : Now there is a pretty urban grace about my boyfriend. His hair is glossy and clean. He familiarizes himself with perfume and knows how to choose a fit perfume. In addition, I now wait for him! Because he takes a lot of time for his appearance. He is frequently an hour late whenever he makes a date with me.

  In the industrial society, there were thoughts that men should be tough, men should be energetic. So men were not allowed to take care of their skin, or have long hair, or put on makeup, like women did. That was taboo. Men generally heard men should live the way they were. Almost there were no men caring of beauty. Even though men were interested in beauty, they couldn't consider that.

  However, things are a little different from former days. The men go to beauty salon without reserve. And the men find not only monotonous black but colorful suits by themselves. Even some men patronize plastic surgery doctors offices. In the middle of the changing current ideas, President Roh's plastic operation relieved some negative views of established prejudices. For instance, 'S' plastic surgery's official said the number of inquiries increase by 15~20 a week after the article reported President Roh's plastic operation. Moreover, pretty man boom for Lee Junki increased changing current feelings intensely. With that, as a turning point, those current events made men become interested in beauty. Throwing prejudices away, men have been changing. So have trends. There are some words to reflect that current situation. Have you ever heard of "metro-sexual", uber-sexual and cross sexual? Metro-sexual is an urban male with a strong aesthetic sense who spends a great deal of time and money on his appearance and lifestyle. Uber-sexual is a heterosexual man who is masculine, confident, compassionate, and stylish. Cross-sexual is a heterosexual male who enjoys feminine clothes, hair style, accessaries and so on. He enjoys those as a kind of fashion. These words are a part of that current situation or environment.

So, now you can see from these examples how things are being changed. There's no need to keep old standards of masculinity and masculine beauty anymore. This is the era that not only women but men have to dress up well and put on makeup for competitiveness. So men need to change things, not to avoid.

  About that current situation, some people support that men can progress in aesthetic value, confidence and competitiveness, men can be sensitive. On the other hand, some people blame that men don't need to care of beauty, men's beauty is stupid and strange.

  What made that current? What has happened? How do we judge that? Those are what we'll show you.

  Next, hee-chan will show you What made that current. Please pay attention to him.