Why are Korean women destroying their makeup?

Apart from debunking beauty standards, Escape The Corset also aims to raise awareness on gender equality.

IMAGE*: A South Korean women applies makeup.Photograph: Reuters

Women in South Korea have been sharing photographs of them taking off and destroying their makeup on social media.

People are also sharing pictures of them without makeup, with braces, spectacles and with shorter hair.

It is all part of a larger social campaign called #EscapeTheCorset.

The campaign is a way to fight Korean society's perceptional norms of beauty.

'For those of you who might think that Escape the Corset movement is all about breaking beauty standards, we are not fighting to make various standards of beauty.'
'We are protesting to break out of socially defined appearances of female objectification.'
'Through smashing up of cosmetics, taking off clothes such as short skirts and dresses and cutting off my long hair, I felt like a human being for the first time.'
'Not a girl, a lady, a woman but a human,' a user by the name hannam-goto_hangang wrote on Instagram. Photograph: Kind courtesy hannam-goto_hangang/Instagram

South Korea is one of the world's largest fashion and beauty markets, where a person spends anything between 40 minutes to 2 hours on makeup.

In fact, it holds the reputation to popularising the 10-step skin care routine (Oil cleanser;Foam/cream cleanser; Toner; Essence; Emulsion; Ampoule/Serum; Sheet Mask; Eye Cream; Moisturizer and Sunscreen) to get the perfect skin.

Women have been sharing photographs and videos of them destroying their cosmetic products on social media. Photograph: Kind courtesy Wasinthedark/Twitter

Apart from debunking beauty standards, Escape The Corset also aims to raise awareness on gender equality.

Lim Hyeon-ju appeared without and with glasses on MBC News Photographs: Kind courtesy MBC News/YouTube

The campaign hit off in April 2018 when Lim Hyeon-ju, the country's first female anchor appeared on MBC News wearing glasses.

While the male anchors have donned glasses, it was the first time a female staff had worn one on television.

For her 6 am shift, Lim Hyeon-ju would wake up at 2.40 am and wear contact lenses and fake eye-lashes as part of her makeup for the show.

In an Instagram post, the anchor explained why she decided to wear glasses.

'I have to wake up early in the morning for the morning news, but when I have insufficient sleeping time and short preparation time, I sometimes want to wear glasses. I felt I could focus more on the news if I reduced my time and fatigue,' Lim Hyeon-ju wrote on her Instagram.

For a nation that is also called the cosmetic capital of the world, maybe the campaign Escape The Corset is a start in the right direction.

*Lead image published only for representational purposes.

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