Recently news has surfaced that Ji Young of Kara has joined the ranks of idols who have noticeably slimmed down. During the showcase and Kara’s press conference for “Step”, Ji Young was seen wearing an over-sized blue dress with a large belt that emphasized her new tiny waist. She looks great, a bit mature, and most importantly, her weight appears to be a healthy weight loss. She looked lovely before so I couldn’t help but to wonder, did her weight loss come out of pressure to be thin? She was always known as the chubby member in Kara so questioning the reason behind her weight loss is legitimate.
Let’s not forget that in Korea the pressure to be thin is very intense. Remember Yuri from SNSD whose ‘ Perfect’ diet worked a little too well. Yuri was a beautiful girl but now, she looks a bit emaciated. In my opinion, she had the best figure in SNSD with curves in all the right places. Then everything changed during “Hoot” promotions. My immediate reaction after seeing her was, somebody get this girl some fried chicken. Yuri’s hot body was her trademark and the skinny look was reserved for Yoona and Sooyoung. It’ s sad that Yuri had to succumb to the pressure to be thin and quite honestly it doesn’t suit her. The Unfortunate fact is that she is not the only one shedding weight.
The case of the Piggy Dolls’ weight loss was even more shocking because the group was intended to be big girls with big voices. As expected, the reception of there weight was less than stellar when they debuted. In order to make it in the industry, the Piggy Dolls members started an intensive diet. Only within months, they came back with a completely new figure, which begs the question, how did they loose weight so quickly? Was it done all naturally or did they receive some medical help?
Unfortunately, female idols are under the constant pressure to look a certain way and in order to meet the high standards of beauty, many idols engage in extreme diet plans to shed some pounds. For example, consider Park Bom’s lettuce diet. Nobody would argue that, that diet is healthy by any means. It appears that Ji Young is benefiting from her weight-loss, in terms of press coverage and her appearance, however, should female idols always change to fit the “norm”? Or should Korea learn to appreciate a healthier body image that doesn’t equate to chop sticks?
(Naver)
