2023-06-12
33 分钟Humans have always been captivated by beauty, and for almost as long, we’ve been marketed products and new technologies to help us achieve certain beauty standards. Elise Hu is a journalist and the author of “Flawless: Lessons in looks and culture from the K-beauty industry.” In this episode, she shares the fascinating insights she’s learned from years of studying the $10 billion K-beauty industry and the cutting-edge skincare, niche makeup products, and technology that promise to optimize our appearance. Elise and Chris talk about the real stakes of placing a premium on our looks, why a more inclusive version of “beauty” is worth pursuing, and how we can both enjoy and push back against the very human desire to feel beautiful. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts
Ted audio collective.
You'Re listening to how to be a better human.
I'm your host, Chris Duffy.
In today's episode, we're going to switch things up a little bit.
We're going to question some of the assumption behind our title that we should always be trying to improve ourselves.
Look, becoming thoughtful, kinder, emotionally aware, and mature.
Those seem like clearly good things.
Definitely worth trying to be a better human on those fronts.
But there can be an insidious side to the idea of better.
The idea that we always have to be optimizing and improving ourselves, that we're never just enough.
That is not healthy.
And that is what today's guest, journalist and author Elise Hyu, often found in her exploration of global beauty culture.
Elise had a special focus in her book on South Korea.
But this is really an issue that is worldwide.
And like in so many other aspects of society, technology has accelerated and exaggerated global beauty standards and expectations.
A small personal experience.
With this, I take almost all of my remote meetings on Zoom.
And when I'm on Zoom, I have the touch up my appearance feature enabled, so my skin's a little smoother and clearer.
The bags under my eyes are lightened.
But I use Zoom so often that when I occasionally switch to a different program like Google Meet, I'm shocked and appalled by how rough my unfiltered meeting face is.