Mary Ann Conlin wears a bikini in Seoul to promote body positivityArticle and pictures by Maxine Builder for BustleOn a Saturday night in Hongdae (the crowded neighborhood of Seoul perhaps best known for its raucous nightlife), English as a Second Language teacher Mary Ann Conlin stripped down to her bikini, placed a blindfold over her eyes, and held two markers in her hands. She stood behind a sign, written in both English and Korean, that asked passersby to draw a heart on her body if they supported self love. Now, this experiment isn't novel: Jae West was the first woman to make this statement about self acceptance in London, England, and soon after, Amy Pence-Brown stripped down in Boise, Idaho. However, it was the first time it was conducted in South Korea, a country with strict standards of beauty, especially when it comes to weight. Having just moved over to Seoul myself, I couldn't miss the chance to attend Conlin's demonstration.
"My experience as a full-bodied woman here in Korea has not been a positive one," Conlin tells me in an interview after the Sept. 19 event. She's lived in Korea for about four years, working as a teacher at different hagwons, or cram schools. "The first work environment that I was a part of, there was a lot of harassment about my weight," she explains. "I would have my manager tell me, 'Oh, you gained weight,' or poke my belly."
( Read more... )What do you think of her experiment? How do you think the responses from onlookers would have differed if she wasn't a white foreigner?