"EYES THAT DON’T COMPLY." by Isabel Pieterson
Mother, there’s something so alluring about letters: they demonstrate significance, they’re eloquent, and they get a message across. Alas, today, I write you a letter. I do not intend to criticise but to explore - an inquiry piqued by the propaganda-like contemporary discourse in East Asian cultures, an idea evoked by the ineffable insistence for plastic surgery, a request to not conform.
“Double eyelid surgery, otherwise known as ‘blepharoplasty’, takes one hour precisely: strict local anaesthesia, a meticulous 3-5mm incision at the upper eyelid, and then approximately two weeks of recovery.” Since I turned thirteen, your lengthy peroration has been incessantly carved into my mind - a request I perceive as peculiar yet bizarrely unable to be disposed of.
The reliance on surgery to reject Asian features is shockingly prevalent in Taiwan, especially among women and girls; almost as though some Taiwanese women see monolid eyes as a barrier, a metaphorical boundary to living a ‘perfect’ life - viewed as inhibitory to job opportunities, love and social acceptance. Women in Taiwan use plastic surgery as a medium to be more acceptable, rather than improve their looks. This discussion leaves me to ponder, is there dignity in cosmetic surgery in order to reject natural Asian features?
Motherhood, as I understand it, is an impulse to protect. I know that you, mother, have always had my best interests at heart - thus, in order to understand and convene with your point of view, as to why you would like me to get double eyelid surgery, I had to investigate.
In the book, Medicalization of Racial Features, Dr Eugenia Kaw explains she believes many Asian women undergo double eyelid surgery so that their face looks less “dull” and “lacklustre” - the antithesis of what countless Asian women would view as ‘beautiful.’As a result, women in these East Asian cultures perceive mono eyelids as a hindrance - especially when mono eyelids are stereotypically portrayed in a negative light, as both foe or fiend, by the media, celebrities and the cosmetic surgery industry which thrives. This particularly affects young girls as they start to illustrate a beauty standard for themselves, where mono eyelids are not deemed as ‘conventionally beautiful.’
Moreover, the implication of casual racism and ignorance towards East Asian communities further aggravates the willingness to reject Asian features. Young girls are inclined to be ashamed of their heritage as they fight against stereotypes, certain gestures and comments that exist both online and in the real world. In a world where - according to ‘Act to Change’ - 80% of Asian Americans in 2020 have experienced bullying, societal pressures account for a myriad of factors which provoke the rejection of Asian facial features - leading to many people seeing cosmetic surgery as the sole solution.
This leads me to an analogy: the process of making almond (monolid) eyes more oval and round can be seen as a metaphor for one’s improved ability to insight into a contemporary East Asian beauty criterion - a standard which marginalises the unique beauty of natural features and conforms with westernised standards.
Mother, you want me to get double eyelid surgery to protect me.
At the beginning of this epistle, I explicitly chose not to mention one particular additional reason as to why I wrote this letter: my cowardice. Fear of my opinion being contemned, due to familial norms, has made it so that I am unable to personally deliver these words to you, mother, from my
mouth. Despite this, my cowardice has seemingly also delivered an important message to educate others, perhaps even other young East Asian girls like me, reading this - one gains strength from cowardice and that beauty can never be defined. It is the youth that needs to act as a catalyst for a new and improved cultural paradigm: for greater realism, acceptance and fewer social implications.