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Instagram and youth culture | Hot shots
Instagram與青年文化 熱點
Why young South Koreans are posing in their underwear
為什么韓國年輕人穿著內衣擺姿勢拍照？
Lee ji-hoon’s younger clients have lately been making unusual requests.
李智勛的年輕客戶最近提出了一些不同尋常的要求。
“People in their 20s and early 30s showed up and asked me to draw up these excessive training plans and dieting rules,” says Mr Lee, who works as a personal trainer at a fancy gym in Gangnam, a posh part of Seoul, South Korea’s capital.
韓國首都首爾江南區的一家高檔健身房私人教練李先生說：“最近20多歲和30出頭的人要求我幫忙制定過度訓練計劃和節食規則。”
The clients, most of whom are women, all have the same aim: they want to look hot for their “body profiles”.
這些客戶大多是女性，他們都有相同的目標：想讓自己的“身體曲線”看起來性感。
An Instagram search in Korean for the hashtag “body profile” turns up more than 2.5m results.
在Instagram上用韓語搜索“body profile”標簽，會得到250多萬條照片信息。
Most of them are glossy full-body portraits of men and women in their underwear, posted on personal accounts (though a few belong to celebrities).
這些照片大多是男男女女穿著內衣的全身照，由個人用戶發布（也有一些是明星）。
Some subjects are draped over chairs, recline on beds or emerge from pools and rivers.
也有一些是半臥在椅子上，趴在床上，或從游泳池和河流中走出來。
Others pose with champagne and canapés, or with foliage.
還有些人拍照時擺著香檳和小餅干，或樹葉。
The point, like so much on Instagram, is to impress.
就像Instagram上的很多東西一樣，重點是要給人留下深刻印象。
Joo Sohyun, a 27-year-old in Seoul, says she booked a body-profile photo session because she was bored with doing nothing except work.
首爾27歲的朱素賢說，因為厭倦自己除了工作以外無事可做，所以預約了一個體形拍照會。
“I wanted that identity of someone who keeps fit,” she says.
“我想保持自己的身材，”她說。
Taking the profile shots was a way of proving to the world that she had worked hard to achieve a valuable goal.
拍攝身材照是向世界證明她為實現一個有價值的目標而努力的一種方式。
The whole thing, including the training programme and photo session, set her back more than 1.5m won ($1,300).
整個過程，包括訓練計劃和拍照，花了她150多萬韓元（1300美元）。
Others splurge even more.
其他人的花費甚至更高。
Mr Lee’s packages start at 2.5m won; bespoke ones can be 7m won.
李先生的套餐起步價250萬韓元；定制的套餐高達700萬韓元。
Yoo Hyun-jae, who studies youth culture at Sogang University in Seoul, thinks the trend reflects an obsession with looks and social status.
首爾西江大學研究青年文化的柳賢載認為，這一趨勢反映了人們對外表和社會地位的癡迷。
The attention young people pay to their online image mirrors everyday life, where looking your best in public is considered polite and commenting on others’ appearance and offering suggestions for improvements remain common.
年輕人對自己網絡形象的關注反映了日常生活，在公共場合保持最佳形象被認為是一種禮貌，對他人的外表加以評論并表達改進建議仍然很常見。
As in other countries, advertising exploits the associated anxiety.
與其他國家一樣，廣告宣傳利用了相關的容貌焦慮。
A company hawking diet products plasters cinemas all over the country with posters urging patrons to “reconsider your popcorn”.
一家出售減肥產品的公司在全國各地的電影院貼滿了海報，敦促顧客“重新考慮你的爆米花”。
Serious-looking plastic surgeons admonish commuters in ads on Seoul’s subway: “Think you’re pretty? Think again."
表情嚴肅的整形外科醫生在首爾地鐵的廣告中告誡上班族：“你覺得自己漂亮嗎？再想想。”
"Celebrity culture also plays a role, "says Mr Yoo.
柳先生表示，名人文化也起到了一定作用。
The first people to publish body profiles were the pop stars from whom many youngsters take their cues.
最先發布體形照的是流行歌星，許多年輕人都是從他們那里開始效仿的。
Some commentators worry that the trend harms young people’s mental health and fosters poor eating habits.
一些評論人士擔心，這一趨勢損害了年輕人的心理健康，并助長了不良的飲食習慣。
Even Mr Lee is concerned. “I was so proud when they showed me the pictures, but some of them came back a few weeks later looking worse than they did before they started working out,” he says.
連李先生也很擔心。他說：“起初他們給我看照片時，我感到非常自豪，但一些人幾周后回來時，看起來比開始鍛煉之前更糟糕。”
Mr Yoo is less fretful: “Those body-image problems are not caused by the fact that people are now taking pictures of themselves while exercising."
柳先生則沒有那么擔心：“那些身體形象問題并不是因為人們鍛煉時給自己拍照造成的。”
Hand-wringing will in any case do little to dissuade the likes of Ms Joo.
無論如何，生活的絕望都無法阻止像朱女士這樣的人加入其中。
“Houses are too expensive and jobs are hard to come by.
“房子太貴了，工作也很難找。
This is one of the easiest and healthiest ways for young people to feel a sense of achievement,” she says.
這是年輕人獲得成就感最簡單、最健康的方式之一，“她說。
