@article{ART003372431},
author={Jin-kyung Park},
title={Healthy Is Beautiful: A Critical Analysis of Women’s Healthy-body Beauty at the Intersection of Colonialism, Nationalism, and Feminism in Colonial Korea},
journal={아시아여성연구},
issn={1225-9241},
year={2026},
volume={65},
number={2},
pages={237-271},
doi={10.14431/jaw.2026.8.65.2.237}
TY - JOUR
AU - Jin-kyung Park
TI - Healthy Is Beautiful: A Critical Analysis of Women’s Healthy-body Beauty at the Intersection of Colonialism, Nationalism, and Feminism in Colonial Korea
JO - 아시아여성연구
PY - 2026
VL - 65
IS - 2
PB - Research Institute of Asian Women
SP - 237
EP - 271
SN - 1225-9241
AB - This study examines the rise of women’s “healthy-body beauty” (kŏnkangmi) in Korean society. Kŏnkangmi --a compound word of kŏnkang (health) and mi(beauty)--is commonly found in the names of businesses on urban streets. The term also appears in a myriads of advertisements for fitness, yoga, and Pilates programs that promote beauty. This paper attempts to explore a genealogy of women’s healthy-body beauty by locating its origins in Korea under Japanese colonial rule. I examine healthy-body beauty at several levels. First, I argue that the rise of healthy-body beauty in Korea was intertwined with the promotion of eugenic and race hygiene ideas and practices in imperial Japan, which viewed women’s bodies as sites of racial improvement and reconstruction. I trace how imperial Japan’s concept of healthy-body beauty permeated in colonial Korean society, first and foremost through the advertisement and consumption of patent medicines that promoted kŏnkangmi. The analysis of healthy-body beauty discourse illustrates how fervently Korean (male) nationalists embraced healthy-body beauty as they served as an indicator of Korean nation’s wholesomeness, vitality, and modernity. They advocated women’s healthy-body beauty in opposition to pale-fragile beauty (pyŏngjŏngmi) portraying it as essential to the nation’s future vitality. In the midst, Korean New Woman (sinyŏsŏng), particularly New Women physical educators and female athletes, embodied the very idea of healthy-body beauty. Their vivaciousness, modern physiques, higher education, and sound character served as the powerful signs of both healthy-body beauty and the Korean nation’s attainable future under the oppressive conditions of colonial rule.
KW - healthy-body beauty;eugenics;national health movement;modernity;New Woman
DO - 10.14431/jaw.2026.8.65.2.237
ER -
Jin-kyung Park. (2026). Healthy Is Beautiful: A Critical Analysis of Women’s Healthy-body Beauty at the Intersection of Colonialism, Nationalism, and Feminism in Colonial Korea. 아시아여성연구, 65(2), 237-271.
Jin-kyung Park. 2026, "Healthy Is Beautiful: A Critical Analysis of Women’s Healthy-body Beauty at the Intersection of Colonialism, Nationalism, and Feminism in Colonial Korea", 아시아여성연구, vol.65, no.2 pp.237-271. Available from: doi:10.14431/jaw.2026.8.65.2.237
Jin-kyung Park "Healthy Is Beautiful: A Critical Analysis of Women’s Healthy-body Beauty at the Intersection of Colonialism, Nationalism, and Feminism in Colonial Korea" 아시아여성연구 65.2 pp.237-271 (2026) : 237.
Jin-kyung Park. Healthy Is Beautiful: A Critical Analysis of Women’s Healthy-body Beauty at the Intersection of Colonialism, Nationalism, and Feminism in Colonial Korea. 2026; 65(2), 237-271. Available from: doi:10.14431/jaw.2026.8.65.2.237
Jin-kyung Park. "Healthy Is Beautiful: A Critical Analysis of Women’s Healthy-body Beauty at the Intersection of Colonialism, Nationalism, and Feminism in Colonial Korea" 아시아여성연구 65, no.2 (2026) : 237-271.doi: 10.14431/jaw.2026.8.65.2.237
Jin-kyung Park. Healthy Is Beautiful: A Critical Analysis of Women’s Healthy-body Beauty at the Intersection of Colonialism, Nationalism, and Feminism in Colonial Korea. 아시아여성연구, 65(2), 237-271. doi: 10.14431/jaw.2026.8.65.2.237
Jin-kyung Park. Healthy Is Beautiful: A Critical Analysis of Women’s Healthy-body Beauty at the Intersection of Colonialism, Nationalism, and Feminism in Colonial Korea. 아시아여성연구. 2026; 65(2) 237-271. doi: 10.14431/jaw.2026.8.65.2.237
Jin-kyung Park. Healthy Is Beautiful: A Critical Analysis of Women’s Healthy-body Beauty at the Intersection of Colonialism, Nationalism, and Feminism in Colonial Korea. 2026; 65(2), 237-271. Available from: doi:10.14431/jaw.2026.8.65.2.237
Jin-kyung Park. "Healthy Is Beautiful: A Critical Analysis of Women’s Healthy-body Beauty at the Intersection of Colonialism, Nationalism, and Feminism in Colonial Korea" 아시아여성연구 65, no.2 (2026) : 237-271.doi: 10.14431/jaw.2026.8.65.2.237
