How digital culture is reshaping our faces and bodies | Elise Hu

Summary

TED Talks Daily: How Digital Culture Is Reshaping Our Faces and Bodies | Elise Hu

Release Date: January 27, 2025

Elise Hu's compelling TED Talk delves into the profound ways digital culture is transforming our perceptions and representations of beauty. Through insightful discussions and personal anecdotes, Hu examines the pervasive influence of technology on our self-image and societal beauty standards.

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Introduction to the Technological Gaze

Elise Hu opens her talk by recounting a personal experience in Taipei, Taiwan, where she faced "non-consensual filtering" while attempting to create a TikTok video. [04:39] She describes how automated beauty filters altered her appearance drastically:

"There was a face looking back at me, but not exactly my face. A whole array of beauty filters had automatically worked me over, and I could not turn them off."

This incident serves as a springboard for her exploration of the "technological gaze," a term she defines as an algorithmically driven perspective that shapes how we perceive and present ourselves.

Understanding the Technological Gaze

Hu contrasts the technological gaze with the traditional "male gaze," emphasizing that while the latter has long influenced women's self-presentation, the former is driven by data and algorithms. She explains:

"The technological gaze describes an algorithmically driven perspective that we learn to internalize, perform for, and optimize for." [04:39]

This gaze creates an endless feedback loop where digital platforms learn from our data to further refine and enforce specific beauty standards.

The Impact on Beauty Standards

Highlighting the ubiquity of filters, Hu points out that approximately 80% of 13-year-old girls in America have used some form of appearance-altering filters or editing tools [04:39]. These tools promote features like arched eyebrows, higher cheekbones, plump lips, and slimmer jawlines, creating a disparity between one's real appearance and their digital persona.

She underscores the broader societal implications:

"The more narrow our idea of beauty is, the wider the pool of ugly becomes." [04:39]

This narrowing of beauty standards marginalizes those who don't conform and pressures everyone to continually modify their appearance to fit evolving ideals.

South Korea: A Case Study in Cosmetic Extremes

Drawing from her experience as the NPR bureau chief in Seoul, South Korea, Hu provides a vivid illustration of how ingrained and extreme these beauty standards can become:

"Nearly half of all Korean women have already undergone some kind of plastic surgery by the time they're in their 20s." [04:39]

She details the prevalent cosmetic procedures, such as Trap tox (Botox injections for a longer neck and slimmer jawline) and calf injections, highlighting Seoul as the "cosmetic surgery capital of the world." This societal norm extends to professional spheres, where appearance can influence career prospects:

"Headshots are required on resumes. Hiring bosses made character judgments based on your face." [04:39]

Feedback Loop and Escalation of Digital Beauty

Hu warns of the escalating nature of digital beauty standards fueled by artificial intelligence. As AI-generated filters become more hyper-realistic and increasingly "inhuman and cyborgian," the limitations for bodily enhancements seem boundless:

"AI's idea of attractiveness is only increasingly inhuman and cyborgian. I don't want this." [04:39]

She emphasizes that this relentless pursuit of digital perfection is exhausting for everyone, whether they can afford enhancements or not, and poses significant societal challenges.

Consequences and Societal Ramifications

The speaker discusses the economic and psychological toll of maintaining these beauty standards. With beauty becoming a prerequisite for personal and professional advancement, individuals are pressured to invest time and money into appearance modifications. This creates a divide where:

• Those who conform gain economic security.
• Those who don't are marginalized and exclusionary.

Hu also touches on phenomena like fatphobia in the United States, exacerbated by digital culture, leading to increased use of weight loss drugs like Ozempic for aesthetic purposes rather than medical needs [04:39].

Proposed Solutions and Call to Action

Addressing these issues, Hu advocates for a shift in societal values:

"The solution to lookism and fatphobia isn't to make everyone interchangeably skinny and conventionally pretty. In fact, it's the opposite. It's to celebrate diversity and the differences that make us who we are." [04:39]

She urges a collective effort to disrupt systems that equate worthiness with appearance, promoting a culture that values inherent human diversity over narrow beauty norms.

Conclusion: Embracing Authenticity

Elise Hu concludes her talk with a powerful message of self-acceptance and authenticity:

"Even though my face is rounder and probably darker than an algorithm would like, I have come here tonight wearing my actual face. And my hope for all of you is that you feel comfortable and will continue to feel comfortable doing the same." [04:39]

She emphasizes the importance of embracing one's natural appearance and challenging the pervasive technological gaze, fostering a society where all forms of beauty are recognized and valued.

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Key Takeaways

• Technological Gaze: An algorithm-driven perspective that shapes and enforces specific beauty standards through digital platforms.
• Impact on Youth: High prevalence of filter use among young girls leads to internalized beauty ideals.
• Cultural Case Studies: South Korea exemplifies extreme societal pressure for cosmetic enhancements.
• Feedback Loop: AI and digital tools continuously refine and escalate beauty standards, creating an unattainable ideal.
• Societal Consequences: Economic disparity and psychological stress result from the pressure to conform to narrow beauty norms.
• Call to Action: Advocate for diversity and challenge systems that equate worth with appearance.

Elise Hu's TED Talk serves as a crucial examination of how digital culture is not only reflecting but actively shaping our physical selves and societal values. Her insights call for a reevaluation of beauty standards and a move towards embracing authentic diversity.

Transcript

[Elise Hu]

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[Chris Duffy]

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[Elise Hu]

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[Unknown]

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[Chris Duffy]

You're listening to TED Talks Daily where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I am not the regular host Elise Hu. I am Chris Duffy, host of another show in the TED Audio Collective that's called how to Be a Better Human. Now, you might be wondering what I'm doing here and why I'm hosting today. And that is because today's TED Talk on TED Talks Daily is from Elise Hu herself. I am a longtime fan of Elise's work and even better, I get to call myself a friend. But even if I didn't know Elise, I would be so excited for you to hear this talk because it's about the ways that technology changes how we see ourselves. That's a question that Elise has been investigating for years now, both in her reporting and and in her book Lessons in Looks and Culture from the K Beauty Capital. What does it mean when we so often see ourselves through the lens of our phones or computers? What if the way that we look in the real world somehow feels less real or doesn't live up to the image that we have of ourselves in our digital life? Those are big questions, and they're questions that Elise has made me think about in completely new ways. Here's her talk.

Earlier this year I was in Taipei, Taiwan, where I decided I wanted to make a TikTok about Cup Noodle. Only this brilliant TikTok never happened because of the shock I got when I opened up the app and flipped it into selfie mode. The face looking back at me was a face, but not exactly my face. A whole array of beauty filters had automatically worked me over and I could not turn them off. There was so much going on here. Skin smoothing, skin lightening, teeth whitening, nose narrowing, bigger eyes. And it gave me a Thinner, softer jawline. This was a whole lot of non consensual filtering, or what someone joked was forced catfishing. And for me, it's the perfect example of something called the technological gaze at work. What is it? Well, women have had to play to the male gaze forever. You know what that is. But the technological gaze describes an algorithmically driven perspective that we learn to internalize, perform for and optimize for. And then by taking in all our data, the machines learn to perform us in an endless feedback loop. We learn it so young. An estimated 80% of 13 year old girls in America have already used filters or some kind of editing to alter their appearance online. And these days the filters are hyper realistic because they tend to be AI generated. They come with a suite of characteristics teaching us how to look things like arched eyebrows or higher cheekbones or plump lips. What then happens is we see the gap between the way we look in the mirror and the way we look in these filters and the digital world begins to dictate real world beauty standards. We've seen it in celebrity culture, and I know this because I saw it when I lived and worked in Seoul, South Korea as the NPR bureau chief there nearly 10 years ago. Seoul is all about optimizing your face and your body. If you want your vagina rejuvenated, your skull reshaped, any part of your body lifted or enhanced, have at it. It's the cosmetic surgery capital of the world. Nearly half of all Korean women have already undergone some kind of plastic surgery by the time they're in their 20s. No other place comes close. These days. Trap tox is really popular. That's injecting Botox into the base of your neck, your trapezius muscles to give the appearance of a longer neck. Calves are being injected with Botox for the same reason. Having a slimmer jawline is so desirable that a sole plastic surgery clinic once displayed the human bones of jaws it had shaved down in a glass vase in its lobby. This has since been removed. But this kind of body augmentation work isn't just accepted, it is expected. Because in soul looks matter. So much for your professional and personal advancement. Headshots are required on resumes. Hiring bosses made character judgments based on your face. You were often bullied if you were bald or big. Trying to look better is framed as a route to economic security and a matter of personal responsibility. But Korea just shows us a more concentrated and extreme example of the pretty privilege that exists everywhere. Look at fatphobia in the United States, helping drive off the charts, off label use of Ozempic not for diabetes, but for weight loss. It makes sense when we are so rewarded for thinness and stigmatized for fatness. And all I'm saying is we should reckon with this because the more narrow our idea of beauty is, the wider the pool of ugly becomes. And digital culture is now reshaping our actual faces and bodies under the technological gaze. I worry that our bodies become projects to be worked on forever. And if we don't slow down this body augmentation arms race that I saw in Seoul, then the enhancements that were available there only get farther and farther out of reach. And not just for women. Because if we are chasing digital beauty, well, then the limit does not exist. AI's idea of attractiveness is only increasingly inhuman and cyborgian. I don't want this. I don't want my daughters coming up in a world in which their looks are the most important things about them. It is incredibly marginalizing to everybody who can't fit in and exhausting for everyone who can, because you are constantly having to make or pay for interventions in order to keep up. So what do we do? Filters aren't going anywhere, but we can challenge what the system is optimized for by changing what it means to be beautiful. Just as the solution to homophobia isn't to make everyone straight and the solution to racism isn't to make everyone white, the solution to lookism and fatphobia isn't to make everyone interchangeably skinny and conventionally pretty. In fact, it's the opposite. It's to celebrate diversity and the differences that make us who we are, that are inherent to the human condition. And ultimately, we have to disrupt a system that reduces our worthiness to our looks. Even though my face is rounder and probably darker than an algorithm would like, I have come here tonight wearing my actual face. And my hope for all of you is that you feel comfortable and will continue to feel comfortable doing the same. Because I see a wide variety of jawlines out here tonight, and let me just say, they are all worthy. Thank you.

That was Elise hu@ted next 2024. And that's it for today. TED Talks Daily is part of the TED Audio Collective. This episode was produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Brian Greene, Autumn Thompson and Alejandra Salazar. It was mixed by Christopher Faizy Bogan. Additional support from Emma Tobner and Daniela Balaurezzo. I'm Chris Duffy and Elise will be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed. Thanks for listening.

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[Elise Hu]

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[Chris Duffy]

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[Elise Hu]

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