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

Translator: Cahyo Ramadhani Reviewer: ryan aziz

Earlier this year, I was in Taipei, Taiwan,

Awal tahun ini, aku di Taipei, Taiwan.

where I decided I wanted to make a TikTok about Cup Noodle.

Aku ingin buat akun TikTok tentang Mi Gelas.

Only this brilliant TikTok never happened

Sayangnya, ide TikTok ini tak pernah terwujud.

because of the shock I got when I opened up the app

Sebab, aku kaget waktu buka aplikasi

and flipped it into selfie mode.

dan pakai mode swafoto.

The face looking back at me was a face, but not exactly my face.

Yang tampak di layar memang wajah, tapi bukan wajahku.

A whole array of beauty filters had automatically worked me over,

Semua filter kecantikan aktif otomatis,

and I could not turn them off.

dan tak bisa kumatikan.

There was so much going on here: skin smoothing, skin lightening,

Banyak yang berubah di sini: kulit makin halus, kulit makin cerah

teeth whitening, nose narrowing, bigger eyes,

gigi makin putih, hidung makin mancung, mata makin besar,

and it gave me a thinner, softer jawline.

dan rahangku makin ramping dan halus.

This was a whole lot of nonconsensual filtering

Semua ini termasuk filter non-konsensual

or what someone joked was forced catfishing.

atau, menurut ledekan orang, samar muka paksa.

And for me, it's the perfect example

Menurutku, ini adalah contoh pas

of something called the technological gaze at work.

tentang konsep “tatapan teknologi”.

What is it?

Apa itu?

Women have had to play to the male gaze forever, you know what that is.

Wanita harus enak dipandang menurut tatapan pria selamanya.

But the technological gaze describes an algorithmically driven perspective

Sayangnya, tatapan teknologi merupakan pandangan yang digerakkan algoritma

that we learn to internalize, perform for and optimize for.

yang kita internalisasi, upayakan, dan usahakan semaksimal mungkin.

And then, by taking in all our data,

Dengan mengambil semua data kita,

the machines learn to perform us, in an endless feedback loop.

mesin belajar untuk menampilkan kita, berdasarkan umpan balik tiada henti.

We learn it so young.

Kita pakai filter saat belia.

An estimated 80 percent of 13-year-old girls in America

Diperkirakan 80 persen gadis berusia 13 tahun di Amerika

have already used filters or some kind of editing

telah menggunakan filter atau pengeditan sejenis

to alter their appearance online.

untuk mengubah penampilan mereka di internet.

And these days, the filters are hyperrealistic

Akhir-akhir ini, filter jadi tak realistis

because they tend to be AI-generated.

karena kerap buatan AI.

They come with a suite of characteristics teaching us how to look,

Filter hadir dengan sepaket fitur yang mengatur penampilan kita,

things like arched eyebrows, or higher cheekbones or plump lips.

seperti alis lengkung, tulang pipi tinggi, atau bibir montok.

What then happens is we see the gap between the way we look in the mirror

Akibatnya, kita melihat adanya perbedaan antara penampilan kita di cermin

and the way we look in these filters,

dengan penampilan kita di filter.

and the digital world begins to dictate real-world beauty standards.

Dunia digital mulai mengatur standar kecantikan dunia nyata.

We've seen it in celebrity culture,

Kita tahu itu di budaya selebriti.

and I know this, because I saw it

Aku tahu karena melihat sendiri

when I lived and worked in Seoul, South Korea,

saat tinggal dan bekerja di Seoul, Korea Selatan,

as the NPR Bureau Chief there nearly 10 years ago.

sebagai Kepala Biro NPR di sana hampir 10 tahun silam.

Seoul is all about optimizing your face and your body.

Di Seoul, semua serba mempercantik wajah dan tubuh.

If you want your vagina rejuvenated, your skull reshaped,

Jika ingin membuat vagina singset, mengubah bentuk muka,

any part of your body lifted or enhanced, have at it.

mengangkat atau memperbaiki bagian tubuh, lakukanlah.

It's the cosmetic surgery capital of the world.

Seoul adalah ibu kota bedah kosmetik dunia.

Nearly half of all Korean women

Hampir separuh wanita Korea

have already undergone some kind of plastic surgery

telah melakukan operasi plastik semacam itu

by the time they're in their 20s.

saat mereka menginjak usia 20-an.

No other place comes close.

Tak ada tempat yang menandingi Seoul.

These days, traptox is really popular.

Saat ini, traptox sangat populer.

That's injecting Botox into the base of your neck, your trapezius muscles,

Botox disuntikkan ke pangkal leher, otot trapezius-mu,

to give the appearance of a longer neck.

agar leher tampak lebih jenjang.

Calves are being injected with Botox for the same reason.

Betis disuntik dengan Botox untuk alasan yang sama.

Having a slimmer jawline is so desirable

Orang ingin punya rahang ramping,

that a Seoul plastic surgery clinic once displayed

sampai-sampai ada klinik bedah plastik di Seoul yang memajang

the human bones of jaws it had shaved down in a glass vase in its lobby.

potongan rahang-rahang manusia di dalam vas kaca di lobinya.

This has since been removed,

Pajangan ini telah dibongkar.

but this kind of body augmentation work isn't just accepted,

Sayangnya, mengubah tubuh semacam ini tidak hanya diterima,

it is expected,

tapi diharapkan.

because in Seoul, looks matter so much

Sebab di Seoul, penampilan amat penting

for your professional and personal advancement.

untuk kemajuan karier dan pribadimu.

Headshots are required on résumés.

Foto wajah diwajibkan di CV.

Hiring bosses make character judgments based on your face.

Bos perekrutan menilai karaktermu dari wajahmu.

You were often bullied if you were bald or big.

Kamu kerap dicela karena botak atau gemuk.

Trying to look better is framed as a route to economic security

Berusaha tampil cantik dianggap jalan menuju keamanan ekonomi

and a matter of personal responsibility.

dan tanggung jawab pribadi.

But Korea just shows us a more concentrated and extreme example

Sayangnya, Korea hanya menunjukkan kita contoh berlebihan dan ekstrim

of the pretty privilege that exists everywhere.

akan hak istimewa karena cantik yang ada di mana-mana.

Look at fatphobia in the United States,

Lihatlah fobia gemuk di Amerika Serikat,

helping drive off-the-charts, off-label use of Ozempic,

menyebabkan pemakaian Ozempic di luar kendali dan ketentuan,

not for diabetes, but for weight loss.

bukan untuk diabetes, tapi agar berat badan turun.

It makes sense when we are so rewarded for thinness

Ini masuk akal sebab langsing dihargai berlebihan oleh kita

and stigmatized for fatness.

dan gemuk dikenai stigma.

And all I'm saying is we should reckon with this,

Yang ingin kusampaikan, berhati-hatilah dengan ini,

because the more narrow our idea of beauty is,

karena semakin sempit pandangan kita tentang cantik,

the wider the pool of ugly becomes.

semakin luas area untuk jelek.

And digital culture is now reshaping our actual faces and bodies.

Budaya digital kini mengubah wajah dan tubuh kita yang sungguhan.

Under the technological gaze,

Akibat tatapan teknologi,

I worry that our bodies become projects to be worked on ... forever.

aku khawatir tubuh kita seolah jadi proyek yang harus dikerjakan... selamanya.

And if we don’t slow down this body augmentation arms race

Jika kita tak memperlambat kompetisi mengubah tubuh ini

that I saw in Seoul,

seperti kulihat di Seoul,

then the enhancements that were available there

maka upaya-upaya mempercantik diri yang tersedia

only get farther and farther out of reach.

semakin jauh dari jangkauan.

And not just for women.

Tak hanya untuk wanita.

Because if we are chasing digital beauty,

Sebab, jika kita mengejar kecantikan digital,

well, then, the limit does not exist.

maka batasnya tidak ada.

AI's idea of attractiveness

Pandangan AI tentang daya tarik

is only increasingly inhuman ... and cyborgian.

makin tidak manusiawi ... dan bagai robot.

I don't want this.

Aku tak mau begini.

I don't want my daughters coming up in a world

Aku tak ingin putriku lahir di dunia

in which their looks are the most important things about them.

dan penampilannya jadi hal terpenting baginya.

It is incredibly marginalizing to everybody who can’t fit in

Ini membuat orang yang tak bisa ikut-ikutan terpinggirkan

and exhausting for everyone who can,

dan membuat orang yang bisa kelelahan,

because you are constantly having to make or pay for

karena kamu harus terus melakukan atau membayar

interventions in order to keep up.

operasi agar tak tertinggal.

So what do we do?

Jadi, harus bagaimana?

Filters aren't going anywhere,

Filter akan tetap ada,

but we can challenge what the system is optimized for

tapi kita dapat melawan agenda dari sistem

by changing what it means to be beautiful.

dengan mengubah arti kecantikan.

Just as the solution to homophobia isn't to make everyone straight,

Seperti solusi melawan homofobia bukanlah membuat orang jadi hetero,

and the solution to racism isn't to make everyone white,

solusi melawan rasisme bukan membuat orang jadi berkulit putih,

the solution to lookism and fatphobia

solusi melawan penampilanisme dan fobia gemuk

isn't to make everyone interchangeably skinny and conventionally pretty.

bukanlah membuat orang jadi kurus dan cantik.

In fact, it's the opposite.

Solusinya justru sebaliknya,

It's to celebrate diversity

yakni merayakan keragaman

and the differences that make us who we are,

dan perbedaan yang merupakan cerminan kita,

that are inherent to the human condition.

yang melekat pada kondisi manusia.

And ultimately, we have to disrupt a system

Pada akhirnya, kita harus mengubah sistem

that reduces our worthiness to our looks.

yang membuat kita merasa penampilan kita tak berharga.

Even though my face is rounder

Meskipun wajahku lebih bulat

and probably darker than an algorithm would like,

dan mungkin lebih gelap dari yang dimau algoritma,

I have come here tonight wearing my actual face.

Di sini malam ini, wajahku inilah yang sebenarnya.

And my hope for all of you is that you feel comfortable

Harapanku untuk kalian, semoga kalian merasa nyaman

and will continue to feel comfortable doing the same.

dan akan terus nyaman seperti yang kulakukan.

Because I see a wide variety of jawlines out here tonight,

Sebab, kulihat ada berbagai bentuk rahang di sini malam ini,

and let me just say they are all worthy.

dan izinkan aku menyampaikan bahwa semua itu berharga.

Thank you.

Terima kasih.

(Cheers and applause)

(Sorakan dan tepukan tangan)