Why do American girls tan, dress, and use make-up in such a way as to make themselves look older than they are

Question

I'm from Hong Kong; I'm currently an international student at a college in the US.

Honestly, Asian-American girls at 18 look like Hong Kong girls at 25! And Hong Kong girls at 18 look like Asian-American girls at 14.

Why? Aside from food and environmental factors, here are reasons put forth by two Asian-American Yahoo Answerers:

Origchick wrote:
"...have light make up on. i think american girls typically TRY to look older."

Musi wrote:
"I have cousins in Hong Kong(approx. some age), and they look so much younger than me. My guess is that in Asian country, they value 'cute' much more than 'sexy'. [Asian girls in Asia] can be 30 and still carry Hello Kitty key chain around. Also, they hate getting tanned. it's not so much they put on tons of sunscreen; they don't even go outdoor! maybe the avoidance of sun spare them a few wrinkle and sun damage"

So why do American girls want to make themselves look older and (in THEIR eyes) "sexier" with make-up and tanning?

(Personally, I find Musi's definition of "cute" above much more appealing than her definition of "sexy". If that is how she defines these words, then I'd prefer a "cute Hong Kong girl" over a "so-called sexy American girl who looks too old for her age". Just my opinion :p)

Answer 1

im asian and i really hate to get tanned =) so it amazes me when i went to the u.s. how much ppl here r so obsessed with it.

i did realize how asian girls from asia probably doesn't even start wearing make-up until like 18 years old, and here i am in u.s., 13 yrs old and already wears makeup (i started with lip gloss and got obsessed and started wearing more... recently, i decided to lessen my obsession and now i only wear lip gloss and use eye-lash curler)

i remember, there's an asian actress in asia, who's above 30 and can still do the part of an 18-year old... it surprises me, and i wish i can be like that and look so young when i grow up.

but i have nothing against both ways of how girls want to look. i guess it's just preference and probably bcuz of the media.

Answer 2

i guess it is a cultural issue. You are lucky you are from Hong Kong. Please do not try to date any children here. It is illegal. Also not all of us want to burn our skin. Some of us like to stay young. I keep the sun off my skin, wear sun glasses and hats. I guess I am more old fashioned american. I do not want to age. I am happy with my skin the way I am. Some americans have been ashamed to have light skin. I am just allowing myself to be who I am. I do not want to get wrinkles and skin cancer. People think I am 10 years younger than I am because I have taken good care of my skin. I live in a place where a great deal of people have skin problems. Yeah I wear cute stuff and even hello kitty. I am 36. I am all american. I am just me. I do what I want to do. I hardly wear make up. I just do skin and hair care not junk. Not all americans are the same just like not all Chinese people are the same or all anything is the same. Remember we are not all the same look around more. Perhaps you are in CA and only noticing a certain type of person. Go to another state and not NY.

Answer 3

Well, we are in America not Hong Kong so we are going to have our own views as to what is pretty, desireable, etc. It won't usually vibe with Hong Kong "pretty" or "cute" either because almost nothing about America is the same as Hong Kong. It's not that American girls try to look older. I think maturity is what they are reaching for. Whether they succeed is a different story. Just different parts of the world = different values. In this case, Hong Kong seems to value things that just don't make sense. How is a 30 year old woman carrying a kids cartoon Hello Kitty keychain cute?

Answer 4

itsa stupid isnt it, when they are young they want to look a bit older, one reason is they want to get a mutrue guy from collage or something, and then when they grow old like 35 up they want to loook younger lol , and 1 reason for that is now they want to a guy that is younger than them.

Answer 5

American teens these days try to look older to appeal to older men. to do that they have to look older. it seems to me that people from your country could give our youth a lesson with morals.

Answer 6

b/c our society is overrun w/perverted men who plaster half naked skinny hoes all over the media... parents are so overwhelmed that all kids can do is watch tv... where they see this skanky portrayals of women, therefore thinking thats the "cool" way to be.

*sigh* americans. lol and tanning is just stupid.

Answer 7

Thats how our society trains girls to think.

Answer 8

too look pretty i guess

Answer 9

because we are the hottest women in the world