Your Vietnam
Vietnamese’s journey from particle physicist to machine learning scientist
It would be great happiness to know early in life what one is truly passionate about, which is indeed difficult for many.
The inspiring journey of Vietnamese scientist Nguyen Quang Thong, who successfully transitioned from a particle physicist to a machine learning scientist at Microsoft, can provide some meaningful thoughts for anyone facing a crossroads in life.
A glimpse at the profile of Thong may surprise many people. In less than 15 years as an adult, the Hanoi native has changed careers three times, and he cannot even fathom how unexpected and dramatic those changes have been.
Thong was once a student at the prestigious Hanoi-Amsterdam High School for the Gifted in Hanoi.
Drawn to both art and science, he pursued architecture at Hanoi Architectural University.
But after receiving a full-ride scholarship at the University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas), Thong could not resist the opportunity and left the architecture program to pursue computer engineering in the United States.
Turning point challenges
Thong’s journey in the U.S. was marked by a surprising discovery: his newfound love for physics.
This passion was sparked by a particle physics professor who had a profound impact on him.
After ten years of research in particle physics, during which he successfully earned a PhD and many prestigious awards, Thong was hired as an artificial intelligence scientist at Microsoft at the end of 2021.
His freedom of choice was not always absolute during the significant changes in his life.
For instance, his decision to not study abroad after graduating from high school in Hanoi and to study computer engineering at UT Dallas was influenced by his family’s financial constraints.
Although he completed his freshman year at UT Dallas with a perfect GPA, the young man yearned to explore a field that was more in line with the core principles of science and less focused on rote learning.
He felt that his computer engineering courses were not providing him with the intellectual stimulation he craved.
These feelings became apparent when Thong had the chance to enroll in a physics course taught by Professor Joseph Izen.
Known for his unique teaching approach, Prof. Izen encourages students to cultivate their own intuition and understanding of the principles of physics.
Thong remembers the last assignment his professor gave them at the end of the course.
“We were asked to go to an amusement park with an accelerometer and play all the roller coasters available, collect data, and then analyze them in a report to be submitted as the final exam,” he recounted.
“I spent the whole following week thinking about the assignment. It was something I truly wanted to do as a career.”
He decided to speak to Prof. Izen about his desire to study physics.
The American professor spent four hours explaining to him the opportunities and challenges that lay ahead if he pursued this path.
The young man made the second decision to change careers: he gave up his computer engineering degree to study particle physics.
“My mother did not support this decision at the time, but she lived very far away from me, so I decided anyway,” Thong laughed.
In September 2021, he graduated with a doctorate in particle physics from the California Institute of Technology, also known as Caltech.
The third career change, which was the most recent, was becoming an artificial intelligence scientist at Microsoft. This time, he was thrilled to be able to combine his knowledge of theory and practice to tackle real-world issues.
“I tend to work overtime because it is inspiring to contribute to a project that can impact hundreds of millions of users around the world,” the scientist said.
“It is also exciting to develop cutting-edge AI technology and apply it to products at scale.”
As an AI scientist, Thong creates and develops intelligent features for Microsoft Office, whose products and services already had 345 million subscribers among Microsoft’s total of more than 1.2 billion users around the world as of April 2022.
He is passionate about applying artificial intelligence to delivering personalized and empowering experiences to users.
He also develops foundation models and builds large-scale training infrastructure to enable intelligent services for various Microsoft products.
|
|
| Dr. Nguyen Quang Thong (left, front) sits with his friends in Switzerland in a supplied photo. |
‘Light at the end of the tunnel’
To this day, Thong has never shared with his parents about the ‘darkest days of his life’ during his early years of research at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland.
Thong’s 17-hour workdays juggling various tasks and responsibilities were not his only source of frustration.
The suffocating workplace politics and the impostor syndrome he felt surrounded by intellectuals from prestigious undergraduate institutes like Harvard and MIT added to his stress.
But what frustrated Thong the most was the feeling of getting lost in his research and the growing disappointment of his PhD advisor.
The first failure on the qualifying exam at Caltech was a heavy blow to him at the time, even though each undergraduate was given three chances to pass.
The young man found himself in depression for nearly a year, unable to share it with anyone.
“I woke up every day feeling terribly down,” Thong recalled. But a song by singer Hoang Thuy Linh gave him solace. The lyrics, which depict a phoenix rising from the ashes, resonated with him.
“I have to be a phoenix,” he recalled thinking to himself. “Even if I’m burned to ashes, I will rise again.”
During those gloomy days, Thong stumbled upon a series of lecture videos about AI on a YouTube channel. Those videos sparked an idea about the potential overlap between his research and AI: big data.
During the three years at CERN, Thong spent two years as a data operation manager, overseeing the flow of information between 80 data centers across five continents.
This experience led Thong naturally to his own research direction: applying AI to particle physics data.
Thong was captivated by the universal approximation theorem in deep learning, comparing the philosophy behind it to that of physics.
“It’s amazing that just matrices and nonlinear activation functions are all that’s needed to approximate any complex structure in the universe,” he marveled.
In the last decade, deep learning has made significant progress. The most advanced models are now 100 million times larger than they were ten years ago, enabling incredible capabilities that were once considered impossible.
However, at their core, these models are still just a combination of matrices and nonlinear activation functions.
“Every time I was invited to give lectures on AI at physics conferences, the audience would often fall silent in appreciation when I mentioned this fact,” Thong said.
At the time, AI for physics was a fledging field of research. Thong became one of the pioneers working on the intersection of AI and particle physics, which eventually became the theme of his doctoral thesis.
“When I realized the huge potential of AI to revolutionize physics, I knew it’s light at the end of my tunnel,” Thong recalled.
The opportunity lifted Thong’s spirit and motivated him to pass the qualifying exam on his second try.
He went on to co-author numerous papers on the application of AI to particle physics. In the final year of his doctoral research at CERN, he received an award in recognition of his accomplishments.
At CERN, physicists have to set up hundreds of triggers based on rules to determine which collision events to keep out of 40 million particle collisions per second produced at the collider.
This is a resource-intensive process, and there is still a chance that they will miss actual new physics events.
Thong created an algorithm to be implemented in the detector hardware to detect anomalies.
This algorithm is capable of distinguishing new physics processes from known ones in a matter of microseconds, enabling particle physicists not only to identify new particles from known hypotheses, but also to discover particles that have never been considered before.
In addition to successfully completing his doctorate, Thong has published in the prestigious journal Nature Machine Learning in February 2022 for this seminal work.
Borderless science
With a wealth of experience in various fields, including architecture, computer engineering, particle physics, and AI, Thong has come to believe that no matter the specific discipline, there are fundamental principles that unite them all.
“The key to understanding any discipline is to simplify it to the first order and focus on the core principles before adding on complexities,” Thong said.
During his final PhD year, he spent six months at Google X exploring the intersection between AI and biotechnology as a resident scientist.
“I had not studied biology before, but working there allowed me to apply techniques from physics and AI to tackling problems in biology,” he said. “I saw the potential for cross-disciplinary collaboration in a whole new light.”
In addition to the enlightenment, Thong enjoys science for its beauty.
“Both physics and architecture fascinate me for their simple yet profound foundations, such as symmetry or conservation laws, upon which amazing complexity can be built,” he shared.
Based on symmetry, Murray Gell-Mann introduced the quark model, tracked down the missing piece, and conjectured the existence of the Omega-minus baryon, completing the eightfold way.
Two years later, the Omega-minus was discovered by experiment, earning Gell-Mann the Nobel Prize in 1969.
“As young scientists, we are inspired by stories like these to continue our journeys searching for new particles at CERN, including dark matter and supersymmetric particles,” Thong said.
“Those theories may appear complex, but they are ultimately founded on elegant, fundamental principles that are truly beautiful.”
It takes two to tango
Among the awards Thong has won so far, there is an incredibly special one: the first place in tango dancing in Austin, Texas in 2015. For him, dancing is another passion besides science.
“I started dancing as a high school student in the dancesport club at Hanoi-Amsterdam High School for the Gifted. Back then, Hanoi had a dance competition as part of the annual Phu Dong Sports Festival, and we used to dance our heart out,” Thong recalled.
“The sweaty dance routines during the summer days, sharing the feelings of success and failure with friends, remains the fondest memory of my student life.
“When I went to college in the U.S., I was lucky enough to meet again the friend who had been my dance partner in high school. We continued to participate in the state dance tournaments. We couldn’t afford an instructor, so we taught ourselves and created our own choreography using YouTube videos. Our hard work paid off, and we won several prizes.
“When I came to Switzerland for my doctoral research, I was under the impression that dancing was a popular pastime. However, upon signing up for a dance class, I was disappointed to discover that the entire class was comprised of elderly individuals. In order to improve my technique, I needed to find a dance partner who matched my skill and stamina levels. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anyone suitable, then my research took over. My dancing shoes gradually collected dust.
“As I settled into my new life in Seattle, I began to explore the vibrant dance scene and discovered West Coast Swing and Social Foxtrot. These styles were a perfect fit for the laid-back, free-spirited culture of the city. Despite being vastly different from the dance forms I was accustomed to, I was drawn to the way they allowed me to express myself physically and emotionally through movement and music. It was a feeling I couldn’t find anywhere else.
“I realized that dancing isn’t just for relaxation, it’s a part of who I am.”
Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
It would be great happiness to know early in life what one is truly passionate about, which is indeed difficult for many.
The inspiring journey of Vietnamese scientist Nguyen Quang Thong, who successfully transitioned from a particle physicist to a machine learning scientist at Microsoft, can provide some meaningful thoughts for anyone facing a crossroads in life.
A glimpse at the profile of Thong may surprise many people. In less than 15 years as an adult, the Hanoi native has changed careers three times, and he cannot even fathom how unexpected and dramatic those changes have been.
Thong was once a student at the prestigious Hanoi-Amsterdam High School for the Gifted in Hanoi.
Drawn to both art and science, he pursued architecture at Hanoi Architectural University.
But after receiving a full-ride scholarship at the University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas), Thong could not resist the opportunity and left the architecture program to pursue computer engineering in the United States.
Turning point challenges
Thong’s journey in the U.S. was marked by a surprising discovery: his newfound love for physics.
This passion was sparked by a particle physics professor who had a profound impact on him.
After ten years of research in particle physics, during which he successfully earned a PhD and many prestigious awards, Thong was hired as an artificial intelligence scientist at Microsoft at the end of 2021.
His freedom of choice was not always absolute during the significant changes in his life.
For instance, his decision to not study abroad after graduating from high school in Hanoi and to study computer engineering at UT Dallas was influenced by his family’s financial constraints.
Although he completed his freshman year at UT Dallas with a perfect GPA, the young man yearned to explore a field that was more in line with the core principles of science and less focused on rote learning.
He felt that his computer engineering courses were not providing him with the intellectual stimulation he craved.
These feelings became apparent when Thong had the chance to enroll in a physics course taught by Professor Joseph Izen.
Known for his unique teaching approach, Prof. Izen encourages students to cultivate their own intuition and understanding of the principles of physics.
Thong remembers the last assignment his professor gave them at the end of the course.
“We were asked to go to an amusement park with an accelerometer and play all the roller coasters available, collect data, and then analyze them in a report to be submitted as the final exam,” he recounted.
“I spent the whole following week thinking about the assignment. It was something I truly wanted to do as a career.”
He decided to speak to Prof. Izen about his desire to study physics.
The American professor spent four hours explaining to him the opportunities and challenges that lay ahead if he pursued this path.
The young man made the second decision to change careers: he gave up his computer engineering degree to study particle physics.
“My mother did not support this decision at the time, but she lived very far away from me, so I decided anyway,” Thong laughed.
In September 2021, he graduated with a doctorate in particle physics from the California Institute of Technology, also known as Caltech.
The third career change, which was the most recent, was becoming an artificial intelligence scientist at Microsoft. This time, he was thrilled to be able to combine his knowledge of theory and practice to tackle real-world issues.
“I tend to work overtime because it is inspiring to contribute to a project that can impact hundreds of millions of users around the world,” the scientist said.
“It is also exciting to develop cutting-edge AI technology and apply it to products at scale.”
As an AI scientist, Thong creates and develops intelligent features for Microsoft Office, whose products and services already had 345 million subscribers among Microsoft’s total of more than 1.2 billion users around the world as of April 2022.
He is passionate about applying artificial intelligence to delivering personalized and empowering experiences to users.
He also develops foundation models and builds large-scale training infrastructure to enable intelligent services for various Microsoft products.
|
|
| Dr. Nguyen Quang Thong (left, front) sits with his friends in Switzerland in a supplied photo. |
‘Light at the end of the tunnel’
To this day, Thong has never shared with his parents about the ‘darkest days of his life’ during his early years of research at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland.
Thong’s 17-hour workdays juggling various tasks and responsibilities were not his only source of frustration.
The suffocating workplace politics and the impostor syndrome he felt surrounded by intellectuals from prestigious undergraduate institutes like Harvard and MIT added to his stress.
But what frustrated Thong the most was the feeling of getting lost in his research and the growing disappointment of his PhD advisor.
The first failure on the qualifying exam at Caltech was a heavy blow to him at the time, even though each undergraduate was given three chances to pass.
The young man found himself in depression for nearly a year, unable to share it with anyone.
“I woke up every day feeling terribly down,” Thong recalled. But a song by singer Hoang Thuy Linh gave him solace. The lyrics, which depict a phoenix rising from the ashes, resonated with him.
“I have to be a phoenix,” he recalled thinking to himself. “Even if I’m burned to ashes, I will rise again.”
During those gloomy days, Thong stumbled upon a series of lecture videos about AI on a YouTube channel. Those videos sparked an idea about the potential overlap between his research and AI: big data.
During the three years at CERN, Thong spent two years as a data operation manager, overseeing the flow of information between 80 data centers across five continents.
This experience led Thong naturally to his own research direction: applying AI to particle physics data.
Thong was captivated by the universal approximation theorem in deep learning, comparing the philosophy behind it to that of physics.
“It’s amazing that just matrices and nonlinear activation functions are all that’s needed to approximate any complex structure in the universe,” he marveled.
In the last decade, deep learning has made significant progress. The most advanced models are now 100 million times larger than they were ten years ago, enabling incredible capabilities that were once considered impossible.
However, at their core, these models are still just a combination of matrices and nonlinear activation functions.
“Every time I was invited to give lectures on AI at physics conferences, the audience would often fall silent in appreciation when I mentioned this fact,” Thong said.
At the time, AI for physics was a fledging field of research. Thong became one of the pioneers working on the intersection of AI and particle physics, which eventually became the theme of his doctoral thesis.
“When I realized the huge potential of AI to revolutionize physics, I knew it’s light at the end of my tunnel,” Thong recalled.
The opportunity lifted Thong’s spirit and motivated him to pass the qualifying exam on his second try.
He went on to co-author numerous papers on the application of AI to particle physics. In the final year of his doctoral research at CERN, he received an award in recognition of his accomplishments.
At CERN, physicists have to set up hundreds of triggers based on rules to determine which collision events to keep out of 40 million particle collisions per second produced at the collider.
This is a resource-intensive process, and there is still a chance that they will miss actual new physics events.
Thong created an algorithm to be implemented in the detector hardware to detect anomalies.
This algorithm is capable of distinguishing new physics processes from known ones in a matter of microseconds, enabling particle physicists not only to identify new particles from known hypotheses, but also to discover particles that have never been considered before.
In addition to successfully completing his doctorate, Thong has published in the prestigious journal Nature Machine Learning in February 2022 for this seminal work.
Borderless science
With a wealth of experience in various fields, including architecture, computer engineering, particle physics, and AI, Thong has come to believe that no matter the specific discipline, there are fundamental principles that unite them all.
“The key to understanding any discipline is to simplify it to the first order and focus on the core principles before adding on complexities,” Thong said.
During his final PhD year, he spent six months at Google X exploring the intersection between AI and biotechnology as a resident scientist.
“I had not studied biology before, but working there allowed me to apply techniques from physics and AI to tackling problems in biology,” he said. “I saw the potential for cross-disciplinary collaboration in a whole new light.”
In addition to the enlightenment, Thong enjoys science for its beauty.
“Both physics and architecture fascinate me for their simple yet profound foundations, such as symmetry or conservation laws, upon which amazing complexity can be built,” he shared.
Based on symmetry, Murray Gell-Mann introduced the quark model, tracked down the missing piece, and conjectured the existence of the Omega-minus baryon, completing the eightfold way.
Two years later, the Omega-minus was discovered by experiment, earning Gell-Mann the Nobel Prize in 1969.
“As young scientists, we are inspired by stories like these to continue our journeys searching for new particles at CERN, including dark matter and supersymmetric particles,” Thong said.
“Those theories may appear complex, but they are ultimately founded on elegant, fundamental principles that are truly beautiful.”
It takes two to tango
Among the awards Thong has won so far, there is an incredibly special one: the first place in tango dancing in Austin, Texas in 2015. For him, dancing is another passion besides science.
“I started dancing as a high school student in the dancesport club at Hanoi-Amsterdam High School for the Gifted. Back then, Hanoi had a dance competition as part of the annual Phu Dong Sports Festival, and we used to dance our heart out,” Thong recalled.
“The sweaty dance routines during the summer days, sharing the feelings of success and failure with friends, remains the fondest memory of my student life.
“When I went to college in the U.S., I was lucky enough to meet again the friend who had been my dance partner in high school. We continued to participate in the state dance tournaments. We couldn’t afford an instructor, so we taught ourselves and created our own choreography using YouTube videos. Our hard work paid off, and we won several prizes.
“When I came to Switzerland for my doctoral research, I was under the impression that dancing was a popular pastime. However, upon signing up for a dance class, I was disappointed to discover that the entire class was comprised of elderly individuals. In order to improve my technique, I needed to find a dance partner who matched my skill and stamina levels. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anyone suitable, then my research took over. My dancing shoes gradually collected dust.
“As I settled into my new life in Seattle, I began to explore the vibrant dance scene and discovered West Coast Swing and Social Foxtrot. These styles were a perfect fit for the laid-back, free-spirited culture of the city. Despite being vastly different from the dance forms I was accustomed to, I was drawn to the way they allowed me to express myself physically and emotionally through movement and music. It was a feeling I couldn’t find anywhere else.
“I realized that dancing isn’t just for relaxation, it’s a part of who I am.”
Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Source: https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/features/20230201/vietnamese-s-journey-from-particle-physicist-to-machine-learning-scientist/71226.html
HÀ NỘI A live concert programme will take place in Hà Nội next month to commemorate 22 years since the day composer Trịnh Công Sơn passed away.
Giấc Mơ Trịnh (Trịnh’s Dream), is organised by artists and founders of the Trịnh Ca Club founded 15 years ago as a rendezvous for audiences and singers who love music composed by Trịnh Công Sơn.
Located in Cầu Giấy District, Trịnh Ca Club hosts music shows featuring Trịnh and other outstanding composers of Vietnamese love and romantic music. Weekly, the live shows are also live streamed on its Fanpage to serve audiences abroad. With its activities, Trịnh Ca plays an important role in the development of Vietnamese contemporary music.
To mark 15 years since its establishment, Trịnh Ca Club co-operated with Vàng Son Một Thuở Company to organise Trịnh’s Dream, under the direction of famous musician Nguyễn Quang who have directed many music shows nationwide. The concert shows will be held on April 1 and 2 at Hà Nội Opera House.
According to Quang, Trịnh’s Dream shows do not delve into the biography of the late musician Trịnh Công Sơn or how the songs were born, but explore how the songs affect audiences and singers.
“Everybody will have a different perspective,” said Quang.
“The songs will follow each other to express each person’s dreams and thoughts. The message of the programme is to love each other and help each other build our dreams and aspirations. Everyone will discover themselves in it.”
Audiences will enjoy 20 famous songs that have a strong position in Vietnamese audiences’ hearts. However, these songs are remixed to bring a new feeling to audiences.
They are remixed in acoustic style and there will be 60 microphones arranged on the stage to amplify the sound. The director doesn’t use other digital and electronic equipment to preserve the modest and truthful sound from the voice of singers and the beat of instruments.
Singer Lê Tâm said that Trịnh Ca’s familiar artists and audiences will come to the music night as a pilgrimage to Trịnh’s realm. What connects listeners and singers is the empathy in those ideas and philosophies.
She said: “Some people say that the more Trịnh’s music is heard, the more absorbed you are, the more you understand and the more you love it. There are songs to listen to today, listen to tomorrow, but sometimes they take years to understand and take in.”
The concerts will feature generations of singers famed with Trịnh’s songs, including those born in the 1970s like Bích Ngọc, Mai Loan, Thanh Hương and also those born 1990s like Hoàng Trang or Trịnh Trí Anh. That continuation of generations is essential to maintain the goodness of Trịnh’s music and love that Trịnh Ca’s teahouse has pursued for many years. Among them, Hoàng Trang, 25, is a young singer who has become a phenomenon recently with new expressions of Trịnh’s famous songs.
The night shows mark 22 years since the talented musician passed away, but the people who built Trịnh Ca expect to let his love and faith in the good things in life continue into a non-stop flow.
Through this, organisers once again affirm the great influence of Trịnh Công Sơn: “Although he has left the temporary realm for many years, his music always has a strong vitality.” VNS
Source: http://ovietnam.vn/events/concertdedicated-to-trinh-cong-son-to-take-place-at-ha-noi-opera-house_342594.html
PHÚ YÊN — Lying on the south central coast of Việt Nam, Phú Yên Province is a peaceful and romantic environment that has attracted many visitors.
As well as popular places such as Ghềnh Đá Đĩa with overlapped rocky plates, Ô Loan Lagoon and Vũng Rô Bay offer deep blue water and romantic views.
An embankment area full of green moss in Rớ Hamlet, Phú Đông Ward, Tuy Hòa City has recently become another attractive destination for tourists.
The concrete blocks and stone slabs on the embankment against coastal erosion which are covered with green moss create beautiful scenery.
Visitors are recommended to arrive at the destination from around 5 or 6am to be able to enjoy the charming and poetic scenery. At the crack of dawn, the water recedes, revealing layers of green moss shining under the first sunlight of the day.
The most beautiful time to visit Rớ Hamlet is from January to the end of April. This is when the moss carpets wake up to life after long summer and winter days.
As the hamlet is a famous tourist attraction in Phú Yên, the way to it is quite safe and easy to find. Tourists could either take a taxi or drive a motorbike themselves, following of Google Maps or asking hospitable locals along the way for directions.
Tourists need to take caution stepping on the slippery and wet moss. They should not pick or trample on moss to preserve the inherent intact beauty of Rớ Hamlet. VNS
Source: http://ovietnam.vn/life-in-vietnam/the-green-moss-in-ro-hamlet-creates-spectacular-scenery_342730.html
by Trương Khánh Linh
“If you worry too much about your looks, how on earth will you be able to make time for other important things in life?” My grandmother’s words resonated with me as I stood in front of the mirror, scrutinising every part of my body that I deemed to be imperfect.
It was a thought that had crossed my mind many times before, but for some reason, her words hit me differently this time. It made me wonder where this obsession with beauty came from and what impact it had on women.
When I asked my 71-year-old grandmother about her thoughts on the beauty standard in today’s world, she shared her own experiences with me. She explained that when she was younger, beauty standards were much less rigid and there was less pressure to conform to a certain look. However, she has noticed that in recent years, there seems to be a lot more emphasis on physical appearance.
“I worry that women are spending too much time and money on trying to look a certain way, instead of focusing on more important things in life. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to look nice, but when it becomes an obsession that takes away from other aspects of your life, that’s when it becomes a problem,” she said.
To gain a better understanding, I reached out to young women in their 20s to discuss their perception of beauty and their insecurities.
Phạm Hương Giang, a 22-year-old college student, shared her struggles with acne: “I feel like I’m constantly hiding behind makeup. I’ve tried tons of skincare products and spent every dime I made to get rid of my acne, but nothing seems to work.”
She is currently saving up money to get better treatment. The pressure mostly comes from people around her like her friends and family. Their unsolicited comments on her appearance pressure her to change herself.
Nguyễn Thị Thu Hà, a 21-year-old student, said: “When I was younger, I felt great about my body, but as I got older, I began to feel like I didn’t measure up to the beauty standards that society set for women. Thinness and ‘perfection’ seemed to be the only acceptable ways of looking, and I felt like I had to be thin and conventionally attractive to be valued or accepted.”
I bet that all women my age are familiar with the infamous “IU’s diet”, named after a popular South Korean singer and actress. The diet is said to be one of the most effective ways to lose weight but involves eating only an apple for breakfast, a sweet potato for lunch, and a protein shake for dinner. This extreme diet is just one example of the pressure women face to conform to narrow beauty standards. On top of that, countless workout videos on YouTube promote getting rid of natural body features such as hip dips and the lack of a thigh gap. No wonder women of this generation are super self-conscious and highly critical of their bodies.
I, in fact, have witnessed plenty of women, even teenagers, try these insane methods. My 15-year-old sister once told me: “I have to be skinny or else I will die.” I was so shocked after hearing the sentiment.
Despite the negative impact, there are positive developments in the form of body positivity and body neutrality movements. These movements aim to challenge societal beauty standards and promote inclusivity and diversity.
One prominent voice in the body positivity movement is Lê Thụy, a Vietnamese TikTok influencer. Thụy is known for her confidence and her effortlessly funny videos, where she shows her bare face with acne and even displays her armpit hair, which is often considered taboo for women. When first posting TikTok videos, she received a lot of criticism from the viewers. However, despite a lot of negativity, she continues to rise above it and make people fall in love with her wonderful personality.
Speaking from my personal experience, as someone who has struggled with body image issues in the past, the concept of body neutrality has been incredibly helpful for me. For years, I felt like my worth was entirely tied to my appearance, and I spent a lot of time and energy trying to meet society’s narrow beauty standards.
When I first heard about body neutrality, I was sceptical. It seemed counterintuitive to focus on something other than appearance when it came to body image. But as I learned more about the movement, I began to see its benefits. By shifting my focus away from appearance and towards my body’s functionality, I was able to start appreciating it for what it could do rather than how it looked. I started to view my body as a tool that allowed me to run, dance, and explore the world, rather than simply as something to be judged based on appearance.
Another positive development is the increasing availability of cosmetic surgery. While many criticise the cosmetic surgery trend, I believe it has given women the freedom to make choices about their appearance.
However, it’s important to recognise that cosmetic surgery is not a panacea. While it can help women feel more confident, it does not address the root cause of societal beauty standards that perpetuate negative stereotypes about women’s appearance.
As a woman myself, I’ve felt the pressure to conform to certain beauty standards, whether it’s through social media, cultural expectations, or the availability of cosmetic surgery.
But I’m heartened to see positive developments on the horizon. It’s important to remember that beauty is subjective and comes in all shapes and sizes and that we should be promoting inclusivity and diversity rather than adhering to narrow, unattainable standards. After all, every woman deserves to feel beautiful and confident in her own skin, regardless of whether she fits into someone else’s idea of what is “beautiful”. VNS
Source: http://ovietnam.vn/life-in-vietnam/beyond-skin-deep-the-impact-of-beauty-standards-on-young-women_342677.html
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