Flash mobs in Balboa Park, San Diego Zoo, Fashion Valley Mall, and San Diego International Airport were the ladies' largest performance to date on March 2. Forty-five ladies in colorful slacks, curly wigs, visors, fanny packs, scarves, and vests danced to Rihanna's “Don't Stop the Music.”
South Korea, where Kim and her co-founder Chin were born, respects, fears, and mocks ajummas. Women between 30 and 70, who are supposed to be married, mothers, and housewives, are called “ma’am” or “auntie.”
They were women who raised children and filled work shortages during the Japanese occupation and Korean War. Thus, women who lived through those difficult decades were stereotyped as abrupt, gruff, and wearing black or vivid prints and visors to block the light.
Short, tight curls symbolize ajummas. The hairstyle originated in Japanese occupation of Korea, when perms, exclusively accessible in department stores, defined affluence. Women were expected to do chores, raise children, and work, and perms were a cheap, low-maintenance way to style hair in the 1950s and 1960s when power was rare. The “ajumma perms” were initially tight to prolong the curls.
Even if this stereotype is old, Ajumma EXP values it. “The costume is really an homage to the old school Ajumma,” Kim added. If you appear as an old lady, people will say, ‘Oh my god, what are these ladies about to do – some kind of Zumba?’ “Oh...they just did some hip-hop moves!” You attract their attention then. And we're attempting to flip people's lives."
Due to demographic and cultural changes, Korean women in their 40s, 50s, and 60s work in offices and follow stringent Korean beauty standards that emphasize thinness, flawless glass skin, and high fashion. Post-war generations are eliminating ajummas due to bad preconceptions.
Because of its hateful connotations, ajumma is disappearing from Korean. After considering history and how ajummas literally kept Korea together, they deserve greater respect and attention.
She added they have a greater purpose. “Ajumma EXP goes beyond highlighting middle-aged women. Specifically, Sonia and I are Korean Americans. It's about reclaiming ajumma and making it positive and ours.” Kim said a lady can join the party without being in the official group. “Get a visor and wig and go out with your friends one night like ajummas. The experience is wild.”
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