Sexualization In K-Pop: Is It Too Much?

I think the entire K-pop-osphere exploded when this picture was released.

I grew up in America, which is probably the most over-sexualized country in the world. Needless to say, I pretty much saw this picture, blinked, and moved on with my day. I'm pretty sure my only thought when I saw this picture (besides wondering if they were going to get banned from music shows) was, "Wow, Hyuna has a nice body. I wonder if any part of this picture was photo-shopped, though... Honestly, probably not. She dances for a living. Sigh. I really should exercise more..." As a fan of both 4minute and BEAST, I loved Trouble Maker when they first debuted. I love the sound of male and female voices together in a song, so it's a shame it doesn't happen more often. 


I understand why they're so rare in K-pop, of course. The industry markets Idols as relationship material. Boys and girls sing about how you -- the fan -- broke their hearts and caused so much pain. When asked if Idols have girlfriends, they usually answer yes -- the fans are their girlfriends. Though, oddly enough, even though the same approach is done for marketing girl-groups, I've never actually heard a girl-group member come right out and say that their fans are their boyfriends. I'm sure this is because girl groups are marketed in two ways, while male groups are not. Girls are marketed not only to bring in the male fans who can consider themselves their boyfriends, but also to other girls who can relate to the lyrics in the songs and can think of the girls as girls they would have as friends -- or even as girls they would look up to, whether it's in school or their jobs (many girl-groups are idol-worshiped by their fans who are often of the same sex, or so I've noticed). If you put two people together to sing who are of different sexes, you run the gamut of indirectly marketing them as a couple (as seen with Trouble Maker -- I've never been very accepting of shipping until these two, actually. When they're marketed as if they are a couple, you can't help but support the fact that they may, in fact, be seeing each other).

Most people do seem to like Trouble Maker but I've seen many complaints about HyunA being too over-the-top sexy. I disagree, in fact I find it refreshing that these two are being so up-front about their sex-appeal and their "attraction to each other". I usually don't like groups who are sexy -- especially in indirect ways. Usually by using aegyo (cute actions) to cover up their ridiculously short and/or revealing clothing and rubbing themselves in odd places (like their mouths). I'm firmly against marketing minors as sexy, too, even though I've seen it more times than I'd like to admit. 

I completely get why it's startling to so many international fans -- many of us started listening to K-pop because it was more innocent and overall cleaner than many of our home countries' pop music -- so, seeing two idols half-naked with each other isn't something we're used too. If we wanted to see that, we'd listen to our own countries' mainstream music.

Maybe it's because I'm not a hard-core dedicated fan. I'm really just a casual listener who listens to what I like, whether or not it's popular (though, it is called pop music for a reason). I thoroughly believe in saying when something isn't good and praising something that is -- even if they are your oppars and it would hurt their feelings and they're just the best damn oppars ever so you better shut up before I cut a b!tch. My favorite groups aren't ones who I've liked every song -- they're ones whose music I like collectively and also them as individuals (as scripted as it may be).

So, Hyuna? Bring on the sexy, girl! ('Cause you sure do look fantastic doing it!) I'll be happily eating it up and waiting for more! And, of course, bring Hyunseung along with you, 'cause he's pretty sexy himself.