My reflective essay

Emily Flores

Dr.Saeji

Friday, July 28
  
    K-pop is a complex topic because of how much it's affected by different factors such as the Korean culture,Korean values, the amount of modernization it has gone through in a short time span and the new reputation is has been gaining due to the debuts of newer and more recent idols.

    Kpop and Korea may be associated simply because the “k” in Kpop stands for Korean, although many people ask if it's Chinese music, but it can also be related in the way that Kpop came to be because of the history of Korea.Beginning with the rise of trot, a type of music with western scales made up of a “boom cha” rhythm, at the end of the 80’s then followed by the Hip-Hop craze in which artist like So Taeji succeeded because of the dark and refreshing beats that were used to convey the problems that were being censored by the government.Shortly after, the concept of a Kpop group started to arise and with this new movement also came sexism and sexualizization, especially of women. The amount of sexism that came from these new idol group concepts didn't receive much backlash because of how deep rooted social hierarchies were in Korea, in the sense that a man was seen as superior to a woman and because mostly men were successful in the music industry in the past there was doubt and unsureness when it was known that girls would also begin to participate. Once the girls started making their own bands and groups they began to face other struggles like not selling enough to sustain their lifestyle unless they did a sexy or cute concept whereas men could do any style and still sell a consistent amount of records, this led to further inequalities for women in the future.

   One of the most impactful things in Kpop is the fact that there is a fair amount of sexism in the videos and it is usually in the form of either sexualizing women, putting men in a higher position or by incorporating lyrics into the song that demean any gender.Most often, women in the Kpop industry are seen wearing revealing and tight clothing to appeal to the audience and show how beautiful they are.Another form in which sexism makes its presence known is when in certain music videos like in Black Pink’s Boombayah you can hear a lyric that that states “I don't want a boy I need a man” which implies their need for a strong figure as opposed to a child or in this case a boy.. Similarly, there is also a double standard that leads to more sexism, for example, if a boy group were to say “I don't want a girl I need a woman” it would be over for them because of how much backlash they would receive as opposed to Black Pink where nobody mentioned it and if they did they found it to be encouraging and just a social norm.  

  Additionally, women are being sexualized in parts,for example,when a camera shoots only the legs of the artist when they perform it sexualized the legs even if it wasn't meant to be sexualized.Another form in which women are shown as objects is with the different angles,types of color schemes and facial expressions because they don't really get a say in what they want to do.Camera work is also used in situations where the artist might do an explicit dance move and the camera will apply the idea of depth of field to the shot so that it blurs out the background and focuses solely on the woman's body. Since it's so common for women to be sexualized or demeaned as less it's no surprise that things like camera angles, clothing styles and even lyrics are used to show their status despite them being really talented.

  Despite the many great aspects to kpop one of the most important issues that must be dealt with is sexism because it only makes others see women as objects and in turn puts men above women.It might be difficult to change the stigma around sexism because of how it dates back to older Korean culture but with enough education and effort there can be a change in the way women are perceived as. Something to keep in mind next you watch or critique a girl group is that you shouldn't just assume the roles or personality of a woman based on what she wears or how she looks because chances are you have a female relative or you are a female yourself and it wouldn't please you to have them be objectified.Right?