Sexual Objectification of Women in K-Pop

Throughout the global rise of K-Pop we have seen women in K-Pop being portrayed as sexual objects. In many music videos for K-Pop girl groups, the performances are overtly sexual and show the women in revealing clothing, displaying sexual hand gestures and dance moves. This has become the norm across K-Pop due to men controlling the K-Pop entertainment industry. However, this societal consistency can have detrimental effects on self-esteem, leading girls to believe that their worth is defined by a male standard. In this essay, I will argue that women in K-Pop are sexually objectified which teaches young girls that they need to establish their identity based on their physical value.

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, men dominate the control over the Korean Pop Industry. Thus, their perception of female attractiveness is used to find K-Pop idols, create music videos, and establish acceptable choreography. The issue with this is that it has allowed women in K-Pop to be reduced to their sexuality in order create an identity. The restrictions on women imposed by a patriarchal society diminish women into a role of objectification; thus, an objectified woman is seen as visible because the qualities that establish her visibility are decided by male desire (Oh 2014: 57).

Sexual attractiveness is highlighted throughout almost every K-Pop girl group music video which places an emphasis on a woman’s physical qualities. Many of these videos also have slow-motion shots panning over sexualized body parts of women, such as their breasts. It appears as though the goal of the entertainment companies directing these videos is to use sexualization for capital gain. This has created a context of ‘body industries’ within K-Pop where the appearance of young women needs to be prioritized to cater towards cultural capital (Yeran 2011: 335). In an industry that has immense power over influencing young girls, this is harming their fans perception of what beauty consists of. Women in K-Pop are taught that they are not valued for their intelligence, or athleticism, but instead for their physical appearance. A commercial standard of sexuality is the underlying goal in the development of a K-Pop stars’ image (Unger 2015: 26). All female K-Pop idols are attractive and young, which provides girls with the idea that the focus on physical value is of the upmost importance. In a society where women are sexually objectified for capital gain, some could argue that this is sending the wrong message. The tremendous influence that women in K-Pop have on young girls has led to a number of issues regarding self-worth.

To summarize, men’s control over the K-Pop industry has led to the sexual objectification of women in order to establish a sense of identity. Adolescent girls are among the group most affected by the physical value phenomenon that we see in K-Pop girl’s groups.

-Hailee

Yeran, Kim. “Idol Republic: The Global Emergence of Girl Industries and the Commercialization of Girl Bodies.” Journal of Gender Studies, Vol.20, No.4 (2011): 333–345.

Oh, Chuyun. "The Politics of the Dancing Body: Racialized and Gendered Femininity in Korean Pop." The Korean Wave, 53-81. New York.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.

Unger, Michael A. "The Aporia of Presentation: Deconstructing the Genre of K-Pop Girl Group Music Videos in South Korea." Journal of Popular Music Studies, Vol.27, No.1 (2015): 25-47.