However in Korea, as they are wont to do, feminine man is taken to a whole new level. When male idols perform, they are wearing lots of eyeliner and shades of lipstick that even women wouldn’t wear. While it may be true that feminine men are attractive to women, it doesn’t mean that we want to date women. We women like our men polished and clean, but also we like out men to look like men. There is certainly a point at which the lines become far too blurred. These are the moments when Heechul puts on a dress and Jo Kwon leads the Dirty Eyed Girls. Women may like pretty men, but Korea, you take it way too far.Boys, boys, boys. It seems that in K-pop these days, the boys are nowhere to be found. Why is that? Well the answer is quite simply really, there are a lot of male entertainers active right now, they just happen to look a lot like girls. And while this may seem alarming, the fans lap it up and the entertainment companies make tons of money. Why exactly would any entertainment company market their male talents in eyeliner, feathers, glitter and fringe? And more importantly, why does this even make them money?
The answer to these questions is pretty simple. More and more male entertainers take on a more feminine image because females like it and therefore, it makes them money. You’ve got that right, women like pretty boys. A study by Liverpool University found that more women are attracted to men with feminine faces. The feminine face on a man is thought to be linked with stability and caring. Men with feminine faces are more in demand biologically. If you have a face that is in high demand, then it would stand to reason that you could you that to your advantage. It would then make sense that the JYPs and the Lee Soo Mans of the world would have worked out that pretty boys sell more records. It’s all a matter of making a profit in a consumer-driven market.
Korea does take their cross dressing a bit too far, but that is the fun of it. Korean entertainment is one of the few places where male idols perform songs intended for female singers as often as they perform their own music. And as the word would indicate, these men are entertainers. Their job is to entertain the consumer. It’s why they get paid far too little and sign up for contracts for thirteen years for (wait, that’s another issue entirely). Seeing men and wondering whether they are women or not is half the fun and excitement of K-pop. Who doesn’t love to see Jo Kwon shake his thang or Heechul work his way through every member of Super Junior? I sure do!
So every once in a while, Korea, allow your male idols to shed their glam one-pieces of wonder and maybe put on a suit or some lumberjack boots. Let the men be men for a while every now and then, at least so we ladies can remember that we’re straight. We women make love our pretty boys, but we like to be reminded that they are boys from time to time. When the genders of our idols are not specifically defined, pretty soon all the female fans will have joined Team Amber. Then where would our feminine male idols be? They would be up the river with only their glittery body suits and guy liner to save them. Oh dear…
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