On Aegyo And Dirty Old s

From Kim Bong-Hyeon (Full article here: http://thegrandnarrative.com/2010/02/15/girls-generation-korean-uality/)

…It was with their song Gee that Girls’ Generation really started appearing y to me; before that, they were merely like little sisters. But then they started wearing tight, clinging croptops and jeans, and the girls had changed to women. 

…The important point here is not how y they are…Rather, that despite their innocent expressions, Girls’ Generation’s clothes, accessories and lyrics are all designed to provoke men into having ual fantasies about them. But this leaves me feeling a little perturbed and guilty: how can I think like that when I see those angelic faces? Am I a ?

…While deliberately being y, Girls’ Generation pretend that they aren’t. Which proves to be even ier than if they just admitted it, for every man’s instinct is to have a woman who is a wise mother and good, virtuous wife by day, but a shameless hussy at night.

…The first thing to worry about is the question of if desire is a bad thing. Or to be more precise, is getting ually stimulated bad when that is the deliberate and expected reaction? Does the fact that it is done indirectly and stealthily mean that we have to pretend that we don’t feel aroused? Isn’t that being dishonest and deceiving yourself? We all know that as long as it doesn’t cause harm to others, honesty is a virtue. And surely it is worse to so insidiously arouse men than to feel aroused. Why on Earth was I feeling guilty about this? This is not a problem with myself, but more a systematic thing.

…So although I admit to the fact that Girls’ Generation arouses me, at the same time I worry that I am just being manipulated by their company. Or in other words, while I am unceasingly aroused by them at the same time I think seriously about if both that and what the company is doing is correct and appropriate.

As a result, I realize there are many problems to Girls’ Generation being y while pretending not to. First, while it is undoubtedly a very effective strategy for the company to make money, to society it reaffirms that there is a public and private face to put on . For while the group is designed to stimulate men’s ual fantasies, they can not admit to this. Rather than expressions of ual liberation, they must instead have guilt about how differently they feel inside and what they must actually say. This is why you have men like me saying that iness is something else entirely.

"This confession, while daring in its honesty, reveals a part of Korean society that the government and media leaders try desperately to keep hidden. It gives us a clearer picture of the culture that created the Kpop machine, and the perceptions of those who control, work within it, and consume it. While we may never fully grasp these complex social issues on a personal level, being aware of these contradictions and how they came about can help Western fans and critics alike better understand and appreciate the nuance and struggle that exists in the Korean entertainment industry, and how this both reflects and influences Korean society today."