Disclaimer: I am not saying that misogyny does not play a factor in this as it does play a very huge factor with the way fans react to female acts doing bold actions compared to male acts. This topic discusses other factors as to why fans react differently of female idols doing bold acts compared to male idols and how it affects both genders.
Recently, a Youtuber had posted two videos discussing the solo careers of Lisa and Jennie and their performances on stage. In these videos, the Youtuber had criticized both women of their bold outfits and choreography onstage in which she had explained about the responsibilities of being a K-pop idol and having a young fanbase. While she had mostly explained this in Jennie’s video, Lisa and the other members of Blackpink had been criticized online for their bold choreography in some of their performances with fans and non-fans explaining that Blackpink have certain responsibilities and expectations when it comes to their performances especially when they are one of the most recognized K-pop acts globally and the biggest girl group in the world. Both videos had received agreement from commenters who had felt that Lisa and Jennie were doing too much and that they shouldn’t be doing those kinds of actions on stage. However, it did bring up a lot of questions as to why male acts don’t receive this type of posts, comments, and video content compared to female acts as male acts had performed shirtless, grabbed their private parts, did bold choreography, and dry humped the air/floor.
Aside from misogyny, another thing that plays a huge role in these reactions is the industry’s history of sexualizing female acts under their labels. Plenty of female acts had come out to expose the industry’s sexualization of women and how labels tend to promote female acts when it comes to sexy concepts. This is why whenever a female singer/rapper do bold concepts, this could cause a lot of criticism from fans that are aware of the industry’s sexualization towards women. In their eyes, these female acts are signed under a label that is run by men and are being forced to do these things to gain profit for their labels. This causes fans to instantly jump to protect these female music acts from their labels and criticize these labels for the way they market their acts.
Another thing that plays apart in these reactions is the history of the objectification and sexualization of women in society. Throughout many decades, women were often seen as objects/property that men own and were expected to be submissive to their husbands inside the household. When women started to break these social norms and fight back against this oppression, it causes fans to criticize the female acts for doing these bold acts as they feel like these women are sending feminism back to how women were treated in society. Women want to be seen as human and not as objects that are owned and belonged to by men. There is also another thing that doesn’t get talked about as to why the reactions are so different until I had watched a video that had made me under why.
In music, women are often expected to be role models towards their young female fans by succeeding in an industry that wants to control them. Think of acts like Britney Spears, Sabrina Carpenter, Cardi B, Megan Thee Estallion, Miley Cyrus, and Blackpink who were called “bad role models” by fans and nonfans due to their music, bold image, and their performances on stage. Britney, Megan, Miley, Soyeon, Jessi, and Lady Gaga had even called out these double standards and expectations that female artists are expected to have compared to male artists that do the same thing as them yet they don’t receive the “bad role model” label by critics and fans. For example, Sabrina Carpenter had been receiving criticism for her acts on stage, yet Chris Brown and Usher are literally doing bed performances and giving lap dances towards women at their concerts but little to no posts, comments, or video content is criticizing this behavior. Now this does open up a conversation in how sexualization of men is viewed compared to the sexualization of women especially in K-pop as male idols are often sometimes forced to lift up their shirts to show their bodies to gain more fans.
Not only that but male acts had their rooms broken into, are constantly stalked, had toxic fans calling their numbers, and even had fans go to their apartments/homes to meet them. Make no mistake about it, fans had definitely criticized this behavior and had ordered companies to protect their idols more from these toxic fans invading their privacy. However, when it comes to the discussion of the sexualization of male acts there tends to be a divide amongst fans as while many considers it a topic that needs to be taken seriously others see it as a serious topic, but at a certain level compared to the sexualization of women. To be honest, companies that are forcing their acts (male or female) (minor or adult) should be criticized and fans sexualizing these acts should also be criticized. On the other hand, adult female acts that are in control of their own image should not be criticized especially if male acts that are willingly doing the same thing as them and are being praised for it.
What other factors plays into these reactions? How do we get people to care about the sexualization of men like we do with the sexualization of women?
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