This is just monetising incels, isn't it?
Yes, but this is happening in the states too yet we don't have this kind of insanity. For example, onlyfans is basically a website dedicated to monetizing incels. But there's an implicit understanding that those actresses have their own lives. For some reason, in S.Korea they're not allowed to have their own lives. It's bizarre no matter how you look at it.
Not really.
Onlyfans is more or less a strip club. It is not (just) about seeing titties. It is about "the fantasy". Ask any stripper and the best possible "gimmick" is to be "working my way through (grad/law/nursing/whatever) school" since that lets clients feel like they are "saving" you.
And, on a surface level, that is similar. Pop Idol better not have a boyfriend because she is a permanent virgin and blah blah blah.
But that is where it ends. Because the guy who starts getting overly possessive of a stripper/sex worker/OF model/whatever? We, as a society, think they have issues and there is usually a support structure to get them away from the person they are going to stalk.
Whereas with k-pop (and, to a somewhat lesser extent, j-pop and the like): The support structure encourages that mindset and punishes the performer for daring to ruin "the fantasy". And, as can be seen here and every other time this happens, "society" encourages that.
And... South Korea is so fucked that it makes Japan look like a good place to be a woman. Like, it is a genuine problem to the point that voice actresses have gotten "cancelled" because someone thought they made a rude gesture that insults men.
TBH, the strippers I've known IRL were actually doing that. One of them got a degree from a pricey art school and now is a VP at an advertising firm (she started as a photographer, moved up to graphic design, then art direction...). I'm acquainted with one that has a day job as an attorney and does it because she both enjoys it, and it pays better than most legal jobs.
Yeah. One of my best friends literally stripped her way through law school.
But it is also just a bog standard thing to say during a lap dance or whatever. "oh, I'm just doing this until I get through veterinary school" and so forth.
No, not just incels but hardcore fans and lonely people in general. The marketing strategy of pretending to be single with the goal of seeming somehow available is not gender or country specific and is used in pop music a lot. It´s all about creating a projection screen for fantasies and dreams to increase sales. Just think of boy bands in the 90s.
Wait. You're telling me I don't actually have a shot with Joey Fatone?!?!
I hereby apologize to all women for being married and off the market these last 17 years. Don't worry, you didn't miss anything special.
You mother fucker. I hope you're happy. I hope you're REAL FUCKING HAPPY.
I hope that woman brings you a fucking LIFETIME of joy and comfort after that colossal fuck up. Yeah. I hope you both love each other and live in one another hearts for a hundred years and then DIE AT THE SAME TIME. you asshole.
SO much THIS. The two of them FUCKING DESERVE each other!!!11one
HAVE A NICE LIFE, SEE YOU AGAIN NEVER!
So the men still have a chance?
The whole idol culture is fucked up and unhealthy to say that least.
Hyper capitalist emotional exploitation.
Take a normal human emotion, feed it through a system optimized to wring out profit, this is what is left.
I really don't get the mindset of these people, neither do they know their celebrity crush nor will they ever get an actual chance. It does make no difference to them. They could just as well fantasize about their crush leaving their partner for them.
i call it the dark side of idolism.
its a way to extract money very well, but it creates a toxic environment
Simping is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.
K-pop agencies are reportedly keen to promote their stars as romantically obtainable, while in Japan many pop stars have "no dating" clauses in their contracts.
Wouldn't being banned from dating make you the opposite of "romantically obtainable"?
The fans can fantasize about meeting them and they being so smitten that they defy the clause for the fan. There is also an element of collective ownership. If nobody can have her, every one has an equal chance.
Wait!@! What? She has a boyfriend? Does that mean that NOW I don't have a chance of being her one?
south korea fucking sucks
The idol / boy group / girl group business everywhere fucking sucks, in Japan as well. Nothing but predatory people and practices and a dumb-as-bread fanbase who's bamboozled by the veneer of exoticism into thinking it's all fun and games. Look at Japan where "Johnny" Kitagawa built a boy-idol empire to be able to rape hordes of teenagers and then basically enslave them with contracts into making a fortune for him. And nothing happened for decades despite everybody knowing what's going on with him, because, "oh gosh, aren't they funny and pretty and happy boys"? In Japan and South Korea, if you're a rich old man, you can rape kids by the dozen and the worst that will happen to you is have to pay them some hush money if they publicly accuse you. Western otakus don't know what fucking dirty businesses they support and glorify.
If you sell an illusion you have to deal with both the delusional and disillusioned.
I accept her apology
Her "fans" are deranged and she should feel unsafe around them.
Homer : [after hearing "Baby On Board" could be a hit] Wait'll I tell Marge.
Nigel : Oh, yes. Bouffant Betty. Well, I would prefer we kept your marriage a secret. You see, a lot of women are going to want to have sex with you, and, uh, we want them to think they can.
Homer : Well, if I explain it to Marge that way, I'm sure she'll understand.
[at the house, Marge cries into her pillow]
Homer : [trying to comfort her] Come on, honey. It'll only be 'til we finish our tour of Sweden.
She doesn’t need to apologize for having a personal life.
https://www.koreaboo.com/stories/korean-soloist-reacts-aespa-karna-apology-letter-lee-jae-wook/
You know theirs people actually like that but... Why are people this obsessed over another human? It's unhealthy.
Why are people this obsessed over another human?
Because enormous sums of money are spent marketing this individual as a form of paid parasocial relationship. You get (fake) emails from her. You get (fake) social media interactions with her. You get a deluge of media telling you that she's available and interested and looking to meet a guy just like you. You spend hours in line to get tickets to a sold out show. You wait with baited breath for every new media release, which is inevitably a song or movie or other material about her falling in love with a stranger who follows her from afar. This, combined with the endless peer pressure on other women to become this iconic individual.
Idol culture is the social equivalent of playing the lottery. And finding out your idol is "taken" is like hearing you got sold a ticket to a prize that's already been awarded to someone else.
If you have three hours to spare, here's a very interesting documentary explaining South Korea's current gender issues. It also provides a very decent historical and cultural background:
Nothing new. A famous Hong Kongnese celebrity name Andy Lau has kept his marriage and wife a secret for over 25+ years.
In Chinese society, celebrities are a product and they are not allowed to taint the product.
This whole idol bullshit in Korea and Japan is one of those things that I will never be able to comprehend. It's such an alien concept.
We can all agree that this is a shitty industrial practice but, is she a beneficiary or a victim?
I guess she's both to varying extents, and it depends how much she benefits while being exploited.
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