Gender Roles and How BTS (and the K-pop Industry)
is Changing the Game

For @Btsingleat21Aug and the generation that is building the future.

#BTS #BTSARMY #BTS_Dynamite

BTS is often said to have broken a lot of stereotypes which I personally admire about them. Putting one foot out of line takes a lot of guts and bravery, a strong sense, acceptance, and confidence of oneself to stay head strong and not be taken down by the tsunami of backlash+

that is always right around the corner.

BTS has taken down a lot of stereotypes in the K-pop industry. However, I am here to discuss Gender Roles. We can get to the other stereotypes at a later time

Note: Since I only stan BTS and am not familiar with other groups, I will keep the discussion within BTS to avoid misinformation. However, the content will fit another group which is great! Afterall, the title says BTS WITH the K-pop Industry.

We often read this in a random BTS, or any K-pop related thread online:
They look like girls.
They are definitely gay.
They are gay because they wear makeup.
Why are they wearing these outfits? They look gay.
They look too feminine.
They look too clean. I bet they are gay.

First of all, there is nothing wrong with being gay (Homophobia can be discussed at a later time as well). There is a healthy way to address these homophobic people. I’ll teach you some time in the future.

The K-pop industry, in general, has been very fluid in terms of assigning or portraying a certain image for an artist. While there is still discrimination inside South Korea, I can say it is a country that had atleast started to knock down the centuries-old statue of gender role.

Gender Roles are the set of ideas, expectations and beliefs of how we are expected to behave, speak, act and generally present ourselves based solely on our sex. Gender role expectations are present in every culture and society but may differ from group to group. It can also+

change or evolve over a certain period of time.

For example:
Women are expected to be feminine, wear makeup, be caring, soft spoken, nurturing, wear pink, wear dresses, have longer hair, do household chores, take care of the kids and so on. +

Men are expected to be masculine, aggressive, bold, strong, providers in the family, take on technical professions and so on.

When I say BTS has taken down stereotypes, they have done so, together with the rest of the K-pop industry, in terms of gender role expectations.

There are four basic gender stereotypes: physical appearance, personality traits, domestic behaviors and occupations. BTS has touched atleast three.

Personality traits, obviously, are expectations on personality based on gender. Example, women are more emotional than men, timid and accommodating while men are aggressive and self-confident.

While BTS indeed possesses characteristics that are generally assigned to their sex, they have been vocal about showing emotion in different situations like award shows or when they share personal feelings towards members through letters or messages in their shows like+

Bon Voyage or Run! BTS. While the boys cringe at the cheesiness sometimes, these are enough ways to show the public that men can express ‘feminine traits’ too. As others say it, men can cry too.

BTS are often criticized for having feminine habits like covering the mouth when laughing or being touchy with each other. While these traits are based of South Korean cultural norms, other cultures find this too feminine or too gay to be accepted as a normal male behavior.

BTS’ popularity has opened the South Korean culture to the world providing enough knowledge to a lot of people while setting an example that these behaviors can be seen as masculine too. A matter of cultural difference, cultural awareness and cultural acceptance is just what+

it takes to normalize these behaviors.

Domestic behaviors are what society expects women and men to portray in terms of household settings.

Example:
Women = cooking, doing laundry, cleaning the house
Men = house repairs, taking care of finances, heavy lifting chores at home

Okay, BTS are all men living in one home. Obviously, they must do the ‘feminine tasks’ as well in order to live accordingly. That is true. What I admire about BTS though is how they embrace and show passion in one trait: cooking.

Cooking is assigned to women therefor, interest in cooking must also be within the confines of women-- atleast in the standards of gender role expectations. Male chefs are not accepted at all if we are to look into the standards of gender roles.

In BTS though, the members have embraced cooking and are even perfecting their skills in it. Of the members, Jin and Suga are two of the most involved in cooking and the members often compliment their cooking normalizing this chore as something men can and must do as well.

Here we can add that ARMYs call Jin as ‘mom’ and Suga as ‘dad’. While I understand the affection this entails towards the fandom, calling them this way shows how prominent the influence of gender roles are to us unconsciously.

I personally think we must normalize men being caring towards other people in general. Something parents must teach their kids regardless of gender.

Physical Appearance, as the name suggests, is what society expects men and women to look like. This is where we often engage with people who are, excuse me for the word, ignorant in terms of cultural differences, homophobic, hypermasculine, hyperfeminine,

close-minded and basically people who discriminates based on looks.

The first two gender stereotypes and the last one, which is Occupations, are not often pointed out on the internet because these are not outright seen on pictures, performances, interviews and basically any+

readily available promotional content of any group in general. That’s why you don’t see them hated for it.

Physical appearance though, is right in the face of the public and difference in opinion, or manifestation of the influence of gender role expectations in a person, is+

also outright available for other people to see or hear. Basically, if you hear someone say, ‘they look like girls’, this person had the gender role expectations imprinted in his mind so deep that he unconsciously makes it a standard in categorizing people he sees daily.

Another reason why people make such barbaric comments is because of cultural differences. South Korea has a wide range of beauty standards and K-pop stars, even BTS, follow it.+

Again, a matter of cultural difference, cultural awareness and cultural acceptance is just what it takes to normalize these.

The last stereotype is Occupation. Generally, women do the ‘nurturing’ type of jobs like teachers and nurses while men fit as pilots, engineers, programmers. (I get discriminated against in this category) Being artists though, is generally accepted as fitting for both sexes.

You might be confused: are gender roles and cultural differences the same? We often use it to counter the negative comments about the boys. No, they are not the same. Gender role is one of the components that make up a culture. Yes, you can still use cultural differences in+

defending the boys, or anyone in general, who gets discriminated against by the way they choose to present themselves and choose the things they want to indulge in. This thread is here to serve as a foundation into understanding what goes beyond the mind of the people who speak+

negatively of others based on the basic stereotypes above.

Can this be changed? Theoretically speaking, yes, it can be changed. As I mentioned above, these expectations evolve and change over a period of time. For example, pink used to be a masculine color. Now it is more+

feminine. Although ofcourse, we see BTS wearing pink all the time as they challenge these norms head on.

Gender role expectations can be changed but it will take a long period of time to do so. How? By imprinting fluidity into the youth, not encasing them in norms that have been set up for them by society therefor making them more open to new ideas and cultures, by educating as+

many people as you can about cultural differences, by challenging the norms, by being accepting of differences in general and respecting those who show you something new and different. It won’t hurt you to ask why people prefer certain things or why people look a certain way.+

What matters is you listened, educated yourself and respected these people no matter how different they are from you. Difference brings color to the world and the world is more beautiful when it is full of color.

BTS continues to show the other side of the world that who they are, (just the way they are, not repackaged or adjusted to fit a whole new culture) is acceptable too and in support of the cause, we follow their lead. The battle is not for everyone though.

A clear knowledge of yourself, acceptance and confidence is necessary to challenge norms as what is generally accepted by society often makes people blind and deaf to other possibilities. Backlash would sometimes ensue (i.e. People hating and discriminating BTS).

I am genuinely hoping though, that with the help of BTS’ music, their vision and the example they set, we learn to open our minds to all the possibilities of the world and truly love ourselves more.

This became a long ass thread. I apologize for that. I hope you learned something. My DM is open for personal questions and for help (not money-related though, am poor too) Thank you for reading until the end.

See you tomorrow for Chapter 8 of Another Rises. If I finish it today, I might post it today too.