Part 5: Gender Inversion

With the popularity of celebrities that appear to fit in with neither the traditional expectations of men and women, gender roles are becoming increasingly blurred. Many male celebrities don thick makeup, have long hair, and can sing high pitched songs. On the other hand, female celebrities have picked up the “rapper” image, with short stylish hairstyles, baggy pants and able to sing in a low pitch (Sc2220.wikifoundry.com, 2011).

Above: Singapore English radio station 987FM challenges the hosts to identify the genders of some famous KPop stars. (Source: Youtube- 987FM)

Popular boy groups such as 2PM often cross-dress and perform the songs and dances of popular girl groups for entertainment value, as they exercise “feminized soft masculinity” or “kawaii masculinity” (Sun, 2011). These were seen not only on popular variety shows such as Gag Concert and Idol Show, but even on KPop festivals such as the SBS Music Festival, where K-pop fans from all over the world rave about. As Sun Jung noted, such gender inversion practices were a huge trend in the KPop scene in 2009 because of the rise and success of many new KPop groups. From early boy groups such as Super Junior and TVXQ, whereby members typically emphasize on their pretty boy features, the recent trend has been groups like 2PM or B2AST, where they emphasize on their beast-like masculinity (Sun, 2011); making the appeal of KPop boy groups versatile for people of different preferences. 

Above: Fan-generated content on how his/her favourite KPop boy band cross dress. Read more here: http://sungmin-everlasting-mistress.tumblr.com/post/22827516108/super-junior-super-gorgeous 

(Source: http://sungmin-everlasting-mistress.tumblr.com/)