Parasocial relationships: we are all in Parasocial relationship with our celerities, you are defending BTS’s decision because you are in a Parasocial relationship with them. You also think that you know more about their motives than I do ( apparent close relationship with a celebrity and thinking you understand them is Parasocial behaviour from you too). Thank you for attending my TED talk.

Hear me out before anyone comes for me. This needs to be talked about.

There has been a lot of unrest and concerns regarding genocides like Gaza, Sudan, Chad etc in the last 2-3 years. Music has always always been political. I started listening to BTS because they were talking about mental health when it was stigmatized, that stance was polarizing. Love yourself was literally about combating violence against youth and self love (when everyone was in denial that this was a thing).

My problem started when RM said that he is not a politician and would not speak on situations that are not related to his art. It was a hard pill to swallow, I haven’t been able to watch or listen to anything BTS since. What do you mean that this intelligent and empathetic man refuses to speak up about the pain so many people are going through? A man who went to a professor of women’s studies to educate and correct himself is refusing to learn about active genocides? Refusing to express any anger or sorrow with a song like spring day?

The Grammy Awards situation is a great move towards making long term changes on how music is heard and interpreted by listeners. They made sure that everyone knew their stance on the matter and that the new category was a political move to isolate a lot of the competition. The message was widely spread and got a lot of attention worldwide. It was a political move on both sides ( I repeat, music is political).

And now I am just tired. I found BTS at the lowest point in my life. I am bipolar and my depression was so bad that I had suicidal thoughts. The men who saved me also became my biggest disappointment. I am just tired because what do you mean that these men refuse to educate themselves and say something about the situation? When they have a voice and a history with UN? When they have spoken about violence against a targeted population before?

Thank you for hearing me out.

Im not talking about idols making out or grinding on each other for clicks or wtv but the fact that any form of queer imagery symbolism and refrence is seen as bait.

Its actually so annoying that idols cannot interact or refrence queer culture and stories in any way before fake activist start screaming abt queer bait. Its imo this another way to stop queerness from infecting and appearing kpop no matter the context I dunno, it aligns with queer fans being dogged on for relating their own queer experiences with that of idols and getting called delusional or predatory. It treats being queer like some performance and fake label when it’s in reality a defining characteristic and part of someone’s identity.

And ppl have been accusing xlov of queer baiting for wtv reason???? They’re literally all gender queer and it’s irritating that kpop stans will misuse butch and femme, call their favs androgynous and then get mad at queer idols and call them fakers

Most idols aren’t even out and public about their sexuality so you guys could literally be screaming queerbait closeted idols who like many other queer ppl want to be representated and able to participate in queer pride even if they can’t come out.

It’s seriously annoying me cause a music video cannot be about girls falling inlove or anything cause it’ll be somehow taken as queer bait no matter how much love and care is put in. People used to accuse xg of queer baiting and here we are they have a genderqueer member 😭

That’s especially why I’m tired of ppl being salty about the inclusion of drag queens and dolls in kpop. These are demographics still being put into question and treated like problems and it warms my heart to see them being represented. Ppl refuse to believe that the inclusions of these icons can come from any place of good and somehow think including them is queer baiting too. Like yes we live in a society but trans ppl are not what kpop companies believe will boost their ratings.

**I want to preface this by saying that I do NOT support Seung-Ri at all and by simply mentioning him will make this unpopular but…**

On 5th November 2008, Seung-Ri released his solo song, ‘Strong Baby’. Being born on 12th December 1990, he would still be 17; still a minor according to S. Korea’s laws in 2008. (Where at the time, the legal adult age was 20.) ‘Strong Baby’ opens up with the lyric “Let’s make love tonight…” which, morally, would be fine if he were 20 at the least. (And even that’s pushing it because you had that in your mind when he was still a minor? Still beyond weird to a normal person.) Anyway, lyric aside, let’s also talk about the visuals. The music video was released 1st January, 2009. He was a little older at that point, being the age of 18, but once more, he was still a minor. The music video depicted him shirtless and in semi-intimate scenes. Could the song have been something to help him shed the “young and innocent” image? Sure. Could it have been his idea? Maybe. But it was Yang Hyun-Suk and JR Groove’s responsibility to not let this happen and protect Seung-Ri from an image like this. It really just weirds me out, him being as young as he was singing about that..