Consent is Sexy: Female President by Girl’s Day

[bunica1990.livejournal.com]

…whenever claims of female empowerment or sexual expression are made of girl groups, just a little investigation reveals the conspicuous absence of the voices of the girls themselves. Rather, you find that it’s the entertainment companies speaking for them

(Korea Herald, July 2011)




I do apologize for quoting myself. But it’s not often that K-pop makes you laugh so hard:

After Girl’s Day held their comeback showcase with the uber-sexy Female President song and choreography, some expressed concerns about the group’s change in image becoming perhaps too sexual.

Their label said,

“They got so much love from ‘Expectation’ that it’s true we were at first burdened about this new song and choreography. Since we worked so hard, the members were confident in the new song, but they’re so happy because the reaction was better than expected. We’re so thankful for the interest.”

Regarding the sexy choreography and concept, the label said, “After the suspenders dance, now it’s the nine-tailed fox dance. It’s the point choreography of the new song, so they worked on it for a long time. They’re not burdened at all by the skin exposure. They’re just happy to have a new image. They’re working hard with the determination to look even sexier when promoting ‘Female President’. As the members are working hard and passionately, please watch over them fondly.”

(allkpop; original unsourced, but it appears to be a translation of this Newsen article)


Amusement turned to consternation though, when I read the following, harrowing account of what really happened at one of their recent promotions:



…Girl’s Day performed right under the sun and lighting equipment for eight straight songs. By the second song, Sojin practically fainted back stage and Minah could barely stand on her own…

After their stages, the journalists asked questions and one of them asked what they would promise their fans if they won #1. The host asked the girls to do their promise early and do it by jumping into the water ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Ridiculous.

The girls obviously looked distressed and Minah kept looking at the staff section, looking like she was asking her CEO what they should do. The girls were drenched in sweat and it was obvious that they just wanted to finish up and go home early but the CEO and the host forced the girls to go ahead with the promise anyway…


….I guess the problem was that once they were done greeting their fans, the girls could not walk at all… They tried to get out of the pool but it was obvious they had no strength left in their bodies. Minah was practically crawling out of the water because her legs had no strength and Sojin had to be supported by her manager… Meanwhile fans and journalists were taking pictures of this, of course [but making them appear erotic and consensual]…


(Update 2: Billboard Korea disingenuously claims that the Girl’s Day members “surprised viewers at one point when they jumped into the pool… in their hot pink ensembles.”

Read the full article at Netizen Buzz. Technically, their lack of consent to the swimming at that promotion is unrelated to the girl on girl action, the panties fashion, or the stripping in the MV to Female President, and I don’t bemoan anyone for enjoying any of that. But personally, it’s completely overshadowed by what happened above, which just speaks volumes about the coercive relationship between Girl’s Day and their management company, Dream Tea Entertainment. Add that all the skin in the MV is gratuitous anyway, then I have no qualms about also labeling that negative sexual objectification, as defined by the criteria outlined in the previous posts in the series. (OP: 2 older Sistar Posts which are linked to this article)


The irony though? The lyrics to the song are relatively empowering.

As Amy at YAM Magazine puts it, the title may be a misnomer, but it’s still a song…

…to empower girls to not sit around waiting for guys to give the first step, but to go for it saying “you love him,” and to go and “kiss him first”…

Commenters to a review at McRoth’s Residence disagree, including Kyungmi, who is “angered” by how “bland” they are. While her opinions necessarily carry more weight than my own, and my knowledge of K-pop is hardly exhaustive, I’m still struggling to think of more examples of girl-groups’ songs promoting such boldness in taking relationships to the next level, compared to a plethora of ones that promote passivity instead. In particular, compare Female President’s:

Come on come on oh oh oh

Come on come on oh oh oh

You go first and say you love him

Now is the time, you can start first

We have a female president

Why so serious? What’s the problem?

If a girl kisses first, she gets arrested or what?

Come up to him and kiss him first

Now is the time, you can start first


To those to Dal Shabet’s Be Ambitious (but better translated as “Look at my Legs“), also recently released, and also notorious for its “sexy concept”:

You always only hold my hand and let go,

Is that enough for you? You don’t even kiss me,

When are you gonna make a move?

We stay up all night just talking, even when you’re drunk, you just go home.

Are you really a guy? Or are you just shy?


To which Asian Junkie aptly responds:

SO DON’T WAIT WTF

Get it yourself, goddammit. I’m not a fucking mindreader.


And about the lyrics in general:

So as I said, people are apparently touting this as a sexualized, female empowerment song or whatever. In the music video’s comments, there are those commenting about how this is about women gaining control of their sexuality and shit.

But to me, it’s the exact opposite. It’s either saying, “Men need to be more rapey and force themselves on us because we’re wearing slutty clothes” OR “It’s not socially acceptable for us to make the first move because that would be slutty, so here’s our whining about not being aggressive enough to demand dick, we’re still waiting on you.”



Getting back to Female President, again I acknowledge the irony of empowering lyrics accompanying a song so negatively objectifying, and would be very happy to learn that there’s actually many more out there in K-pop that encourage women to be more assertive in their relationships (not just empowering in general though — I already know of many of those). Also, I fear that again it’s appropriate to quote myself, as I can never stress enough that…

…it’s not the place of this author—a slightly fat, bald, middle-aged man—to tell any young female singer or consumer what they should and shouldn’t consider empowering.

But to argue that the “saddest fact” about this song is that the lyricists Nam Gi-sang (남기상), Gang Jeon-myeong (강전명), and Daniel R. are men though?

That’s sexist.




I read the article this morning and I thought it was really interesting and worth making a post about here. I checked the Girl's Day tag and it hasn't been posted.


TL;DR: People were saying that Girl's Day's concept is too sexual. Their agency is saying that Girl's Day is actually comfortable with revealing skin, a statement which clashes with what happened during the group's showcase (the girls were forced to sing 8 songs in the sun without pausing and made to jump into a pool with male fans, even though Sojin had fainted backstage and Minah could barely walk). The author uses these examples to show the coercive relationship between the group and their management company, while also highlighting the irony of Female President's empowering lyrics.

credit: thegrandnarrative

Please ignore the previous post, mods. Forgot to add the source lmao.

Comments

[froggster.livejournal.com]

Your tl;dr made me want to read the article so good job OP. I'll be back later~

[bunica1990.livejournal.com]

The article is really well-written and insightful. I'm glad you decided to read it.

[tothechangmin.livejournal.com]

girl's day's company is so sketchy; i feel so uncomfortable just remembering about how yura once said she was told the lower half of her body wouldn't be filmed in the MV (for female president, the part where she wore that really short dress) but the shot made it in anyway. :/

[bunica1990.livejournal.com]

mte

Dream Tea Ent, Star Empire, and whatever company Rania is under are SO sketchy.

[snoaz.livejournal.com]

that's upsetting ugh. the more I read about this the more I want to rescue those girls and put them some place decent (though I'm not sure if there's any company that's totally fair, but better than this totally shady place at least)

[fantaesticbaby.livejournal.com]

I feel so bad for Girl's Day, that actually sounds horrible for them.

Kpop is weird and tbh most groups no matter what they're singing, I don't really see it as that ~empowering~ because of the amount of power their MALE managers and CEOs have over them.

[miamaimi.livejournal.com]

this is why I find so ridiculous when people start saying that idols are "sexy fierce bitches in charge" or whatever. It's plenty obvious that these "sexy" concept are outright objectification and explotatio from the managements and most idols don't have any say on them, except maybe the most well established.

Of course the girls themselves will deny it and say that they are confident and feminine. They wont express their real feelings about any topic. We all know how vulnerable they are in the system on the first place.

[snoaz.livejournal.com]

me too. this is also why I feel vaguely uncomfortable when girl groups have this really sexy concept because I always wonder if was their choice or their bosses'. If it's totally consensual then great; but if not then, yes, the complete opposite of empowering.

I know a group like Big Bang has a large voice in the things they do, but for girl groups I don't know. BEG maybe? They seem seem to really own their sexiness at least and make a powerful impression, though I don't know how much in charge they actually are.

[tsuyoi-hikari.livejournal.com]

+1

Couldn't agree for more. Everytime I see a sexy concept, all I could think is the objectification of their bodies more than anything -- cause that's what the companies really looking for in the end. :( That's why I only like ballad female singer in the end..

[asnindie.livejournal.com]

I read the fanaccount on NB iirc. It's really sad, the worst part is the girls are targets of hate campaigns and slut shaming, all the while they had no say int he concept (or even comfortable). But that's the sad part of the entertainment world, esp Idol world. They're controlled by their companies, even stopped from dating or having even contact with their families at times. Though I think idol treatment has improved recently. But it's all rather sad.

[bunica1990.livejournal.com]

mte

And add the sponsors and casting couches in the mix too. It's horrible.

[miamaimi.livejournal.com]

Also, this account is truly horrific

[snoaz.livejournal.com]

This makes me really sad and just ugh :(

It must be hard to stand up for your rights like that because you don't want to risk your position (and dream). But unless you become really famous and can actually start demanding things it will always be an unequal relationship between you and the ceo. What's needed are good contracts and perhaps even some kind of 'labour union' of the entertainment business to guarantee and watch over those rights. The younger these girls, the less they're probably aware of their rights or capable of standing up for themselves. I see the same in the modelling business and it's just gross how people take blatant advantage and abuse their power as the person in charge.

But exposure is always a good thing! The company does not want to risk a bad name so maybe something will be done about it now. Though it'd be better for them to just get the heck to a different place.

[kinagyo.livejournal.com]

I'm always worried about girls which are forced to sexy concept.
Majority of them spend years on harsh training, pouring liters of sweat on practices and as a result they're not appreciated for their hardwork or talent but for their body.
How upsetting it must be for them

[martha-sal.livejournal.com]

IA... I always wonder what kind of crap they have to go through until they are able to actually start performing and recording music... Even then, I can't imagine them having a major role in deciding what their concept should be, especially if it's a smaller company.

[iznanassi.livejournal.com]

100% agree on the Dal Shabet point, and that's why I can't stand the song or Dal Shabet in general.

That account is terrible and sad, this article is totally right about how weird it is that behind the scenes they're still being sexually exploited. Sighs.

[cordyceps.livejournal.com]

Because it's Dal Shabet's fault they got stuck with a shitty song?
oh ok

[illustratedd.livejournal.com]

Wtf, how is it Dal Shabet's fault for the lyrics and choreo they're stuck with? It's not like they can suddenly say "nope, not doing that" when they receive a new song to comeback with. Same goes for Girls Day who are about to faint from exhaustion or some shit one of these days from the rate their company keeps pushing them. I feel bad for BOTH groups. Fuck these shitty lyricists, these gross sexually exploiting companies and people who blame the girls themselves for doing what their companies are making them do.

/fed up girl groups stan operating on no sleep

[shineebambi.livejournal.com]

i dont think the article was blaming dal shabet at all for the concept they got stuck with more like confused as to how it because the go to feminist song of the summer when it once again is really exploitative and for men viewing pleasure and not to empower women

[mohumbhaiandson.livejournal.com]

wait at the end are they saying that pointing out that the writers of the songs are male is sexist....
what

[rylee900.livejournal.com]

I'm tired so I can't quite put my finger on what they meant but I don't think it's that

[torontok.livejournal.com]

JFC, those poor girls.
I always felt uncomfortable watching the female president video because it just felt like one giant male gaze, r/ creepshots fantasy.

[shineebambi.livejournal.com]

the more i learn about this girls day comeback the more i want to fly to korea and just give these girls a huge hug and put them in a decent company

[bunica1990.livejournal.com]

mte

[confuqued.livejournal.com]

This is pretty much everything that went through my head when they released Female President, and I never really like sexy concepts for these reasons.

[modestgoddess79.livejournal.com]

To me it is really obvious who embraces the sexy concepts and who doesn't. Most idols are not good actors so their discomfort and awkwardness shows.

[imienazwisko.livejournal.com]

That stuff about Yura not knowing its a full shot is either playing the dumb card or idk. Theres a certain diff in camera placing when you are doing full shot or a close up. Saying you had no idea what the shot was supposed to look like while you had done few mvs in the past...
Or they could told her its a dry rehersal.
Anyways, it kinda sucks that Girls' Day company is pushing that sexy concept. The only GD song i ever liked was Dont Forget Me and basically they are never going to make such song again...

One thing in the entertainment industry is the fact lots of ppl demand sexual favours in order to make you famous etc but tbh its not like you cant refuse them. Sometimes you cant but usually its a choice. What weirds me out is how are some ppl so career-driven that they say yes. You can make it the "right" way but often its so tempting to take a shortcut. Ok, i get sometimes you are really needing that role etc, but... Personally I would rather spent next 10 years playing a tree.

[rylee900.livejournal.com]

I feel like they probably told her that to get her into the outfit and then once they were there, there wasn't a lot she could do.

[uguukawaii.livejournal.com]

I still like be ambitious for what it is but ia that its sketchy. I can't like boy groups but its so hard for girl groups god kpop is so depressing

[cairistiona.livejournal.com]

Same here; it's catchy and addictive but that doesn't mean I don't know the lyrics are terrible.

[siaht.livejournal.com]

lol They have to be comfortable showing skin, how else will they stay relevant.

[porcupinegloves.livejournal.com]

Well, their company is pretty shady and that I already knew. But that fanaccount is really sad to read, and it's awful because they are stuck with them if they want to keep performing and being a group.

[babydollnana.livejournal.com]

you can see it in the last 30 seconds of this