This is a topic that I often hesitate to bring up, but I think the time has come. Note that this isn’t a criticism of any particular person, but more of an attitude that I find asive among the majority of the Kpop fandom as a whole. I’ve noticed, especially among writers/readers of fanfiction, a certain obsession with member/member fanfiction, especially as it pertains to male groups and idols. By itself, this isn’t an issue, as on the surface it seems to imply a support for gay male relationships and the LGBT+ community as a whole. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

This “support” is in fact nothing more than hypocritical ization, as many of the people that support these pairings, do not in fact support homouality in full, as evidenced by the fact that when confronted with the possibility of idols being anything but straight, many deny the possibility. But there is another layer to this that I also find troubling, and that is the tendency to apply heteroual concepts to homoual couples. And I don’t mean in the Mpreg sort of way, although that comes with its own laundry list of problems. No, what I’m referring to is a bit more subtle, to the point that most people guilty of it probably don’t even notice it. What I’m talking about is the fact that often, fans will reject couples that do not have an overt masculine/feminine dynamic.

To elaborate, let’s use two of the most popular pairings in a popular group. JeongCheol vs JiHan from Seventeen. I’m sure many people are familiar with this pointless “shipping war” but I hypothesize that the reason JeongCheol is preferred over JiHan by many (not everyone, obviously) is that, Seungcheol and Jeonghan have a more heteronormative masculine/feminine dynamic as opposed to Jeonghan and Joshua who are much more difficult to categorize in such a way. Too often one is equated to being the “woman” of the relationship, when something people must realize is that they are both men. Neither is the “woman” and applying these ideals to homoual relationships can be damaging. And all of this is not even getting into the constant misgendering of idols based on their appearance or fashion choices, which is a topic for another discussion.

In summary, I think a lot of people in the Kpop fandom need to reevaluate their perception of the LGBT+ community and how it effects their views on member/member pairings. To be short and sweet, don’t ship it if you wouldn’t support it IRL.

Just had to get all of that off my chest,

-Batcrazy