Why is kpop so gay

Every time I hear something like that, I feel surprised and happy of course, but I also do worry a lot for them. You are more than worthy of love. The person you must love is yourself, more than anyone else. Please love yourself no matter what. In Korea, mental health is still a stigmatised topic so I hope we can be more open about talking about mental care and treatment. In the future, I hope that we can collectively change our mindset.

And I will try harder to live with a more positive mindset. I also want to release my full-length album. My goal is to work extremely hard on it, to the best of my abilities, so that it meets even my own standards. Until then, Bang had come out to his family, but his mother, an evangelical Christian pastor, was in denial.

She still is, Bang said, though she is beginning to understand that he will likely never have the lifestyle she imagined for him. Bang struggled with his sexuality throughout childhood and college, repressing his feelings as something sinful, he said. Bang was told that he had developed laryngopharyngeal reflux, often called silent reflux, and the beginning of a polyp in his throat.

He would have to stop singing or risk losing his voice entirely, his doctor told him. So I actually went into hair styling after that.

Everywhere he went, audiences filled with young people awaited him with urgency in their eyes. As one of only a handful of openly gay public figures in Korea, Holland is more than a musician. Teenagers, shaking with emotion, approached him, and he opened his arms to embrace them , wipe away their tears , and offer guidance for dealing with unsupportive parents. At one meet-and-greet, where rainbow flags dotted the crowd, he demurely covered his face as people chanted his name.

In South Korea, where same-sex unions are not legally recognized and sex between men is sometimes criminalized , Holland has chosen to live freely as one of the first openly gay K-pop idols.

In doing so, he's creating a vital, magical world for others to also embrace their sexuality and find themselves in his music. Homophobia is still rife in South Korea, where very few mainstream music stars have come out as gay. The country has no comprehensive anti-discrimination laws to protect LGBTQ South Koreans, and compared to nearby democracies like Japan and Taiwan, the country is less accepting of same-sex couples. A still from K-pop star Holland's music video "Neverland.

Taiwan has introduced same-sex marriage -- and although Japan hasn't done the same, some cities issue same-sex partnership certificates, though they're not legally binding.

Read More. There's no such option in South Korea. There, homosexual sex is not banned, but it is illegal in the military, where almost all men must complete a stint of compulsory conscription. Despite all that, same-sex K-pop idols regularly play-act romance. On stage, they dance intimately with one another or gaze into each other's eyes. In video clips, it's not uncommon to see them playing games that result in them grazing lips, then dramatically recoiling to show that it was all just play.

That apparent contradiction is no accident. Although major labels are afraid to let stars be open about their sexuality for fear that they will hurt their career, they allow -- and sometimes encourage -- stars to touch each other in public.

If you come out, your fans will be so infuriated. Fantasy worlds. To understand what's going on, you need to go back to the s.

For decades, South Korea had been under military rule. It wasn't until that the country's first elected civilian president took office, ushering in a new era of economic growth, technological development, and a blossoming entertainment sector -- including the first K-pop idols. Teenagers were hungry to consume everything about their favorite stars.

But it was a time before social media, and stars didn't share as much about their lives as they do now.