Danson_ I'm Back feat. f(x) Amber_ Music Video

What I like about this music video (besides the 3 languages spoken fluently - Mandarin, English, and Korean - and it's obsession with milk) is that it implies a romantic relationship between Amber and Danson without trying to fit Amber into a feminine image that she has never presented before. This is the first time I've seen Amber in a music video with a romantic story as a backdrop - and I was excited to see that her image didn't change from the same boyish-clothes boy-ish hair ambiguous gender that she usually presents.

There's some argument about this - some people are claiming to be "happy to see Amber looking more feminine" - but I don't really know where they're coming from. Sure, she's wearing lip gloss and the director put in excessive close-ups of her shiny lips - but frankly, most Korean male singers wear lip gloss too. Her hair style hasn't changed. Maybe the "more feminine" presentation of Amber in this video is just heteronormative wishful thinking.

But then again, it really makes me happy to see a romantic relationship in a mainstream music video that involves gender presentations that are not traditionally masculine/feminine. Maybe I'm too excited about seeing a love relationship that could be understood as queer by people who don't know who Amber is. Maybe Amber is portraying a more feminine image in the video, and my refusal to see it is just wishful thinking.

TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK.

pop music profile #13: SHINee - Nuna is so pretty (Replay) [english subs + romanization + hangul]

Let me tell you about incest in the Korean language. "Nuna" is the term this group calls their love-interest for the duration of this video; it means "older sister (from the perspective of a younger brother)". Younger brothers use this term to refer to their literal older sisters, but all men also use it for a slightly older (not old enough to be their mother) woman that they have a familiar relationship with (ex. a friend, a co-worker they are friendly with, or a girlfriend who is older than them - which is the aspect I find most fascinating). Generally, a Nuna is someone with at least a small amount of authority over "younger brother" - since authority comes with age in Korea.

"Unni" means "older sister (from the perspective of a younger sister)"; the same dynamics can probably be applied in the case of lesbian relationships, but I haven't been around enough Korean lesbians to know if this is the case. "Hyung" means "older brother (from the perspective of a younger brother)"; again, I haven't been around many Korean gay couples.

Last, "Oppa" is "older brother (from the perspective of a younger sister)". I hate this term, am so tired of it. Nearly all girlfriends and some wives call their boyfriends/husbands Oppa - it's all over the television and the streets of Seoul. And it's true that Nuna and Unni carry some authority, but Hyung and Oppa carry more. Because Korea is still a very sexist place. The thing I hate the most is the infantile, simpering, high-pitched tone that most girlfriends use to call "Oppa!"

So, "Oppa" is on my bad side. But I don't mean to say that I'm bothered by this system in which everyone becomes a member of your family. People old enough to be your parents become aunt/uncle (in Korean, of course), and people old enough to be your grandparents become grandmother/grandfather.

It's true that Nuna/Unni/Hyung/Oppa can be just another way to enforce gender roles. And they do enforce gender roles, people use them that way. But because of their gender-specificity, there's also the possibility to use these terms to fuck around with gender roles - I've seen it once or twice. There's a general assumption that two brothers will be closer to each other than a brother and a sister will be, and so an older woman can be called "Hyung" as an indication that she is closer to her "younger brother" than a Nuna would be.

In that case, the implied gender of the older woman is changed. I also find it interesting that gay men sometimes call older women "Unni" rather than "Nuna"; in this case, the implied gender of the younger sibling is changed.

It's all very fascinating. I expect this won't be the last time I'll write about it.

my nails are painted approximately this shade

of orange.

My hair is slowly becoming long enough to pin back.

weekly pop music profile #4

Teen-bop girl band f(x), with the only song they have come out with so far: "Chu <3."

"Chu" is not a Korean word, by the way. It supposedly represents a kiss, because the motion your mouth makes when you say "chu" is kind of like puckering your lips.

The short-haired girl (@bird_esque dyke hair! real dyke hair!) who dresses in masculine clothing throughout and starts rapping about two-thirds of the way through is Amber. She is Taiwanese American (but now lives in Seoul), fluent in both English and Korean. She is easily the group's most popular member, especially amongst teenage Korean girls, who think she is "so handsome!", confirming my suspicions that everyone in Korea is queer and just hasn't figured it out yet. Internet rumors abound, but so far, no official news of her sexuality or gender orientation. But not to worry - she's only 17. There's still time.

Despite the fact that she regularly dresses in masculine clothing, these pictures still caused a huge controversy:

Four of the f(x) members in traditional female Korean clothing (hanboks). Amber in a male hanbok, gasp!

Heartz.

"Did you poop on my head?"

A lot of the students at Seoul Electronics High School smoke. In Korea, smoking is typically seen as an exclusively male habit (read: many women do smoke, but never in public. There are special smoking rooms in many public restrooms for women). But both girls and boys at my school are frequently caught and reprimanded for smoking on school grounds.

On a practical level, what this means for me is that when students ask to go to the bathroom during class, they usually don't have to go to the bathroom. They want to go to the bathroom to smoke. Which means: as much as I am opposed to the public school system having power over students' bodily needs, I can't just let them go without a fuss.

This conversation happened in one of the 2nd grade classes I have with Han Jin-An yesterday:

Student: "Teach-ah, toilet!"
Me: "Oh, you mean 'Can I go to the bathroom, please?'"
Student: "Yes, can I go bathroom please?"
Me: "Okay, you have 1 minute."

Student clutches at his stomach and makes groaning noises, then appeals to his classmates to help him explain the situation to me.

Different Student Who is Very Good at English: "Teacher, it's poop!"
Me: "Oh, really? Okay, 2 minutes."

Entire class erupts in laughter.

Student: "Teacher!"
Me: "Okay, okay, just hurry!"

Student hurries to bathroom.

One of my favorite things about South Korea is the absence of poop-phobia. What students in any American high school would have been willing to tell their teacher that they had to poop? My co-teachers are also occasionally frank with me about their indigestion and poop issues. <3

If you want to read more about South Korea and poop, click here.

"Metrosexual men would resent any implications about their sexuality, and never consider themselves anything but 'real men.'"

Oh, lordy. We're really going to talk about this, aren't we.

When Young-Kyung (my youngest co-teacher) explained to me last night that this symbol marks parking spaces reserved for female drivers, I was dumbstruck. Apparently, these "privileged" parking spots are commonly found outside of department stores. Ugh.

I told some of you that "blurring gender norms" was this week's english-teachers'-tea-time topic (incidentally, also chosen by Young-Kyung). I was excited when I found it out (maybe my co-teachers aren't as heteronormative as I thought!), but I'm afraid the result was discouraging, to say the least. The conversation centered around whether the "shocking" behavior of so-called "metrosexual"* men should be acceptable. My co-teachers all agreed that while they had no problem with men "dressing up, styling their hair, going to the salon, or wearing makeup," no woman in her right mind would ever want to marry such a man. Their main concern about "metrosexuals" was that accepting their behavior would lead to an increase in what they called the "homosexual problem." Thanks to Harisu, the topic of transgendering was briefly discussed, but predominantly dismissed as a hormone defect, an illness to be pitied.

I was so uncomfortable and upset that I could barely speak. I did my best to explain that I view sexuality (not to mention style of dress) as a personal choice and believe that all personal life choices should be accepted. I explained the difference between transgender, transvestite, and homosexual to my confused co-teachers, and also explained that "no, Harisu's husband is not gay, because Harisu is a woman." See here for South Korea on transgendering and marriage.

I told them that I had many homosexual and transgender friends, and that I found their personal choices just as acceptable as the choices of heterosexual people. I'm sorry guys, I couldn't come out to them, I just couldn't.

I wanted to cry after the "tea time," but instead I went to my last class of the day and made them laugh with my comic strips and satoo-sensei acting style (i.e. I am two people at once, perpetually jumping around the room and using papers with "Gary" and "Semin" [the textbook's name choices, not mine] written on them). This week, Semin tells Gary to watch out because there is a car coming, but Gary has his head up his ass and gets hit by the car anyway. His elbow breaks. The class thinks it's hilarious when I fall down and yell "Ouch!" while clutching at my elbow.

I can't talk about gender and queerness anymore right now. It's making me depressed, and I have productive things that I want to do today. Like Korean class, I am going to Korean class every Saturday now. Just know, all you lovely and brilliant friends, that I love you and miss you to distraction.

So, in conclusion:

Look at that smug little asshole, perched up on the ceiling where he thinks I can't get to him. He's been torturing me for two days. He hides during the day and only comes out at night when I'm half-asleep to bite any pieces of skin left uncovered by my blanket.

I took my world map, rolled it up into a pole of sorts, turned a flat-bottomed cup upside-down and put it on the end of the map, and stealthily smashed the little fucker. Take that, asshole.

*Why do people call it "metrosexual," anyway? The connotations have everything to do with style of dressing and toiletry habits, and nothing at all to do with sexuality.