Qᴜᴇᴇʀ ʙᴀɪᴛɪɴɢ ɪɴ ᴋ-ᴘᴏᴘ [ᴛᴡ: Qᴜᴇᴇʀ/ʟɢʙᴛQ ʙᴀɪᴛɪɴɢ]

[https.jisoobiased]

So as you can see from the title I'm going to be talking about how some idols in k-pop often use "queer baiting" in either their MV's or on stage.

The definition of queer baiting is when in the entertainment or fiction business hints at there being an LGBTQ relationship but does not act on it.

For example for most of you who know Red Velvet's Irene & Seulgi's song Monster, in the video the two girls are seen to be in a relationship or have some feelings to one another, but they never act on it.

What are your opinion's on this? Do you think it helps promote the song or not?

 

[LostInTheDream]

I think it definitely helps to promote the song, as they make it more accessible to a different market.
Another good example is Chuu's "Heart Attack" M/V

 

[saaylhy]

rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
I think it's a good musical trick to attract people
especially lgbt + q people
but it can trigger scandals on the side of homophobes
but it's not a bad idea

 

[OppaIsTrash]

i actually wrote a paper on queer baiting back in the day, although this was before i really got into kpop so it doesnt mention it.

one thing about queerbaiting that i mentioned in that paper was who it was baiting, the lgbtq+ community. you're baiting queers. so i always said that its not queerbaiting if the intention isnt to pander to an lgbtq+ audience. in the case of anime/manga and these kpop performance elements, i'm not convinced that they're targeting an lgbtq+ audience. i'm more inclined to think that they're targeting a cishet audience that fetishizes these relationships. lgbtq+ people still see it and find some appeal, but that isn't the target audience. i don't know for sure who these companies and idols are doing this for, so its a bit of a gray area. and there's a case to be made for representations that do mean to be respectful and sympathetic (like tenny's 159cm, in my opinion).

also, in response to this example:

Another good example is Chuu's "Heart Attack" M/V

personally i don't think the relationship depicted between chuu and yves in the mv was made with the intention to be expressly read as gay, although i think that reading is extremely valid and is also how i read it. i think it's supposed to reflect the relationship between fan and idol to a certain extent (it can still be gay bc gay fans exist). i think in general relationships between women tend to get downplayed as 'just gals being pals' a lot, and that's reflected there in a sense. all this to say that, rather than queerbaiting, i think heart attack just happens to be subtextually/accidentally gay.


sorry for going on and on~

 

[yunaing]

Very mixed feelings towards the whole concept.
I myself am a lesbian, and as I’m still fairly young the idea of my idols being gay too is something that brings me happiness as it would make me feel closer to them in a sense? But at the same time, it would hurt if these ‘relationships’ that I look up to and admire ended up just being for the publicity, as it would feel like my identity as a member of the LGBT community is just for attention which it really isn’t. People should pretend to be LGBT, just like their shouldn’t pretend to be a race they’re not

 

[lynch.]

I have mixed feelings about I&S "Monster" MV, and I personally think that if the Idols aren't interested in being in a relationship with somebody of the same sex, they shouldn't have that image that their company puts on them, and vice versa. If an idol isn't interested in heterosexual relationships then their company shouldn't paint that image on them. K-pop companies will always be controlling and there's nothing we can really do about that, but IMO when a company puts an image on an idol that is the exact opposite of who their idol really is, it doesn't show who they really are and it only shows what the company wants us to see.
i hope you guys are able to understand where i'm coming from