This is kind of a rant. As someone mixed race (Asian/white) I tend to think that I don't look incredibly asian, I have some features that are definitely more white than not, but my eyes just manage to be an odd shape, someone in between Korean and American.
Anyways....with that out of the way, bc I'm still salty about not being able to wear a lot of eyeliner, let's talk.
Seriously, the cultural appropriation of Korean people has gotten way out of hand. The same girls who made fun of my eyes in Elementary school, are now TAPING BACK THEIR FUCKING EYES, and have things in their bio like "Stan BlackPink, stan Oppa Jungkook"Etc. Etc. This is not a made up scenario either. This girl named Nia used to tell me that my eyes "looked weird" and she seriously came up as someone I may know and half her photos and videos were of her pulling her eyes back or extending her water line or trying to make it look like they have Aegyo-sal (fatty deposits under the eyes that have become popular in Korea as a way to enhance your eyes. I have it naturally, and it's enhanced by my dark circles and constant stress.)
Like one, Oppa, is a term for an older brother, so when I see all these completely American people post a picture of some k-pop dude, with a caption like Sexy Oppa, I'm like wtf. Like do you find your older brother hot?!! That's basically what you're saying.
The worst part is some of these people deadass think they know Korean now. They think that these can just be said to anybody, and they go around calling their white American fans Eunnie, Noona, Oppa, etc. Like this wouldn't be terrible if they actually took the time to understand what the words meant, and how to use it in the correct context, but they aren't.
I saw a tik tok not too long ago of this woman, who was wearing a Hanbok, a traditional korean outfit that looks like this:
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Now, don't get me wrong, I am totally fine with people wearing traditional Korean clothing. Even people that are not Korean, as long as they wear it correctly, and at appropriate times with respect to our culture, because Hanboks are a beautiful thing and they hold signifigance to us and our culture. But this woman, who was not Korean at all, had the Hanbok untied and altered to where it showed so much cleavage, like almost all the way down, and was missing like most of the skirt part. It was basically a mini-skirt, but Hanbok style. (similar things have happened to the Ao Dai, a vietnamese outfit, and the Qipao, a chinese outfit, but since I am not Vietnamese, or Chinese, I can't speak on that.)
No, just no.
And last thing, I swear, is the amount of teen girls wanting to become a Kpop trainee.
Like, I get the allure of it, honestly I do. 4 years ago I was fucking obsessed with that shit, I wanted to be a Kpop trainee. Kpop trainees essentially have the opportunity to become Idols in the Kpop world, though only a select few make it. I flew out to Korea, and I went to audition for JYP entertainment. I got in. But, I quit after a few weeks of training. During those few weeks, they encouraged unhealthy fasting, dieting, and starvation among us, and while in dance training, I went into a split, and my instructor didn't think it was good enough, so she pushed my shoulders down hard, and pushed my body past it's limit for the split. she kept pushing me downward as I cried out in pain, and afterward I could barely move my leg. We were consistently made fun of, mocked, humiliated, and I still have pain in my leg when I stretch it.
I left. I couldn't take it. This industry is not healthy. You have no say in what they force you to do, and so many girls have been sexually assaulted.
This entire thing may just sound like me bitching about insignificant shit, but so much of it bugs me bc these non-korean people are getting fame and popularity off of taking parts of Korean culture and pretending to be Koreans, while actual Koreans are getting hate crimed, murdered, made fun of, or getting told to go back to where they came from.
