A clarifying talk with BTS' Jimin about Radical Feminism, his Gender Identity, Makeup Culture and Prostitution
Park Ji-min, more commonly referred to simply as Jimin, is a member of the K-pop group BTS, also known as Bangtan Boys. However, a recent photograph of Jimin with a temporary tattoo of the bigender symbol, which combines the female Venus and male Mars symbol, has got fans wondering if all the Bangtan Boys really are boys.
Pictured above: the bigender symbol and Jimin with a tattoo of it.
I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to do an exclusive interview with Jimin on his thoughts on gender diversity, choice feminism, OnlyFans and whether or not breaking gender norms through wearing makeup is a good thing. While the setting sun paints my office a tired yellow, Jimin is scrubbing the sleep out of his eyes on the other side of his screen. It is 8 am in Seoul. He excuses his lack of makeup.
"You look stunning both with and without makeup, and millions of girls agree with me. How does it feel to be apart of the biggest boyband in the world?"
He replies after the interpreter sitting to his left translates my compliment.
"Thank you! I never imagined we would grow so big, but I still feel the same love for ARMY as I did back when it was ten times less people."
"I want to ask you more about the makeup actually. In Korea, male celebrities wearing makeup is very common, are you worried about the possible backlash from Americans about how you are too feminine?"
"The backlash doesn't worry me"
"Do you think BTS' gender nonconformity will help forward the battle for female liberation?"
"If we are talking about makeup, I don't think so. The beauty standards in Korea is still incredibly strict for women, to the point where sometimes people get plastic surgery for better job opportunities, jobs that has nothing to do with looks. More men wearing makeup is only good for capitalism, and if the men say they are women because they are wearing makeup it could be very dangerous for feminism. Makeup does not a woman make. When thinking about those men who pretend they're not men, I think it will be good for westerners to see that men can be "feminine" without that making them trans or gay. In fact, several of our members are SSA (editors note: same sex attracted), but others are straight. Yet we all wear makeup.
Jimin and his band mates have expressed their distaste for capitalism many times over the years. Pictured above is Jimin wearing a shirt with Marx on the chest.
"What I think is more important is how we interact with each other and ourselves. I have heard that in America it is not normal for men to hug each other and cry. So us doing this would be considered being gender nonconforming in the US, but not in our home country. The fact that what counts as gender nonconformity varies from culture to culture shows how masculinity and femininity aren't inherent to either sex, but instead they are social norms that exist to oppress women. Therefore, I don't understand how people identify with "masculine energy" and "feminine energy". Femininity is defined as a set of characteristics associated with the female sex, and masculinity the male sex. When someone says that they identify as non-binary because they have both masculine and feminine energies inside them, or masculine and feminine traits, doesn't that simply validate the gender binary? If only some are outside it, then there are those who fit within it. But I don't believe anyone does. We are complete humans, not a set of stereotypes no matter how we identify.
"I very much agree. This makes me wonder about the tattoo you got of the bigender symbol. What were your thought process behind choosing it?"
"Gender does not exist outside of the patriarchy."
"I wanted to bring attention to this exact discussion we are having right now. Technically, I am nonbinary, or bigender, or gender fluid or whatever you want to call it. Because everybody is. I do not believe in bioessentialism, gender does not exist outside of the patriarchy. Ideally, the only thing separating man from woman would be whether or not you need to go to the gynecologist. But unfortunately, being of the female sex means you are in a specific class, one considered below the male class. Gender to me is a description of which class you belong to.
I was born male, and being perceived as feminine in America does not change that fact. I benefit from male privilege and it would be dishonest to all my female fans to say that we are the same - we are worth the same, but they are oppressed by the patriarchy while I benefit from it. If hateful people call me a woman for wearing makeup that is not misogyny. I can wash the makeup off and walk home safe at night. If I struggle with erectile dysfunction I can take viagra, while the cause of PCOS is unknown (editors note: PCOS is a disease affecting only those biologically female). It wasn't until in the 90s that women started to be included in medical trials in America, and even today there is a clear medical bias. And medical discrimination is only one of the many ways your sex matters. You are not catcalled based on your pronouns, you are not raped because of your pronouns.
Men and women are no different but we are different, and it is important to recognize where we are the same and where we differ. Men are not better than women, but the world is designed for men in a million ways. Changing my pronouns doesn't change this. To me, being gender blind is the same as being colorblind. It is great that people have started talking about Asian Hate, and it would be impossible to confront racism against Asian-Americans if we pretended White people and Asian people move through the world the same. It is the same with sex."
"It sounds like you have done your research. Are the other members of BTS as informed as you?"
"It is actually RM, our group leader, who has made me and the others aware of a lot of this. In 2014 we released the song 'War of Hormone' which we later realized contained very sexist lyrics. RM acknowledged this a long time ago and promised that we would work harder to stay informed. We now read books about social issues and discuss them. All our new songs are run by Gender Studies professors to make sure the lyrics aren't misogynistic. Still, we need to recognize that we are men socialized to become sexist, which is not an excuse for past and future actions at all, but if someone still thinks we are too sexist to have their support, I won't argue against them. While I and the other members will continue to try to become better allies to women, I know it is a hard and potentially impossible battle to rid ourselves completely of our socialization, and so I support women's option to have separate spaces that are all female."
"Where does BTS fall on the political spectrum?"
"We are all anti-capitalist radical feminists allies. We have many songs that includes anti-capitalist lyrics. I am especially fond of these lines Suga raps in his song "Strange": 'with dreams as its collateral, the capitalism injects the morphine called 'hope'/ wealth breed wealth and tests greed'. The song features RM and I love it when he says 'the choices you've been given/are all preferences controlled by the capital'. I don't know if he had choice feminism in mind when he wrote that, but I'd like to draw the connection. Liberal feminism is all about the individuals right to choose to do whatever makes her happy, as long as it is a woman doing something that gives her momentary joy, whatever she is doing is considered to be 'empowering'. I recently read this really interesting essay about self-sexualization that goes more in depth on some of the things this leads to that I can't cover in this interview, but I'll say one thing. With this kind of mindset, it is a wonderful thing when teenage girls who just turned 18 opens an OnlyFans, because in the moment she is happy. This is where I think RM's lines explains it well. Liberal feminists would say that it was her choice to do this and therefore a good thing, but we do not live in a vacuum. Society grooms women into believing that sex work is empowering. Liberal feminists are doing the work of pimps. It is extremely worrisome how popular OnlyFans have gotten, how pornographic content is plugged on apps children use. It is incredibly normalized. I am a radical feminist ally because I refuse to ignore how these things affect a girls "choice" to make an OnlyFans."
Pictured above: Kim Seok-jin and Park Ji-min wearing sweaters with the words 'RADICAL FEMINIST' on them. Jimin's also has the words 'GENDER EQUALITY'.
"I take it you are against prostitution?"
"Absolutely. You cannot buy consent. There is a really dark history with prostitution in America and Korea that is almost forgotten. Have you ever heard of 'The American Plan'?'"
"To summarize, American soldiers during WW1 had a massive problem with venereal diseases. To combat this, women who looked like prostitutes (see; poor or non-white) could be stopped in the streets and forced to undergo gynecological exams. If they tested positive, they could get thrown into horrible institutions where they might be injected with mercury and penicillin. Similar things would happen to women in South-Korea too because of the US military bases here. I heard it was considered patriotic to be a prostitute back then, because it strengthened the relations between the countries."
"That is horrible! And it is unbelievable that this is not common knowledge"
"It is very sad. I think liberal feminism shows a lack of understanding of history, but also a lack of understanding of what is happening today."
"You might be right. I see our time is together is coming to an end, do you have any last thing to add for our readers?"
"There is so much to say about all of this. I am in no way an expert on feminism, but I want to use my platform to start a dialogue, and hope my words have made people think about some new things. There are many women who talk about feminism way better than I will ever be able to. I recommend reading the works of Andrea Dworkin, a radical feminist writer we (BTS) had the pleasure of meeting back in 2017.
Pictured above: Andrea Dworkin and BTS' Kim Tae-hyung, also known as V, embracing (x).
"Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to have this chat with me. Congratulations with having your song 'Butter' stay on the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks."
"We couldn't have done it without ARMY!"
