Why Sulli is one of my biggest inspirations
Hello i'd like to share some of the reasons why Sulli (aka Jinri) is one of my favorite people in the korean entertainment industry and why she is such an inspiring woman. I also provided links to several articles so you can read more in depth about certain amazing things she's done.
!Note that south korea is a highly conservative and misogynistic country. Especially in the idol industry, women are judged for every single little thing they do. Sulli however decided to lean against the standards set for female idols and always did as she pleased and what she thought was right. It's sad that only now after she passed netizens are being nice and supportive towards her. I'd like to share some of the reasons why she was such an inspirational woman and why she should never be forgotten!
1.Going Braless . Sulli didn't like wearing bras
and would often post pictures of herself while not wearing one. Of course this shouldn't be considered an issue at all but even western countries often still take offense to it fsm so obviously highly conservative korea was very unhappy about her decision and would send her lots of hate and call her vulgar names for it. She never stopped doing it though.
2. Abortion Rights
Sulli is pro choice! She celebrated South Korea changing their anti abortion laws which ofc was yet another reason for people to hate her.
3. Raised awareness on her public instagram about comofort women and showed her sympathy despite knowing she'll make her japanese fans upset by shedding light on it .
Japanese people often don't like to acknowlage their war crimes and felt very offended by Sulli for talking about it on her social media. Being the woman supporting feminist she is, she thought it was an important topic to discuss and posted about it regardless.
4. Openly shared her relationship
Dating is often completly banned for kpop idols altogether and only few dare to make their relationship public. Only in recent years have idols slowly starting sharing their relationship status. But back then idols tried their absolute hardest to hide that they're dating in fear of facing MASSIVE backlash, sometimes even receiving death threats. Yet Sulli openly posted photos of her and her now ex boyfriend on her instagram like any other normal person would.
5. Openly expressed her sexuality
making her own choices on when or how she decides to be sexy, taking all power from netizens sexualizing her against her will. This is a big issue in the idol industry, especially due to conservative views, a woman openly showing herself to be a self empowered sexual individual is looked down upon and seen as offensive. Netizens often called her mentally unstable, dirty, nasty and a wh*re for simply not wearing a bra or showing cleavage (which is quite scandalous in korea) or taking sexy photos as an adult woman! She talked about this and the double standards in depth in Persona:Sulli!
6. Defended herself
It's very rare for idols to stand up for themselves especially in such a blunt, forward way. Usually when idols have to apologize for the most mundane stuff, an official apology is issued through the agency but Sulli always took matters into her own hands.
7. Endured a massive amount of hate and ultimately left f(x) for the sake of protecting herself from hate and persuing her true artistic visions
She was constantly harrassed from her "attitude" to her looks, her views, her behavior and her talents.
8. Publicly discussed mental health, inlcuding her own struggles,
and based her solo debut around DiD. Mental Health was and still is very stigmatised in South Korea. While it's slowly changing, talking about such things back then was seen as highly controversial and people wouldn't be very understanding at all. Moreover netizens would think of idols to be ungrateful if they'd ever talked about their struggles.
9. Just overall always supported women and their rights. (girls supporting girls shirt, talked about being a feminist and wanting women to be equal on tv and defending fellow female idols).
Again, with Korea being a very conservative and sexist country, people sent her a massive amount of hate (mostly men) for speaking up about womens rights. This still happens to other female idols today when they declare themselves to be feminists.
10. Was unapoligeticly herself no matter what.
Always showing her personality and interests and voicing her opinions. She loved showing everyone how fun loving and free spirited she is . All she ever wanted was to be loved by others but she still didn't want to change her identity for others to do so.
11. Loved herself and her beauty
and would also voice it yet she was never arrogant or felt like she was better than anyone because she's pretty (Persona:Sulli)
12. She critizised the idol industry and the publics treatment towards idols (see Persona:Sulli)
13. Sent a low income student a feminine hygiene package for free
and planned to regulary send out packages to girls who couldn't afford to buy these products themselves. Unfortunatly she passed away before she had the chance to do so.
Theres so much more to Sulli. But these are some of the main points as to why I love her so much.
She endured the tremendous amount of hate for such a long time and despite feeling hurt she always remained true to herself. She struggled a lot but always continued doing what she thought was right and didn't apologize for simply living her life and being a feminist.
