How Deep Is Your Love?

Gotta love the internet, idol fandom, and all the bits of madness strewn about in the middle. I was wandering around the web yesterday when I received an email to approve a pingback to my blog from the guys at International Wota. As flattered as I was for having a second editorial featured on their site, I was more intrigued by the following article, which in turn led me to this article. I strongly encourage you all to read those. They’re not as long as my pieces and are in a league of their own in terms of pertaining to readers’ interest.

While reading those articles myself, it got me to thinking about how I perceive my idols and just how deep into my fandomI am. *cue Bee Gees music* Assuming that you all read those articles like I suggested, I’m curious to hear how our seemingly carefree fangirl/boyisms dictate our sexuality/sexual preferences, if at all.

As both aforementioned articles clearly stated, what one finds sexually appealing and aesthetically attractive is purely subjective. Does that girl-next-door type get you each and every time? What about that androgynous girl that could be a guy that could be a girl that could be a guy? Are you more likely to fall for that effeminate and “sensitive” or rock-hard, cool, masculine male idol? I guess it doesn’t really matter until one’s preferences begin to dictate one’s sexual preferences. With the plethora of idols out and about these days, it’s easy for us to find one that strikes our particular fancy, even if it’s in the most unexpected ways.

Do I think it’s wrong for a girl to find a female idol incredibly beautiful and sexually attractive, while gushing on and on about said idol’s wonderful personality? Do I find it offensive or weird that a guy can get hard over another guy flashing his abs while performing an undulated dance motion? Is water wet? Of course I don’t find anything wrong with any of that, but again it’s all subjective.

 

We’re all familiar with the concept of sex sells. Though two entirely different entities, jpop and kpop (and all sorts of pop, really) totally take advantage of their good looking pawns and shove them in our faces, looking as attractive as they possibly can, fully clothed or scantily clad, dancing and strutting their stuff like professional pole dancers that have their eyes solely on you. It’s almost like they’re forcing you to look at them in a certain sort of light, indirectly sucker-punching you to question “God, am I really into this?” Sex sells, and it sells damn well. While it makes the whole fandom portion a lot more enjoyable for those of age, it definitely opens up an entirely new realm of fandom, allowing us to delve into the deepest recesses of our mind and think outside the box of societal norms.

Are you really into that sort of thing? Do you really like it when SNSD members show off their endlessly long legs, or when AKB48 members release their saucy photobook spreads? What about when Taeyang gets hot and heavy on that floor, with his abs glistening against the stage lights as he rolls ’em wave after wave? I don’t know about anyone else, but regardless the sex of the idol, I would probably get hot and bothered just because that’s the entire point. The question is, is it enough to make you wonder which way you really sway?

I believe that a lot of this “questioning of sexual preferences” thing is heavily driven by idol obsession. Do we fall so deeply under that idol spell (their perfect hair/wardrobe/smile, lovable personality, etc.) that we allow them to dictate every bit of our lives, all the way down to the socks that we wear, all the way to our sexual preferences? The over-expression of idol sexuality might indeed be the catalyst that sheds the light upon some people’s sexual identity/preferences, but (pardon my science nerd coming out) do people follow through with this reaction? I guess what I’m trying to say is, do we only question ourselves under certain exceptional circumstances (i.e. with idols) or can this hesitance transcend to life outside the fandom? Do you really sway that way, or do you just love that idol so much that they become an exception? Are you just afraid to admit it to yourself, or are you afraid of what your friends/society might think of you? Does finding topless 2PM members sexy make you any less masculine than you were before you found them? Are Miyazawa Sae and Akimoto Sayaka‘s masculine charms enough to make you wish they were your prince charmings? Oh the possibilities are endless!

So if idol obsession dictates your sexual preferences, what does that do for reality? Ray’s delivery on the matter of para-relationships was far more superb than anything I could crunch out, so despite having already linked IW’s article, I’ll just leave you all to your own devices.

And slightly off-topic while we’re all in our happy cloud 9 of sorts, happily contemplating our sexual preferences and whatnot, I’ve noticed that some fans are rather vocal about this sort of thing: when they fawn over their idol crushes, fans often say things along the line of “If only she was lesbian…” or some such. It kind of makes one wonder sometimes. What if your idol crush forever decided to come out of the closet and say they were bi/gay/lesbian/whatever, would that make you more inclined to come out as well? There are those idols that have this vibe about them, that have some fans convinced that they sway in other ways, but I won’t name any names since my gay-dar is just about as efficient as a Tom Tom. This is just some dessert for thought, I suppose.

Personally speaking, the two articles that I linked above are too true in their respective viewpoints on the matter. It’s kind of crazy that I never thought about this before! I’ll admit to falling victim to a variety of female kpop/jpop idols’ charms and hotness; I’m only human after all. But with time I found something funny about myself: With kpop, the women just seemed so cookie-cutter perfect that rather than being lesbian over them, they just made me want to live off lettuce and water for the rest of my damn life. The buff and somewhat self-absorbed kpop guys, on the other hand, were definitely more of my cup of tea as opposed to the scrawny and self-absorbed jpop guys, though I would never oppose to getting caught in a crowded bus with KAT-TUN‘s Junnosuke. And if anything at all, it’s those damn female jpop idols that not only make me wonder where all my cuteness went while growing up, but also manage to make me question myself on a near daily basis, although more on a light-hearted joking manner.

But at the end of the day, the girls are girls and the guys are guys, and I will probably stick to my straight identity while living in that wonderful fantasy idol world of “what if’s.” And no matter how much I wished Guychan were really a guy, it doesn’t change the fact that “he” is actually a she. Sad times. Anyway, hopefully I went about this the right way. In all my years of blogging, I’ve never once tackled one of the more hot and iffy topics that several other bloggers tackle on the daily. And really, to each his own. I’ve got nothing but respect for everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or preferences. Love and all that jazz all around. I really would love to hear from everyone about this topic, so please leave some input/comments!