Gender Envy in K-Pop: How Fans Construct Their Gender Identities Through Social Media

This study analyzed the phenomenon of ‘gender envy’ in the K-pop fandom as a form of gender capitalization, with a focus on the social media platform TikTok. Gender envy refers to the admiration or longing for another individual’s gender identity or expression, often accompanied by a desire to emulate them. For this study, 100 TikTok posts related to gender envy were selected and analyzed. The findings revealed that global audiences perceive K-pop idols as transcending the traditional gender norms and reinterpret and reconstruct their gender expressions to reinforce their own identities. Furthermore, the contemporary K-pop serves as a medium and discursive space for individual identity formation and gender performances. This may be attributed to the perception of K-pop as an alternative to Western mainstream culture. Therefore, K-pop has established itself as a new cultural language that transcends cultural and regional boundaries.