Trammelled stars: the non-autonomy of female K-pop idols

ABSTRACT South Korea is well known for its industrialist approach to the creation of idol groups. This article demonstrates the correlation between exploitive managerial practices, widely employed in the production of idols, and their resultant effects on individual autonomy. We first situate the agency-idol system in Korea’s contemporary neoliberal landscape, before proceeding to outline how the recruitment and training of female performers deliberately fosters dependence. Next, we illustrate how bodily shaping — in the form of weight loss and plastic surgery — and objectification serve to delimit personal autonomy. Exacting beauty standards, in turn, contribute to the imposition of highly restrictive somatic identities, affording idols little to no room for agentic experimentation. Increased dependency, in conjunction with the forced assumption of dollified personas, amounts to an effective reduction in autonomous capacity, re-enforcing the notion that K-pop is a site of patriarchal disciplining.