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Slide 1- Hello, today we’re going to be examining the problematic exploitation of underage female musicians with help from the song “Cookie” by New Jeans. Slide 2- New Jeans is an all girl kpop group that debuted in July of 2022. Some of their more well-known songs are Attention, Hype Boy, Oh My God, Ditto, and most recently Super Shy. Slide 3- “Cookie” was released in August of 2022 and was immediately met with controversy due to the innuendo filled lyrics sung by girls whose oldest member is 18 and the youngest is only 14 years old. Here you can see some of the top comments found under the music video voicing their concerns. On the next slide, I’ve included a clip of the music video for you to hear a section of the lyrics. Slide 4- There was debate over whether the writers of the song were aware that the word “cookie” is also slang for female genitalia, however, it was soon made clear that the writers are in fact native English speakers and most likely would have known how these lyrics would be interpreted. Even internationally, listeners agreed that it was too problematic to be sung by underage girls. Slide 5- Not only are the lyrics geared toward adult content, but the styling as well often reflects more adult themes. By sharing ambassadorship with their adult counterparts and the heavy emphasis on expensive, name brand fashion, they have influence over socioeconomic factors in the culture at large and push a capitalist, classist agenda even from a young age. Slide 6- The fact that the demographic of many kpop girl groups is often middle aged to older men looking to fulfill a fantasy makes the adult oriented styling extra questionable. There’s also an obsession with youth and looking young while also having to be sexy at the same time. Slide 7- In the kpop industry, men typically have more agency not just in their music, but also in their bodies. They are less likely to have to be nit picked over every piece of their body and they are more likely to be able to keep performing for longer. There’s something known as the “Seven Year curse” in kpop, that applies specifically to women, where girl bands are expected to last no more than seven years before they end up falling out of the public eye, presumably to make room for newer, younger talent. In contrast, there are male idol groups that have members that are now in their forties and still making music and are very popular. This type of pressure is extremely unhealthy for young girls, who know they have only a small window of success before they are deemed unattractive and used up. Slide 8- The double standards in the kpop industry have their roots in the double standards of the culture as a whole and the history of sexism in South Korea. Women are expected to be chaste virgins until marriage and then focus on being homemakers, whereas men are expected to have fulfilling careers and are allowed to have multiple sexual partners with little fear of backlash. Even certain laws that have been put in place to protect women were only passed by feminists using the chastity rhetoric to their benefit. With the focus on men being the main workers and breadwinners, there is a long history of founders and CEOs in the industry being mostly men upholding the patriarchy, however, there are women who have also played into this as well. Slide 9- Min Hee Jin is the founder of ADOR, the company that manages New Jeans. Min Hee Jin has been followed by a string of controversies that center around her love of problematic concepts, especially those of a pedophilic nature. She has been called out multiple times for sexualizing minors, throughout her career, and also shows off art in her apartment that is based on pedophilic themes. These facts can’t be separated from her current work with New Jeans and the song “Cookie.” The lyrics can’t be taken innocently when one of the people in charge of the production of the song has these inclinations herself. Slide 10- Here’s another example of the type of styling that Min Hee Jin promotes, featuring one of the members of New Jeans. It’s not a good look to reference pimps with the members of your underage girl group. Slide 11- Hyuna, now 31, debuted at 14 and has been vocal about her concern for New Jeans and other young girls in kpop. While Hyuna now has quite a bit of control over her music and art, that was not always the case, and she had to deal with a lot of over sexualization, body image issues, and being over-worked for most of her life. And even with the control she now has, she has to deal with media censorship against her ideals. Slide 12- Beyond being overly sexualized, the working conditions for kpop idols do not lend to the proper development of a growing mind or body. Dr. Jean Kim, a psychiatrist and writer, talks about the “identity formation period” and notes that the rigid schedules of these artists' lives, even when they are trainees, makes them more likely to develop mental health issues or struggle with adjusting socially. She shared that “if they’re stuck in training mode where everyone is telling them what to do, they don’t really go through that stage so they might get stuck-- those things might happen later on for them, or they might never fully develop autonomy.” It is my personal opinion they want to debut these young girls before they develop any autonomy because it will leave the ability to implant a deep sense of control over them in order to make them more obedient in exchange for a chance at success. This type of exploitation is posing some seriously harmful risks to these female artists and I think it is necessary to note. Furthermore, since there have been multiple scandals of companies not even paying their artists or telling them that they owe back pay for the training they received, many of these young girls are going through harsh mental and physical tolls and getting little in return while trying to chase their dreams. Slide 13- So in conclusion, these are the reasons why exploiting underage female artists is so damaging and debuting artists that are still underage needs to be seriously re-evaluated. Thank you for listening. Step 14- These are the resources I used. Also, I created the script myself but I did have AI assistance with creating the voice over portion of my presentation.