Queerbaiting and Shipping Culture in Kpop

What is queerbaiting?

According to the Oxford dictionary, queerbaiting is “the incorporation of apparently gay characters or same-sex relationships into a film, television show, etc. as a means of appealing to gay and bisexual audiences while maintaining ambiguity about the characters' sexuality. Essentially, trying to appeal to and get attention from the LGBTQ+ community to get them to engage with the content. When addressing kpop, one thing needs to be made clear: idols cannot queerbait unless they are explicitly acting in a Music Video, on a variety show, etc. What fans believe to be “queerbaiting” can often be chalked up to, first, the cultural differences, and second, fan service. 

Queerbaiting vs cultural differences and fan service

Regarding the cultural differences, it is normal for friends to be more touchy than friends in other cultures, such as in the US. Especially when it comes to male friends, it is rare to see them being affectionate or emotional around each other. So, fans who are not used to this can see idols being touchy with each other and automatically assume that it is something more than friendship.

Next is fan service. Let’s be real, are idols (but especially companies) oblivious to shipping? No. They know that shipping is often a large part of fandoms, so they try to get fans to interact with their content by giving them "evidence" to prove that their favorite ship is actually dating. A good example of this is when popular ships are paired together on variety shows, especially when it is for games such as the Peppero challenge. For example, when Dreamcatcher was on Fact In Star, they "coincidentally" decided to pair up three of the most popular ships in the fandom (Suayeoan, Jiyoo, Gahdong) to do the challenge. And it worked, fans still use this Peppero challenge (especially for Suayeon) in ship edits. So this begs the question: What is the difference between queerbaiting and fan service? Queerbaiting is explicitly done to get the attention of LGBTQ+ fans, while fan service is done because they know fans like shipping, so they do it to keep fans happy. Although this can increase fan interactions with content by fueling shipping culture, it can have major impacts on both fans and idols.

The Impact of shipping culture

First, shipping can have negative impacts on idols in multiple scenarios. For starters, imagine being shipped with your best friend while having no romantic feelings towards that person. Having fans insist that something is going on between you and your friend could put a significant strain on your relationship. This would likely lead to you feeling awkward around your friend and not wanting to do anything that could add to fans' delusions, as fans often cherry-pick moments as “evidence”. Here’s another scenario, let’s say that you do actually have romantic feelings for your friend, or especially when it comes to same sex ships, let’s say you are in the closet, and not able to come out due to being an idol. Fans shipping you could lead to feeling outed, and could take a severe emotional toll, especially if you are not ready to come out yet. Another example of how shipping can impact idols is through their relationships. An example of this is when many Winrina fans were very upset when it was announced that Karina had a boyfriend, to the point where they broke up, and she had to write an apology letter. Fans shipping idols for fun is one thing, but when they are impacting their actual relationships, that is crossing the line.

Next is the impact of fans. The objective of queerbaiting is to tempt fans into interacting with their content. However, this can often feed fans' delusions about different pairings, especially those from the LGBTQ+ community, who are so desperate for some representation that they are willing to believe anything. Even if they know that ships are not real, it can still hurt those fans when idols debunk rumors, and lead to negative impacts on their mental and emotional health. Additionally, shipping can lead to shipping wars and tension between fandoms if there are multiple popular ships in a single fandom. It can also lead to fandom wars if there are ships with members from different groups.