Me: there was this one time, I was in a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, right?
Friend: yeah
Me: and it was playing kpop right?
Friend: Bon Chon. You were at Bon Chon.
Me: yeah! That’s where I was. Anyway, they were playing this song where the chorus was just “be my girlfriend, be my girlfriend” like sixty times. And I was all, “wait, I thought kpop was all about subverting gender norms and shit”
Friend, who loves kpop: uhhhh
Friend: since when?
Me: what?
Friend: kpop is the most gender-normitave, sexist/misogynistic stuff out there.
Friend: like. K stards for Korea. Like, go to jail and maybe die if you’re gay Korea.
Me: I always thought they came over here to be queer and junk
Friend: so there was this girl group, right? One of the girls in this group was 14, and still had some of her baby fat. She had a teensy tiny bit of chunk on her face and she was bullied so bad over being “fat” she ran to America and never went back to Korea.
Me: oh.
Friend: this industry is trash.
Me: so why do you like it?
Friend: it’s really catchy trash.