Petitions call for ban on sexualised fanfiction and deepfake porn featuring K-pop stars and South Korean entertainers

 

A petition has been circulating in South Korea this week calling for sexualised fanfiction featuring K-pop stars and other real life people to be outlawed, but many are questioning the rationale behind the call.

The talking point of “real person slash” – shorthand for fan-written fiction, aka fanfiction depicting same-sex relationships – became a topic of discussion this week as some began to equate the fan-made creations with sex offences.

The petition rose to public attention shortly after secretly taken photos of Momoland member Nancy were manipulated and shared online earlier this week. The petition mainly focuses on the way male stars are depicted in same-sex relationships and also questions the depiction of underage stars in the stories.

Another petition submitted on Jan 13 to South Korea’s presidential Blue House, to punish those who create deepfake porn videos featuring female entertainers, has over 337,000 signatures.

 

Rappers Son Simba and Bewhy’s support of the campaign against fanfiction on social media has helped boost the issue, and the petition emerged calling for laws to ban the practice and make it a sex offence.

“The issues surrounding [fanfiction involving real people] are not on the same level as deepfakes, molka [spycam footage], and the Nth room case,” said Areum Jeong, assistant professor at the Sichuan University-Pittsburgh Institute, referring to the “Nth Room” scandal involving blackmail and sexually exploitative videos shared over the Telegram app.

“It is just incomparable, and not even remotely similar.”

The discourse equating explicit fanfiction with sex crimes started early last year amid outrage over the Nth room crimes, but only came to widespread attention in South Korea this week.

South Korea has been struggling for several years with an epidemic of sexual spycam photos and videos primarily featuring women depicted in intimate situations without their knowledge or consent.

Gender inequality is a major issue in South Korea: government guidelines for expectant mothers recently gained worldwide attention over outdated, sexist suggestions.

Jeong referred to three particular sex crimes that have gained major awareness in South Korea: deepfake porn often featuring female K-pop stars; molka , which is the term for the hidden spy cameras that have terrorised South Korean women; and the Nth room digital crime ring.

Fanworks, such as fanfiction and fanart, have a long history of being a safe space for fans to explore their sexuality, especially queer fans.

The term “slash” fan fiction refers to same-sex relationships involving characters as reimagined by fans, and refers to the way the characters are given a slash between their names. The term was first popularised in the 1970s among Star Trek fans who wrote Kirk/Spock fanfiction.

As real person-based fanfiction has become increasingly popular in modern pop music fandom, especially among K-pop fans, it has evoked many questions but also largely been accepted as a mostly harmless phenomenon for fans by fans.

Some fanworks have even resulted in major movies: the Fifty Shades of Grey book series and the consequent films were popularised as a reworking of a Twilight fanfiction, and the 2019 American film After was based on a 2014 novel of the same name, which was originally published as One Direction fanfiction featuring Harry Styles.

“Skinship”, or touchy relationships between same-sex members of the same group, is popular and the focus of many K-pop fanworks.

The bond is often perceived to be a form of queerbaiting, a marketing tactic that revolves around the supposition of same-sex relationships among characters, or stars, in the case of K-pop.

Fanworks are largely deemed a separate issue, as they typically have no commercial value.

Fans have raised concerns on South Korean social media over their fanworks being compared to illegal videography, and many have moved to hide or delete their accounts, fanworks and identities.

One K-pop fan reached out to the Post to share screenshots of fan-oriented chat rooms being entered by people expressing opposition to the sexualisation of stars.

Jeong expressed concerns about the intent behind the petition, which many perceive as an attempt to distract attention from the crimes committed by certain men shaming the largely female-driven fan community.

“It seems that the people petitioning to ban [the fanfiction] are not really concerned about the issues surrounding [them], but are trying to divert attention from the secret [groups] that upload deepfakes and molka and argue that [fanfiction involving real people] is harmful and sexual exploitation,” she told the Post.