YG responds after coming under fire by the Korea Health & Medical Workers’ Union for “Lovesick Girls"

[satoori]

YG Entertainment Responds To Concerns About Portrayal Of Nurse In BLACKPINK’s “Lovesick Girls” MV

YG Entertainment has responded to concerns regarding BLACKPINK’s “Lovesick Girls” music video.

On October 5, the Korean Health and Medical Worker’s Union expressed their opinion that the portrayal of a nurse in the music video was contributing to distorted stereotypes about nurses and asked YG Entertainment to take appropriate measures.

Below is the Korean Health and Medical Worker’s Union’s full statement:

 

"In the YG Entertainment group BLACKPINK’s “Lovesick Girls” music video that was released on October 2, one of the members appeared in a nurse’s outfit. The cap, tight and short skirt, and high heels are completely different from an actual nurse’s outfit. The outfit and portrayal directly imitate the typical sexual stereotype and excuse it as a simple “costume.”

Even though nurses are professional healthcare workers, for the sole reason that there are more women in the profession, they have been subject to sexual objectification and derogatory portrayals expressing doubts about their professionalism. Nurses have been fighting for a long time to change this, and in 2020, when the discussion about women’s rights is more active than ever, YG Entertainment sexually objectified the image of a nurse in BLACKPINK’s music video. The music video gained almost 100 million views in three days since its release.

In a real hospital, not the ones in the media, nurses are fighting at the frontlines of COVID-19 and taking on the risk of infection for the safety and survival of the citizens. There has been a climate of heroizing nurses as well, but there are still those who call nurses “hey” or “young lady” and let out their stress on them or exercise their power on them. Furthermore, nurses are the healthcare workers who are the most frequently exposed to sexual abuse. If the media continues to show a distorted image of the nurse, situations like these will only get worse."

 

After the music video was revealed, hashtags like #NursesAreNotCostumes, #Stop_Sexualizing_Nurses, and #nurse_is_profession appeared on social media. Sexual objectification of professions with a higher ratio of women to men has gone on for too long to simply think of this as the voice of the minority in an online space.

The Korean Health and Medical Worker’s Union strictly opposes sexual objectification of women and nurses. As BLACKPINK’s new song is ranking high on charts globally, we call on YG Entertainment to take responsible measures to match their popularity and influence.

 

"A day later, YG Entertainment released the following statement in response:

First, we express our deep respect to the nurses who are always staying by the patients’ sides and fighting in the frontlines.

“Lovesick Girls” is a song that raises the question of why we continue to find love when we are hurt by it while also conveying a hopeful message.

In the “Lovesick Girls” music video, the scene with the nurse and the patient reflects the lyrics, “No doctor could help when I’m lovesick.”

There was no specific intention to it, but we are concerned about the distorted views.

We ask that you think of music videos as an independent genre of art, and we would appreciate it if you could understand that each scene was made with no other intention than to express the music.

The production team is currently deliberating and discussing whether the scene should be edited out."

 

Edited October 6, 2020 by satoori

[JNT-LEGGO]

Are y'all seriously about to have me defending YG right now?

This is like textbook example of looking for something to be offended about.

[kwal]

out of all the things they decided to bash on is this... during a pandemic, this is the most worrying thing to be concerned about like really?? 

Edited October 6, 2020 by kwal

[satoori]

people in uniform [fireman, police officer, nurse, military, etc.] are sexualized all the time in the entertainment industry.

however perhaps the timing was not the best one for a nurse since they're frontliners during the pandemic.

 

 

 

1 hour ago, JNT-LEGGO said:

This is like textbook example of looking for something to be offended about.

maybe i missing something, but i rewatched the mv and still don't see the major problem? jennie is wearing a nurse outfit. she isn't doing much of anything else in the scene with the outfit on. but i guess the outfit itself is the problem.

Edited October 6, 2020 by satoori
words

[satoori]

i think i missing a lot. therefor i'm going to let koreans speak for themselves. seems to be a big issue currently

 

 

Edited October 6, 2020 by satoori
tweet deleted.

[Zhan Rui Sanda]

As a man (even if I'm gay) the problem is not the appearance of the nurse in MV, but her appearance, I mean outfit.

The nurse in the video looks like the one out of straight porn videos,

They should portray more realistic nurse with proper professional outfits. 

And I really can't get why "progressive movement" who jump on everything slightly controversial, try hard to ignore this blatant objectification and sexualization of nurses.

My mom was a nurse for her whole life who worked 18 hours per day to raise us. 

And I can't even imagine her on high heels, super short skirt parading around her patients all sexy and sensual.

But if YG thinks it's OK then who I am to disagree? I'm mere peasant here.  

Edited October 6, 2020 by Zhan Rui Sanda

[felidae]

I think the outrage is because recent nth room scandal. And the pandemic, because how dare they to disrespect heroes like that? (Also, is this mv the first problem after the scandal/pandemic? Not even in tv or ads?)

I understand why they're angry but this isn't the first nor the only example. I guess bp being super highly popular made them easier target to raise awareness. (I hope that's the real intention).

 

Edited October 6, 2020 by felidae

[Nero_Kpop]

I'm not surprised it happened to blackpink they are a group that is on the brink of two worlds, they are a group that still has a foot in kpop but has to develop itself in the american market where vulgarity and decadence has become the norm, they always have to find the balance to be the provocative badass girls and not the little girls from korea while reinventing themselves.

[MelanatedBeauty]

wonder if they're gonna go do the same thing to all those 2020 nurse porn videos lol this is ridiculous 

Edited October 6, 2020 by MelanatedBeauty

[sergel]

People in uniform have always been sexualized though that doesn’t make it right. I can only speak as a nurse myself in this case though.

The scene itself was fine, the outfit was the problem. Even when many nurses wore skirts and dresses they were never that short. It’s just annoying, especially when patients ask you where your hat is, grab your chest, blow kisses at you, or or just have preconceived notions from constantly inaccurate media. 
 

While I don’t think the scene or outfit are super awful, I am not one for over sexualization either for nurses, especially since we deal with tons of harassment (Sexual and otherwise) at work from the people we’re supposed to care for.

Edited October 10, 2020 by sergel

[Ddeona Oneul Bame]

I'm not seeing the issue myself, I'm pretty sure sexy nurses is a pretty common kink or something, but could always be a cultural difference~

[Lith]

Isn't this the same as blaming outfits for sexuall harassment. Let's say those costumes were worn in real life at work, and a women gets sexually harassed would the women take the blame and her outfit or the offener? Shoudn't these arguments be part of the past now and shouldn't a person know what is alowed to do and what not no mather what someone is wearing. Her outfit, although a skirt and high heels , aren't that revealing, she doesn't act seductive? in it, and the song and the lyrics aren't sexuall either.. I don't want to be insensitive tho especially since people are mentioning abuse..

[i2NE1]

I better see the same energy the next time a firefighter or a police officer is sexualized. 

[himi]

i must be blind or smtn cuz i watched the videos a couple of times and "jennie being sexualized" has never come to my mind lol

[campfire]

Um maybe this is a big problem in Korean culture so why are people who have no idea dismissing it?

[clevercactus]

7 hours ago, Zhan Rui Sanda said:

As a man (even if I'm gay) the problem is not the appearance of the nurse in MV, but her appearance, I mean outfit.

The nurse in the video looks like the one out of straight porn videos,

They should portray more realistic nurse with proper professional outfits. 

And I really can't get why "progressive movement" who jump on everything slightly controversial, try hard to ignore this blatant objectification and sexualization of nurses.

My mom was a nurse for her whole life who worked 18 hours per day to raise us. 

And I can't even imagine her on high heels, super short skirt parading around her patients all sexy and sensual.

But if YG thinks it's OK then who I am to disagree? I'm mere peasant here.  

If this was a documentary or a realistic medical drama or a realistic movie set in a hospital, YES.. they should portray the nurse realistically with proper attire. 

But this is a MUSIC VIDEO, it is a creative expression, they can portray them creatively! There is no way that this music video is deceiving anyone into thinking this is how nurses dress. 

[Elscian]

I wonder if people even read the article.  It clearly states nurses had been up in the frontline trying to change this portrayal of theirs. This is not a nitpicking problem yikes! Nor is it about other occupations and their fight so?

Nurses have faced this portrayal issue a lot more than other occupations, specially since it's a woman dominated field.  I never got why people did that to such an important role. So a change would be great tbh.

Whether it's my faves or whoever idc, I dont like people pouring water over this effort by dismissing it as another kpop nitpick like braids or jisoo's running.  It's not about bp for me, but kpop fans as usual seem to make it all about attacking their groups. Research a bit about this will you? You think they were fighting all this time only to attack a kpop grp?

Just edit and set an example. Same goes for the groups after this. 

Edited October 6, 2020 by StanSatan

[Elscian]

51 minutes ago, clevercactus said:

If this was a documentary or a realistic medical drama or a realistic movie set in a hospital, YES.. they should portray the nurse realistically with proper attire. 

But this is a MUSIC VIDEO, it is a creative expression, they can portray them creatively! There is no way that this music video is deceiving anyone into thinking this is how nurses dress. 

It's not as simple as making people think this is how nurses dress.  No one's that stupid, we all know how they actually dress. The nurses just don't want their role/get up portrayed any differently than it is. They've been fighting for it for long,  not only at this time. They know better what they have to deal with.  But ig internet people get to decide where its allowed and what's creative huh.

Edited October 6, 2020 by StanSatan

[Mystic]

When you think BlackPink is gonna have a good fun comeback and the Medical Workers' Union comes outta nowhere

[harumaki]

The dress is not even sexy, it looks like the old nurse uniforms, btw.

[LostChild]

We all know kpop sells fantasies and sexy nurses are a pretty common kink for a lot of people. BP is certainly not the first group using this aesthetic nor won't be the last. I can understand why their outrage is stronger than usual though.

[hynapia]

I re-watched the scene in the MV and yeah, the outfit kinda looks like those "sexy nurses" costumes more than a real nurse outfit, so I kinda get where they're coming from. Nurses have been constantly stereotyped as "the sexy doctor's assistant" in short skirt, cap and high heels in the media so I can understand nurses who don't want this stereotype to be perpetuated.

[JNT-LEGGO]

I rewatched the video like twice and there is absolutely NOTHING sexual about the outfit, the scene or Jennie herself.

Not saying this ain't a legit issue but these real life nurses really picked the wrong battle to fight here.

And some of y'all just want every little thing Blackpink does to be "problematic" in some way or another.

I ain't even really a blink and I see that

Edited October 6, 2020 by JNT-LEGGO

[clevercactus]

10 hours ago, StanSatan said:

It's not as simple as making people think this is how nurses dress.  No one's that stupid, we all know how they actually dress. The nurses just don't want their role/get up portrayed any differently than it is. They've been fighting for it for long,  not only at this time. They know better what they have to deal with.  But ig internet people get to decide where its allowed and what's creative huh.

If no one is that stupid and they all know how they actually dress, then no one should be that stupid either to know what their role actually is?! 

In what way is the extremely short scene of Jennie in a nurse costume confusing people on the real role of a nurse? 

Literature, movies, tv shows, music videos, paintings are all creative expressions. They can portray Evil nurses, hot priests, corrupt policeman, sexy teachers, murderous school students, scheming baby sitters....The moment you start banning a portrayal of someone just because someone dislikes them, the moment we become the arbiter of creative expressions. 

We all watch One flew over the cuckoo's nest and we all know that not all nurses are like Nurse Ratched. Should they edit all the scenes with Nurse Ratched in it? NO. 

The problem doesn't lie here. It should lie at the hospitals employing the nurses to provide them with fair wage and ample protection from any kind of harassment. 

 

 

 

[Usagi.]

This type of portrayal of nurses have been an issue for the profession for years, and I guess it's hard for people outside of the area to understand but its not even just because of the sexualization these type of unrealistic uniforms, but it also puts a huge obstacle in the way people in general view nurses.

Even when I was in college we had discussions about the way nurses where portrayed in screen, you will usually see doctors doing what usually nurses do at television, not to mention when ( and IF) there's any nurse on the screen its probably fking a doctor, being dumb, getting scolded by doctors or something. 

To me her outfit is not anywhere as bad as I've seen before, its a sexualized and extremely disrespected profession so yeah there's worse out there, but I can understand why SK nurses were bothered by it and probably used the situation to raise awareness over this issue. If you want to portray a nurse why not wear a realistic uniform? I believe no one from this profession wear high heels or tight/ short dresses, it would be uncomfortable since you are doing crazy shifts and running through the hospital, clinic or wtv tbh...

Idc if people agree or not, just try to understand the professionals too, even if you have trouble with it, in fact being portrayed in a unrealistic manner for this profession is really harmful, I'm really not sure if it's comparable to firefighters, police officers or wtv, people mostly have respect for these professionals, meanwhile a lot of people look down on nurses because they have no idea of what we do and the stereotype that is shown on screens really doesn't help.