The Flower Boy Mania - Comments

@ yaoi girl.
Oh I know Malice Mizer!

@ Soy un Dorito!
RESEARCH MALICE MIZER AND ROYZ.
DO ET.

@ ImMadeInHell
Thank you!
In the Korean entertainment industry, they do have to look good to get to the top. It's a bit sad, but that's how it goes. Of course that in the Western entertainment industry, a huge amount of performers are what you can call good looking, but there are also a lot of singers and actors getting recognized for their skills rather than their looks.

Anyways, in South Korea there's what I'd call an unhealthy obsession with looks (it's the #1 country when it comes to plastic surgery) and the idols are no exception. When the trainees are being selected, only those who look good can even dream of becoming famous, no matter how talented they are. Again, it's sad.

Flower Boys are a huge success in South Korea so a lot of idols put on that act just to gain fans. That sounds absurd here in the West, but it makes sense in Asia. Even manlier idols do the Flower Boy act sometimes and fans go crazy. Also, the idols with more feminine body types - rounded butts, chubby thighs, lovehandles - like Kyuhyun or Onew seem to get even more love than they're ripped counterparts, like Siwon or Lee Joon.

Great article!!
I am a huge fan of K-Dramas and K-Pop...and I will admit that I find certain actors and singers undeniably attractive and sexy...
It's very ridiculous with some people calling them gay or any other homophobic words. Just because they are pretty boys, does not necessarily mean that they are gay, I think it's really because they really look after themselves and take care of themselves, or that they are not afraid to embrace their feminine sides (which in my mind, made them sexier and manlier than other men ). I remember an interview I've watched of BIGBANG, and how Daesung described his daily skincare routine, and it does sound like that they really look after themselves.
I have crushes on Lee Min-ho, FTIsland's Lee Hong-ki, and BIGBANG's G-Dragon and T.O.P

@ ur_best_nightmare
It's a great thing you don't bash on these boys, even if you don't find them attractive yourself. Of course not everyone is going to like the same things

You are right, though, I get all sorts of mean comments for being attracted to Flower Boys. People ask if I'm a lesbian or secretly a guy and then go on about how men are supposed to be like those guys in Spartacus (the TV series). Oh well...

@ minuscule.
I agree. Not all manly guys are like that, of course but, especially in their teens, some boys like to act like they're badass. Some girls find that attractive, but not me.

Flower Boys like Taemin (in the picture) are pretty, gracious and they carry themselves in a clean manner. That doesn't mean they're gay, that just means they don't give a shit about ignorant people calling them gay.

@ long leather wings.
He's not exactly Flower-y, but I like Onew

@ notweirdbutunique
I like Japanese boys, too, I have a huge crush on those boys in Takumi-kun, with the school uniforms

@ yaoi girl.
I have to research more on the bishies (it's like bishes lol) xD

Perhaps it's because they look after themselves and present themselves in a really attractive/appealing manner? I'm not saying other 'every-day' guys don't do it but from where I've been and lived - the 'rough and tough' guys that usually are the ones that called the Pretty Boys 'faggots' and 'pussies', have terrible manners. They wear their pants off their butt and burp and swear like a pirate and do everything that they think makes the look 'more tough' and don't care about feelings half the time. They push and they punch - and yes some girls may want an asshole for a boyfriend/husband, but some don't.
Which leads for me to think that perhaps Pretty Boys and just guys who look more feminine in general and embrace this, actually look like a well-mannered type who can sit down and listen for once and not be rude. I'm not saying that they all are like that - or that ALL the 'every-day' guys are as described above but this is just my opinion from what I've heard from other girls and from where I live.

Great Article though!!! :)

Boys Over Flowers and Flower Boys Ramen Shop were the first two Korean dramas that I ever watched! :D
They were amazing and I'm totally hooked! I've seen a good number of dramas but I still don't know a lot of the main, more popular people or bands, but I'd really love to check it out and learn more. I love the boys because they're just so beautiful, I mean... I don't know. I guess it's pretty much just like in the article. They're so damn gorgeous and they can display manly actions and stuff. I don't even know what I'm talking about now, I'm just imagining two of my favorite Korean actors now. I'm sorry that this comment's all over the place. Lol

It was a great article, though! I really enjoyed it!

I totally get your frustration about how homophobic people are towards Flower Boys. It's ridiculous, and just because they like to embrace their feminine side does not make them any less masculine or any more gay.

However, that being said, I just find it really hard to be attracted to them. My sister loves loves loves K-Pop, and totally fawns over these guys. Personally, I just find it really hard for me to be attracted to them simply because of how feminine they look. And it's not just Flower Boys either; boys who are masculine in every conceivable way but have very pretty features aren't attractive to me either. Idk, I just think its something about the rough edges of men that attract me, and its something these boys lack. Not all girls need them, which is fine, but it's just one thing I think is what turns a lot of Western girls off from these guys.

(Keep in mind the fact that if I had to burden myself with any sexual orientation label, it would probably be bi/pansexual. I find women extremely attractive, and have a huge crush on this trans guy in my school. I'm a very liberal person when it comes to loving different genders, and I just wanted to make that clear. )

@ Soy un Dorito!
We're both his wife

The bishies and flowers are similar in looks, but there are still differences
But that's for a different article

I know I'm bias towards Japanese bishies, rather than Korean flower boys, but Taemin is undeniably really cute.

But great article neways! I love how this phenomenon is being recognised here on Mibba.

OH GOD, Taemin and Key are my favorites. I don't understand how people can't find them hot. Even Kevin from U-KISS

@ yaoi girl.
I'm also his wife

Oh, I get ya. I researched mainly about Korea. But the concept, I think, is the same

@ Soy un Dorito!
As you should.
Because I'm his wife.
He just doesn't know.

Bishonen is the Japanese word for pretty boys and the equivalent to Flower Boys in Korea.

@ yaoi girl.
I thought of you when I picked the photo

In the research I made about Flower Boys, I never came across the term Bishonen and I will now admit my ignorance.

DAT TAEMIN

Actually.
There's a difference between Flower Boys and Bishonen

@ rock lee
Both myself and my best friend dig the Flower Boy image. Our mothers - who work in the same place - once asked us why we like boys who look like girls, and we said exactly what you just said in your comment.

I think the two sexiest qualities a man can have are:

1. Dancing skills
2. Confidence

And flower boys have both, SO I guess that's why I love them. They're not afraid to be "out there" and that's something you can't find in most Western men. Western men all have the same image of what a perfect man should be and they follow it, no exceptions. And I think the fact that they call flower boys "gay" is just absurd. In fact, they should be jealous of how "gay" they look because it's the flower boy's confidence that attracts a woman. Nuff said.

@ park chanyeol
It's okay, hun. I feel the same. I've got a photo of Key as my cellphone wallpaper and my mom makes fun of it. When she met my Korean friend, she said he was cute, for an Asian. No, he's just cute. He's as cute as any cute white boy. Of course my mom just jokes about it and I don't think she'd be upset if I married an Asian (or anyone who isn't white/caucasian).

My grandmother, however, is a different story. But she's a lost cause...

Ugh, there is nothing that irks me more than when my dad or my cousin call idols "those gay guys" because of the fact that they look the way they do. I come from a family where pretty much 90% of the males wear baggy jeans, walk around like they are so hardcore and address everyone as "yo, mah nigga". Basically, my family is your typical African American family. I've always preferred men who are the opposite of a "thug" and who think being anything other than a buff, manly man is wrong. Unfortunately, this warrants many undesired commentary from the men in my family and the women who like that type. My aunts always say to me "Oh, Carese, you're going to end up marrying some big, dark black guy like the rest of us and not some skinny little white or Asian boy like you think you like now." I can't even put into words how livid this all makes me. Aside from the fact that they use the race card like it's an unlimited credit card, my main issue is, why does it matter if I like "flower boys"? They obviously don't and that is fine for them, but not everyone is like that. Also, do not say that I "think" I like this type of guy. I know what I am attracted to and its not men who walk around with jeans so baggy that they look like they could fit a small child in them and have them literally hanging off of their asses. I do not find, labeling yourself as a "hardcore gangsta" appealing in the least. Furthermore, oh, I'm "breaking the norm" of the type of men the women in my family usually go for. So what?! I'm also like, the only one in my family who like both sexes and most of them have learned to cope with that, but when I fantasize and fawn over Asian boys who wear eyeliner, I get a bunch of crap. I just think the Western society needs to shut the hell up and deal with the fact that not every man in the world is going to be all "manly" and "macho" and that by not doing so, it certainly does not make that man a queer or lessen his gender any.

Ugh, I am so sorry this turned into a rant