In December 2019, I first stumbled across BlackPink and ITZY, two K-pop groups that would quickly become my favourites. I had just come out of an intensive two-week long hospital stay battling the deadly eating disorder (ED) anorexia nervosa. 

Initially, I got into K-pop because the positivity of the lyrics seemed to help manage the overwhelming distress of early-stage weight restoration. However, despite the optimistic messages, I soon fell into the all-too-familiar cycle of social comparison, with my experience mirrored in countless studies linking social media to body dissatisfaction. 

In an interview with Canadian sociologist, Naveen Joshi, we discussed the results of his recent content analysis of K-pop fan Twitter sites. His research uncovered a massive online, open-community spanning across multiple social media platforms, consisting of mostly young female, eating-disordered “super fans”.

The largest network is “K-pop ED Twitter” which revolves around the idolization of K-pop and extreme thinness. The community’s most popular threads often feature carefully curated images of extremely underweight K-pop idols, alongside triggering content such as weight loss tips and tricks, diet plans, and workout routines. These spaces are part of the broader global phenomenon Korean Wave (Hallyu), which describes the rapid spread of South Korean cultural exports like music, fashion, and television.

Controversial, pro-eating disorder websites have existed for some time, and Joshi emphasizes that “All use of social media, K-pop or not, is associated with greater body surveillance. Dissatisfaction tends to increase the more it’s used.” However, K-pop has given rise to a new era of unapologetic glamorization of extreme thinness across openly eating-disordered accounts featuring weight goals in bios, explicit “body checks” and pinned posts of “thinspiration”. The unabashed openness of K-pop idols publicizing their incredibly restrictive diets, excessive exercise regimes, and other “medically dangerous” behaviours, stands in stark contrast to the more ambiguous and masked “cult of thinness” present in North America.

A 2020 South Korean study found that girls as young as 5-years-old are impacted by the thinness ideal and “chubby” stigma, noting a significant relationship between K-pop media exposure and negative body image evaluations. Additionally, hashtags in social media post captions such as #Wonyoungism romanticizes extreme calorie restriction and low BMIs (Body Mass Indices), often disguised as part of a “healthy lifestyle”. This trend includes fans as young as 11-years-old sharing “What I Eat in a Day” videos featuring disturbingly small portion sizes. 

The K-pop industry too often glorifies extreme thinness, which can reinforce harmful beliefs and behaviours in fans who are vulnerable to eating disorders. In a way, it provides validation to those who may feel alienated by the contradictory body image messages in North American culture. Models in Westernized countries have been known for characteristically flaunting their underweight bodies with a slice of pizza in hand, while concealing the extensive work and costs involved in manufacturing these images. 

Dawn, a K-pop Twitter user and college student, describes that “[with K-pop idols] you feel like you’re in the struggle together with them because no one’s implying that it’s inherent or accidental like you see in the West. It’s purposeful and it’s difficult.” 

Perhaps the most damaging aspect is the promotion of the false narrative that it’s possible to engage in these extremely unhealthy behaviours and still somehow be highly functional–singing, dancing, performing, and constantly smiling for upwards of 12 hours a day as many K-pop idols appear to do. 

Another issue in the industry is “slave contracts”, where K-pop stars must agree to strict demands from their management teams to maintain unhealthily low weights and are punished for noncompliance. While these practices have long been overlooked, they have recently gained attention as deteriorating health becomes too visible to ignore. 

After idols began fainting on stages, in airports, disappearing, leaving their groups or dying by suicide, fans demanded answers and companies were forced to respond. Numerous idols have now come forward sharing their experiences, such as solo artist IU, who unintentionally sparked a dangerous crash diet (“IU diet challenge”) and later revealed she sought treatment for bulimia nervosa. 

Meanwhile, eating disorder rates have been skyrocketing across Asia, outpacing any other region globally. An estimated 10 percent of Asian youth are diagnosed with an eating disorder, a 44 percent increase since 1990, following a worrisome trend of increasingly thinner K-pop idols.

Similarly in the West, a 2024 study recently examined how K-pop-inspired body dissatisfaction lowers physical and mental health and increases eating disorder risk among female adolescent fans. Over two-thirds compared themselves to K-pop idols, reporting body image distortions, disordered eating habits, and excessive exercise behaviours.

With the continued globalization of the K-pop industry, where do we go from here? As a mental health advocate and K-pop fan, I reflect on Byron Hurt’s powerful documentary, ‘Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes’ which explores the tension between loving a genre and critiquing its harmful aspects. Like Hurt in the documentary, Joshi encourages better media literacy and a more mindful, reflective approach to K-pop consumption. 

Raising awareness is crucial, especially for vulnerable consumers actively struggling with eating disorders. For those adversely affected by K-pop’s messaging, a period of detox from the genre may be necessary to heal. Professor Jennifer Mills, a researcher and psychologist at  York University in Toronto, found unplugging from social media for just a week led to significant increases in self-esteem and body image. Despite the joy K-pop has brought fans, current practices in the idol industry have rampantly normalized eating disorders globally and need to be scaled back.   

– Ruby Kagan, Contributing Writer

Image Credits:

Feature: Annushka Ahuja at Pexels, Creative Commons

Body Image 1: Lisa Fotios at Pexels, Creative Commons

Body Image 2: Annushka Ahuja at Pexels, Creative Commons