‘Do not pretend to be a woman’: The portrayal of gender and citizenship in the South-Korean military variety show Real Men

Persistent URL of this record https://hdl.handle.net/1887/63885

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Koreanstudies (BA)

Crutzen, Mo (2018)

‘Do not pretend to be a woman’: The portrayal of gender and citizenship in the South-Korean military variety show Real Men

Bachelor thesis | Koreastudies (BA)

In this thesis, I have taken a look at military conscription in South-Korea and how the system intersects with and is influenced by gender and citizenship. To do so, I have used the Korean military variety show 'Real men' as a case study, analyzing this show and the way in which it portrays both masculinity and gender roles. I argue that military conscription in Korea is a system deeply shaped by concepts of hyper masculinity and socially constructed gender in relation to citizenship. At the same time, conscription amplifies these concepts and processes of gender creation, and thus works as an intermediary and magnifier of hyper masculinity and gendered citizenship within Korean society.