http://www.critic-al.org/?p=6381 

My first (paid) published piece written in Korean! I wrote about the heteronormative ideals of masculinity and gendered nature of musical performance read through public reactions to the countertenor Sunghoon Choi.

His music is a recent obsession I found as I was dislocated to Seoul during this pandemic, and a haven of queer beauty that has made my stay much more durable than I thought. And yet, I have found many disturbing disavowals of femininity in his fan community – that his performance can never be read as feminine, and that reading such traits is personally insulting to him therefore should be indicted. Simultaneously, however, there also has been many compliments on his musical performances in that they radically ‘transgress’ gender. In this piece, I question such a contradictory celebration of radical gender transgression, only to disavow femininity as it reenacts heteronormative ideals of masculinity.