(no subject)

[lirazel]

It just blows my mind that this keeps happening--SM treats its employees like shit, so much so that the employees take legal action to get away from them--and yet the company (and the industry at large) learns absolutely nothing. They didn't learn anything from Shinhwa, they didn't learn anything from Han Geng, they didn't learn anything from JYJ, and they won't learn anything from Kris. Nothing's going to change at SM or industry-wide until the law forces them to change or until they can't make money off of mistreating dreaming young people, and I don't foresee either of those things happening any time soon. I'm glad Kris is getting out while he can. I'm sure he didn't make the decision lightly.

What I really want to know is whether the female idols are treated better or (more likely) they're treated so much worse that they have less leverage (emotional or otherwise) to leave when they want to. Because it's significant to me that only guys have gotten out.

Comments

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Yes. Yes to all of that. If there's one thing I know for a fact, it's that institutions without complete transparency always end up using their power to abuse women and take sexual advantage of the vulnerable, and the more authoritarian the institution is, the worse the abuse. I genuinely worry for the women and girls in this industry.

Everybody talking about how this is "such a dick move, just in the middle of promotions" makes me homicidal. What the actual fuck is wrong with people.

I'm sure this has been in the works for a while and it just so happens that now is the moment when the paperwork gets finalized and everything. It's not like he purposefully picked this moment. People need to quit privileging their own enjoyment of something over other people's well being.

[idlewilds3.livejournal.com]

I'm fine with Kris looking out for himself cause not like SM is known for their awesome working environment. With that said, I do think there is calculation in the lawsuit coming to light now because with the world attention on EXO due to their comeback, Kris would have more leverage in getting resolution faster since SM probably just want this to be taken care of immediately. I don't blame him if this is actual reason for the timing because hey, if you gonna go against such a huge conglomerate, you need every card you can stack up in your deck.

At the same time, I do think it does suck for the other members because besides the emotional turmoil of having a bandmate left they will also have to deal with the physical stress of re-arranging their formations, routines, etc. And for such a dance-centric group, I could see why the rest of EXO is having a huge case of FML! right now. So if the others are lashing out at him, I sympathize, especially when you remember how young a lot of them still are. I'm a lot older and still flail when my expectations are not being met so who can blame the streak of disappointment and anger that's streaking its way through EXO and its fandom. However, that does not excuse cruelty or assholery reactions to any involved except maybe SM.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I don't blame him if this is actual reason for the timing because hey, if you gonna go against such a huge conglomerate, you need every card you can stack up in your deck.

Agreed. I just think it's a pretty big leap to assume that the timing was a deliberate thing when we don't have any evidence of that.

I don't have a problem with the members being hurt, of course--how they're reacting is none of my business and is something that should be private. I mean, look at DBSK: I think JYJ were perfectly entitled to do exactly what they did, but I also feel real sympathy for the emotional upheaval Yunho and Changmin went through. The problems are all caused by the company anyway, the company that treated Kris/JYJ so badly they felt their only option was to get the hell out of there. So the netizens' anger should be against the company for putting them in that position, not any of the members, who are just trying to make it through life.