Girl industries as a sexuality-assemblage in South Korea

This study conceptualizes the multiple and dynamic landscape of the Korean girl industries as a sexuality-assemblage. This assemblage comprises seemingly anachronistic elements: a long-standing patriarchal and misogynistic social structure; a youth-driven popular culture; a rapid global expansion of the entertainment and media industries; highly advanced digital media technology; and girls' aspirations, desires, and frustrations. Through this lens, the analysis proposed three territories of girl industries: luminosity, precarity, and risk. These territories are all processual constructions of the interrelated forces of territorialization (neoliberal capitalism, digital media and financial technologies, cultural and entertainment industries, and patriarchy and misogyny) and deterritorialization (girls' desires, aspirations, capabilities, and vulnerabilities). Considering Korea's significant situation of gender inequality, the luminosity territory's dazzling illusion stands in stark contrast to the muted reality of the middle precarity territory, while the risk territory exposes a brutal truth hidden from view. It is also crucial to acknowledge the potential for girls' agency and solidarity built up across the multiple territories of the girl industries.