Why is K-pop RPS, or real person slash, fan fiction causing controversy? An anonymous Blue House petition called to punish web hobby writers and rapper Son Simba spoke out on Instagram
- Fan fiction about K-pop celebrities first rose in popularity in Korea in the 1990s with the debuts of first-generation idols like H.O.T. and Sechs Kies
- RPS depicts idols as LGBT, in same-sex relationships, and often involves sexual acts – prompting ethical questions and sex crime accusations
K-pop has achieved mass popularity in recent years, giving rise to fan bases across the globe and, in turn, the creation of derivative and transformative works such as fan art and fan fiction. Writing, sharing and reading fan fiction – fictional stories about fans’ favourite idols – is a common practice.
But while such works might be created all as good fun, they come with some measure of risk.
![A Blue House petition titled “Please punish RPS users who devalue underage male K-pop idols as [their] sexual playthings.” Photo: Blue House Petition](https://img.i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2021/02/09/cf1b0ae8-0fb0-4d54-9856-5ae7a675b47b_a391b6c9.png "A Blue House petition titled “Please punish RPS users who devalue underage male K-pop idols as [their] sexual playthings.” Photo: Blue House Petition")
K-pop fan fiction caused a stir earlier this month after an anonymous petitioner filed a complaint on the website of the Cheong Wa Dae, or Blue House, the executive office of South Korea’s president. The petition called for harsh punishment against purveyors of “real person slash” (RPS) involving underage male idols.
“Slash” refers to fan fiction that depicts same-sex relationships, with the name referencing how writers denote which characters are romantically involved by placing a slash punctuation mark between their names. Stories are typically written for free, with indications that they aren’t officially associated with the properties that they’re based on. But while such fan fiction typically depicts characters from various media, such as movies, TV shows or comics, RPS is a subgenre that involves real people instead.
In Korea, RPS first become popular in the 1990s with the rise of first generation idols like H.O.T. and Sechs Kies.
Over the decades, fans have continued to share RPS fan fiction among themselves. In addition to depicting K-pop idols in same-sex romantic relationships with each other, many of the works often involve sexual tension, sexual acts and sometimes even rape and other sex crimes.
The Blue House petitioner deems such content “too raunchy”, even arguing that “RPS [itself] is one type of sex crime. It features perverted sexual intercourse and the rape of male K-pop idols in an unspeakably explicit manner, and countless male celebrities have been sexualised through it.”
Plenty of other Korean fans apparently agree: in just two weeks, the petition gained over 213,000 signatures, obliging the presidential office to release an official response, as it must for any petition that receives over 200,000 responses.
