Kpop's First (and only) Transgender Group - LADY 

Hey guys! Please note that I have no negative opinions on transgender people and I believe they should be free to live their lives just like anyone else. I'm saddened by the fact that this group experienced discrimination, but at the same time I don't think this makes them immune to all criticism. Therefore the criticisms I made of this group are in no way linked to the fact that they are transgender. I'm just objectively speaking about this group's controversies the same way I would about any other kpop group!

The company wanted the group to be recognized like any other idol group at the time but released A NUDE PHOTOBOOK??? What was the company thinking 😭

It's true that Lady didn't deserve all that hate online for being transgender women but the company was literally making confusing decisions How much delulu you have to be to expect high sales and big success when you're launching a non-accepted group in a conservative country? It's ridiculous 💀

I'm so happy about Ploopy continuing the Crazy Kpop Concept series, this is my fav series on the channel

Lady sure has a lot of potential in the Western side of things. I'm not certain if South Korea is ready to embrace groups like this within the industry.

It's so sad that the company felt the need to bodyshame cis women to promote them. It really shows how awful things were and still are for trans people and women

Let's appreciate the time she spent researching all of the things she talks to us about

What i think is kinda sad is, that I`m sure if they would debut today in 2023, they still wouldn`t be able to promote in a normal way on music shows because I`m sure they would be banned again and people would probably write transphobic stuff. It`s sad that Korea didn`t really change a lot in 20 years.

It's hard enough being trans today, I can't imagine the bigotry they would've faced back then :(

It's sad and must have been so frustrating for the member to constantly repeating that they are women. They had to make a nude photoshoot to "prove" it or lying about surgery...

the “reflect on their efforts” line sounds very in line with the bodyshaming and fatphobia that is common. very interesting how that backlash was used to further bigotry instead of normalizing diversity in body types

As a trans person i respect ur careful choice in wording and overall respectfulness throughout the video!!

I find it strange they have to Prove they had sex change surgery. Their genitalia/etc. isn’t other s people s business.. it’s sad Binu felt like she had to lie about it. I don’t think any of them needed to share that information to start with.

Can we all agree that ploopy makes videos on the most interesting topics! ❤️❤️

I’ve been listening to LADY for some years now but I have never seen the full backstory

Wow, Evangeline’s videos are always so throughly researched and well done! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

Back in the day you weren’t even like, “allowed” to say transgender pretty much. So I understand why she lied about surgery. That was the only metric for validity, and feels like a safety thing. The marketing pitting these girls’ beauty against cis women made me cringe so hard. That’s an oof. Anything can and will be used to call trans women sexist and, like yeah oof

They actually aren’t the only trans group! Earlier this year QI.X debuted. They are a group made of all openly queer idols. I don’t know if all of the members specifically identify as being trans, but they’re all gender variant in someway. They’ve also used trans flags on their social media and performed at a transgender day of remembrance event. Prin is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns. JiGOOK is a nonbinary trans male and uses he/they pronouns. Maek is genderqueer and uses they/them pronouns. Youra is inactive as of writing, they identify as questioning and uses they/them pronouns as of their introduction. Sen doesn’t use labels and uses she/they pronouns. They’re very talented and I highly recommend you check them out. They have two songs out, Lights Up and Walk & Shine.

Thank you so much for sharing this!! I’m a trans West Asian person and my brother in law is Korean-Japanese and trans and it’s really hard to be respected in our communities. Also LOVEEEEEE LADY!!! My girls forever

i think back to piggy dolls, a girl group whose members would today be called "plus sized," but at the time the korean online environment used very different language. their purpose was to sell kpop without conventional beauty. those girls could sing, and proved it with the song called "trend." but large women in a country that devilishly worships the modelesque was going to be a novel concept at best, and before long the public reaction grew to about what you'd expect for a country like south korea. while praised by some for their courage, the group failed to take off. they did, however, get an endorsement from a weight loss company, lost weight, and the novelty was gone. the group was later rebranded with more conventional-looking idols, which is referred to as (no pun intended) "piggybacking." they put out a wonderful song called "butterflies" which i still listen to 10 years later. not much became of the original members, and after the rebranded group disbanded, maknae kang eunyeong went on to re-debut as SeeA with the group PinkFantasy. that's the story of novelty. attention spans and identity are too fragile, and if you sell on gimmick and not value, you don't get and keep customers. that's marketing 101.

I’m so happy someone is finally talking about this group 😚

honestly off topic but I love your channel so much you can take the most boring topics and make them interesting to watch so ty for your hard work lol

Lets get ploopy to 300k ☺

Even despite Korea's reluctance to accept this group, it certainly didn't help that they had so many controversies throughout their run. Attacking womens' bodies when you were born male is never going to go over well and the very idea of a nude photobook seemed like it was their company setting themselves up to be attacked. I have no idea who thought that was a good idea and I feel bad the group didn't get much traction (especially since they had very little training to boot). It almost may have been better had they just been a quirky nightclub group in the first place. But it's nice they they seem to have found something that makes them happy these days. I also have to bring this up because I've seen a lot of confusion on the subject, but since he was mentioned, while Jo Kwon certainly has always been gender non-conforming in how he dresses, for all intents and purposes, he still identifies as male. He specified while working on the musical "Jaime" that he liked putting on a "genderless image" in terms of how he dresses and a lot of western K-POP fans confused this as him "coming out" as being genderless or nonbinary and started calling him "they" despite him never actually stating that he wants to be referred to as any other pronouns. I just wanted to make that clarification since it confused a lot of people a couple years ago!

They could have been groundbreaking, but the concept and promotion of this group is based on misogyny and inherent transphobia (the comments about femininity and womanhood f.e.) so… it furthered the stances against transgender women and transgender as a whole which is so sad. The members don’t have to be experts on transgender, obviously, but they have said some very hurtful things towards women and womanhood and the whole military evasion thing… ugh. That could have been handled more carefully but i think the company didn’t know how to. It’s sad and disappointing how it ended.

I probably would have supported the group if there wasn't any body shaming and the company wasn't promoting them wrong, such as making them do photoshoots that were later posted on p*rn sites. And if they weren't band from music shows

Hey Ploopy, could you make a video about the group Mercury? They were also a group with a transgender member :] also they are unfortunately pretty underrated

If Sheyla´s "boyfriend" had a "wife on the side" then that means Sheyla was actually the "woman on the side" 😹

I've been waiting for another crazy kpop concepts and this one was certainly interesting! I look forward to more videos from this series!

I LOVE WHEN YOU MAKE VIDEOS♡

The amount of research going into this!! You're amazing!!

Congratulations ploopy got 300k followers 💕💕 your great video deserves more and more followers 🌈🌈

Oh my god! So glad you’re talking about this! Also, three minutes early

It's so sad that almost 20 years later, we're still seeing the same levels of transphobia and misogyny, it's so eerie. Thank you for covering this group and their history, you covered this with so much grace.

Thank you for this video. I loved this group's 2 singles. I didn't think anyone remembered this group.

good stuff and great info as always!!!

Congratulations on 300k followers!! You definitely deserve it 🥰

Great job on the video. I’m happy that you cover lgbtq+ 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️. I really appreciate because as a person who is a member of LGBT+ community. It really makes my day. ❤

Thank you for your research! Love this series

People who think that ploopy needs to get 300k and that she is soooo underrated 👇🏻

Fascinating video as usual!

Ploopy, your videos are so good and they’re always so interesting! So happy to be a subscriber, love you and your videos 💗

Thank you for making a video on the topic of LGBTQ+! It is honestly crazy to me how the group LADY was even able to exist at the time. LGBTQ+ still have a hard time in South Korea now, imagine how worse it was in the early 2000s! Unfortunately, it is still hard for LGBTQ+ members of Korean society to come out. Resistance from conservative groups is still strong, and the public generally tends to avoid talking about the topic, rather than speaking out about discrimination LGBTQ+ individuals may face. I am hopeful though that sometime in the future, we will see positive change. Acceptance of LGBTQ+ people actually seems to be increasing according to polls, and I think especially the younger generations seem to have less of a problem with the idea. Also, Taiwan has legalized same-sex marriage as the first country in Asia. I hope that may serve as an example for other Asian countries to follow.

this video was what made me sub, its good to have someone who makes kpop related content who isnt transphobic!

This is my fav channel ploopy 678!!!

Another quality video that is both informative and intersting. I got nothing against the LGBTQ community, but i dont think korea was ready for such a group

OMG I LOVE LADY THEIR MUSIC IS SO GOOD❗️

Another great video!

As a christian, the "being part of lgbtq is a sin" pisses me off sm. Did we all forget only God can judge a person?

Omg! I'm early! I love you so much❤

Very happy you are covering their story too 😍🫶

Omg im so early hiiii love the video

I loveeeeeee your videos, can you please consider doing one on the new Jyp group vcha and the a2k show

thank you for another great video ploopy, as a trans person myself i found this incredibly interesting. its unfortunate that the group had to resort to marketing themselves through putting down cis women and releasing a nude photobook- perpetuating the awful stereotypes of trans women hold- just to try to make a name for themselves in an already hostile industry. i'm not surprised at how negative the reception was for them considering the time and place, but at least it's a step in the direction of potentially having another trans girl group (or any trans group) that can succeed nowadays in a world where it's more understood. thank you again for these videos and keep it up, you're amazing♡

Omg, I've never heard of this!

Evangeline puts out the best content. She always looks into such interesting stories. I love her, and I love her channel. I wish she would interact with us, but she might be afraid of parasocial stuff. I definitely get that.

congratulations for your 300k followers ❤❤❤

I remenber how I love them. I heared the only two videos in loop all day 😢

"yOu pErVeRt" Got me dying

Lady deserved better!! I'd like to think these women would have more success in the more open-minded world of today, but both Korean and international societies still have a long way to go with love and acceptance for Transgender and gender non-conforming people.

i think you should talk about pink fantasy and their member daehwang who wears a bunny mask.

They were my favorite group in 2013(💘

HIIIII I LOVE YOUR VIDEOS!!! i wanted to ask if you could make a follow up on Rania/Blackswan videos you made cuz i think theres been recent controversy and line up changes? idk i just thought it would be really interesting 🩷

Thanks for information ❤

How are you even to find stuff like this. You got to be a secret agent.

Heyy, Ploopy!!

I'm a Christian, Presbyterian which is LGBTQIA+ accepting and am actually bisexual myself. I really wish that all other Christians and Christian denominations would focus on a believer's PERSONAL beliefs. Homosexuality and Transgenderism are very real and true experiences. "There's no such thing" isn't true, especially since the Bible does speak on it. How can the Bible speak on something that doesn't exist? People were homosexual and transgender in the times the Bible was written. Many Christian denominations have agreed that the Bible prohibits living those lifestyles and homosexuals and transgenders should pretend and lie to themselves and live in misery. Supposedly they will be rewarded for their sacrifice by going to heaven. Meanwhile, other Christian denominations agree that the Bible should not be taken literally and that many of the rules within it were written for specific communities of people over 1,000 years ago when science wasn't understood...and therefore do not need to be followed anymore. That's how you even get female ministers. It's forbidden according to the Bible! I don't understand how the same Christian groups will have female ministers then speak against "the gays" as though both female ministers and having gay sex aren't both forbidden if they want to follow all the rules of the Bible. Hypocritical and cherry picking behavior. In short, everyone should mind their own business. If a person isnt Christian, then Christian rules do not apply to them! Religious worship should be private and it's NOT okay to try to force other people to live based on someone else's belief system. I feel sad that these women in Lady weren't able to achieve their goals because of discrimination and prejudice.

Thank you for this comprehensive coverage

We are early today plofessors!!

Lukewarm take: Being a minority of any type and using that as a major draw to a kpop group probably means that there's most likely no actual entertaining appeal. If you're gonna promote a group as being unique due to it's members to draw in fans then have the visuals and music to actually keep fans.

Even if Koreans were accepting, their chances of success would have been low, they would put women down to elevate themselves and make problematic statements wouldn't help them be successful

I came immediately when I saw the notification

weird how obsessed with “the surgery” people are. thats an extreme line to confirm if you really are or not lol

I'd love to see you talk about Mercury!!!! Hanbit is the first person who comes to my mind when talking about lgbt kpop idols

yes finally a video about them

3:22 Source: Twice??? This made me laugh more than it should help-

I hope that koreaboo story becomes a Netflix show 💖

Koreaboo is it dumped in English!? And is it on Netflix!? And l like video and good video and subscribe and my RU-vid too

This reminds me of Hanbit from Mercury. Honestly we need to give queer idols more opportunities.

Their song attention is so good but the only versions i can find of it the quality is potato 😭😭😭. I wish i had a HQ version to listen to

The marketing of Lady was … questionable 😅

bodyshaming is so wild. like they did get their bodies via cosmetic surgery but i doubt they were exempt from the dangerous diet restrictions and intense exercise regimes forced on trainees. the spokesperson was wrong for saying that and i think it's disingenuous to make bad faith arguments agreeing about transwomen getting plastic surgery automatically making them hot. nothing the girls could've done or said would've been met with kindness and sending those girls to the army would make things so much worse for their safety. i hope they're doing okay and trans women are women.

the transphobia they experienced was so terrible, what other woman needs to tell other people about her genitals in order to be accepted as a 'real woman'? it's interesting finding this video now as i just went to a screening last night of Home Ground (2022) which is a documentary about LGBTQIA+ people in south korea, mainly centred around a lesbian bar called LesVos in myeong-dong (i think) i've been watching and listening to south korean media for a couple of years now and this was the first instance of like realistic representation of queer people and culture in korea i've seen, aside from the brief appearances of lesbian characters in hometown cha cha cha and extraordinary attorney woo-youngwoo. it's a good watch, i'd recommend. before watching this film i had no idea of terms like 바지 and 치마 (baji and chima, literally meaning trousers and skirt respectively, also 바지치마) being used to describe lgbt people (i think specifically lesbians but it wasn't explained in the film and i just looked it up and couldn't really find anything)

i haven't heard of this group until now but it's so wrong on how they were treated :(

Doesn’t anybody have any links to the streams Sahara was in ?

Can you do a video about Orange Caramel?

I’m so happy someone finally covered this group!!

i'm early!!!!

Thanks for finding many funny story for ussas❤❤❤

Reminds me of that anime “Back Street Girls” IYKYK

I’m curious Ploopy, would you talk about two topics that took place in Japan within the wrestling world? The Hana Kimura s**cide and it’s connection to popular show “Terrace House”; the second is the Dragon Gate Monkey torture. They’re not talked about enough.

Yeah , I think this group might more success in America rather than in home country because gender identity awareness issue is nothing taboo in America and conservative Korean society are not ready for this

Her in videos-💕❤🌷🌺🌸🎀🥿🩰 Her in dance covers-🖤😈💀⛓🔗

Like? If you want Ploopy to make a video regarding Kris Wu’s scandal!

really think that Korea wasn't ready for this type of group ..

I try to support many LGBTQ+ k idols now bc they are really talented and representation is so important

First 😂!

can you cover the group bubble sisters

9:19 omg I laughed at the meme, specially seeing Mnet and Kbs there 🤣🤣

Wish koreaboo was a film or série