references for the "pretty boy masculinity" trend

"The “pretty boy” look for men has become more popular in recent years and since then Korean pop culture and the industries that support it have never been the same. Men as pretty as (or prettier than) women have become popular icons, and men who take care of their looks are much in demand."

quote (JoongAng Daily)
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http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue20/jung.htm
this is a nice article on the "pretty boy masculinity" trend that sees the issue from different views of different nationalities.

quote:
"In this article, I firstly examine the ways in which pan East-Asian pretty boy masculinity, which I call mu-kuk-jok 'soft masculinity,' has been constructed through the transcultural process of hybridisation and Japanisation of East-Asian popular cultures. Secondly, I discuss the way Japan's bishōnen and South Korea's kkon-mi-nam share the mu-kuk-jok East-Asian 'pretty boy' images. Finally, I discuss how DBSK signifies mu-kuk-jok East-Asian soft masculinity by analysing the new media consumption practice among youtube.com users. Focusing particularly on the DBSK's Mirotic music video clip on youtube.com, where most of the viewers are young females in their late teens to early twenties, this article discusses how these young female web users harbour the shared imagination of pan East-Asian soft masculinity, which is mobilised by their transcultural new media consumerist lifestyle.This article is based on empirical audience reception analysis. To carry out the empirical research for this article, I employed methodologies such as participant observation and email interviews. "


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The Androgyny Revolution
http://tyglobalist.org/index.php/2007121319/Focus/The-Androgyny-Revolution.html


"Choi’s observations of popular sexuality in East Asian cultures today are perhaps supported by psychology. According to Professor Marvin Chun of the Yale Department of Psychology, fascination with feminine male faces is true all around the world. As he told the Globalist, “Evolutionarily speaking, women tend to favor men who are likely to be good caregivers, and feminized facial features are viewed as one marker for such traits. The increased exposure in the media reflects Korea's positive move towards a more liberal, open, and tolerant society.”"