{"id":3273,"date":"2026-04-07T21:16:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T21:16:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/korea\/?p=3273"},"modified":"2026-04-07T21:16:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T21:16:40","slug":"may-7-k-drama-made-them-tom-gay-thai-hallyu-imaginaries-and-lesbian-possibilities-with-dredge-byungchu-kang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/korea\/news\/may-7-k-drama-made-them-tom-gay-thai-hallyu-imaginaries-and-lesbian-possibilities-with-dredge-byungchu-kang\/","title":{"rendered":"MAY 7 &#8211; &#8216;K-Drama Made Them Tom-Gay: Thai Hallyu Imaginaries and Lesbian Possibilities&#8217; with Dredge Byung\u2019chu Kang"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"firstp\">Please join the Center for Korea Studies for a special colloquium with Dredge Byung\u2019chu Kang, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of California San Diego. The aesthetics of K-Pop flower boy masculinity, the narratives of K-Drama cross-gender characters, and imagined Korean lesbianism have refashioned contemporary\u00a0<em>tom<\/em>\u00a0(Thai butch lesbian) gender presentation, partnership patterns, and sexual roles. Many Thai youth are \u201c<em>ba kaoli<\/em>\u201d (crazed for all things Korean), including young lesbians. In this talk, Kang examines how Korean media, consumer goods, and cultural assets are mobilized to imagine, enact, and embody Asian cosmopolitan identities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Please join the Center for Korea Studies for a special colloquium with Dredge Byung\u2019chu Kang, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of California San Diego. The aesthetics of K-Pop flower boy masculinity, the narratives of K-Drama cross-gender characters, and imagined Korean lesbianism have refashioned contemporary\u00a0tom\u00a0(Thai butch lesbian) gender presentation, partnership patterns, and sexual roles.<\/p>\n<div><a class=\"more\" href=\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/korea\/news\/may-7-k-drama-made-them-tom-gay-thai-hallyu-imaginaries-and-lesbian-possibilities-with-dredge-byungchu-kang\/\">Read more<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":3276,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,8,9],"tags":[67,42,65,64,66],"class_list":["post-3273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colloquia","category-feature","category-news","tag-ba-kaoli","tag-center-for-korea-studies","tag-korean-manga","tag-queer-literature","tag-thai-tom","region-east-asia","region-korea","region-south-korea"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>MAY 7 - &#039;K-Drama Made Them Tom-Gay: Thai Hallyu Imaginaries and Lesbian Possibilities&#039; with Dredge Byung\u2019chu Kang - Center for Korea Studies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/korea\/news\/may-7-k-drama-made-them-tom-gay-thai-hallyu-imaginaries-and-lesbian-possibilities-with-dredge-byungchu-kang\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MAY 7 - &#039;K-Drama Made Them Tom-Gay: Thai Hallyu Imaginaries and Lesbian Possibilities&#039; with Dredge Byung\u2019chu Kang - Center for Korea Studies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Please join the Center for Korea Studies for a special colloquium with Dredge Byung\u2019chu Kang, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of California San Diego. The aesthetics of K-Pop flower boy masculinity, the narratives of K-Drama cross-gender characters, and imagined Korean lesbianism have refashioned contemporary\u00a0tom\u00a0(Thai butch lesbian) gender presentation, partnership patterns, and sexual roles.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/korea\/news\/may-7-k-drama-made-them-tom-gay-thai-hallyu-imaginaries-and-lesbian-possibilities-with-dredge-byungchu-kang\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Center for Korea Studies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-07T21:16:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2026\/04\/Spotlight_Dredge-Kang.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"288\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ellen E. 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