Reclaiming Nudity: Feminism, Commodification, and the Male Gaze in Nxde

With the growing popularity of the Girl Crush concept, an increasing number of K-pop productions incorporate feminist elements. This study examines the Girl Crush style through the lens of postfeminism and commodified feminism, analyzing how it navigates the tension between female empowerment and the male gaze within the highly commercialized K-pop industry. Existing studies rarely provide a detailed account of how feminist symbols in K-pop are constructed and deconstructed. This study fills this gap by conducting a systematic semiotic analysis to uncover the layered meanings of these symbols. Through a semiotic analysis of the visual elements in (G)I-DLE’s Nxde music video, this study examines how symbols of nudity, performance, and objectification engage with feminist discourses. Findings indicate that while Nxde challenges media-driven sexualization by reframing nudity as a symbol of self-expression, it simultaneously conforms to mainstream beauty standards and commercialized aesthetics. This commercialization of feminist ideals paradoxically reinforces the male gaze, highlighting a core tension within postfeminist media culture. The MV oscillates between resisting objectification and reinforcing the very structures it seeks to critique, exemplifying the paradox of postfeminist media representation. This study contributes to the discourse on female representation in East Asian popular culture by emphasizing the performative nature of feminist imagery in K-pop.