Summary: The Transnational Erotics Of Korean Athletes

It seems that in a modern globalized world, borders, nationality and citizenship would not have to be a serious matter, so the world has had to turn into one big melting pot of cultures. However, if a more precise look will be taken, it becomes clear that the issues of citizenship, borders and nationalities still play a crucial role. Because of the reprehensible stereotyped view of the world that exists, people of other nationalities and cultures are often subjectified, which creates even more barriers and obstacles, as well as cultivates stereotypes and social inequality.

An article by Sealing Cheng entitled “Sexual Protection, Citizenship and Nationhood: Prostituted Women and Migrant Wives in South Korea” describes the problems of sex workers

This is also referred to in an article entitled “Sex, Sport and Spectatorship: The Transnational Erotics of Korean Athletes” by Rachel Joo, which reveals the connection between the nationality and sexuality, using the images of Asian athletes as an example. According to Joo, sexualized representation of Korean athletes is a “nation-buliding project that take place across nation-state borders” , which means that such images of Korean athletes had to shape the Korean Americans' opinion about the Korea. Thus, the image of the Korean and Asian athletes is subjectified according to existing gender myths and stereotypes, because this way they have an opportunity to transnationally promote “neo-liberal myths that praise individual effort, the accumulation of private wealth, and global competitiveness”, that is promote the ideas of Korean-ness among the Korean diaspora both in the United Stated and in the rest of the world. Nonetheless, the images of the Korean American athletes, one way or another, meet the clear gender stereotypes in order to fit into the heterosexual, patriarchal capitalist narrative in which they were created. On the other hand, new sexualized representations of Asian athletes were as well aimed at fighting the general stereotypes about Asians, which exist within the American