| CONCLUSION
6.1 Conclusion of research results
The popularity of feminine male singers amongst Thai adolescents
was actually caused by a series of different reasons, based
on stereotypical idealized images embedded and repeated in the
media as well as by the striking appearance and unique characters
that certain female Thai adolescents find so attractive.
The research on the attitudes and behaviors of Thai female
adolescents towards the feminine image of Japanese male singers
has been conducted among ten samplings of interviewees; Thai
female adolescents, aged between 15 – 22 years old who are the
fans of Japanese feminine male singers and live both in Bangkok
and other provinces of Thailand. The research has found that
the interviewees have positive attitudes towards the feminine
image of Japanese male singers. However, the positive attitudes
can be divided into two levels. The first one is regarding only
the appearances and image. The results found that all the interviewees
had positive attitudes in this aspect. The second level regards
the personality and presentation, in which seven of the interviewees
took positive attitudes, while the rest of them, three among
ten, had negative attitudes. The research also found that the
interviewees enjoy participating in lots of activities as a
result of their favoring Japanese feminine male singers, such
as using the internet, watching TV, buying collections about
their favorite singers like CDs and magazines, having fan club
parties and reading fan fiction.
Next, the influences that push Thai adolescents into becoming
fans of Japanese feminine male singers can be divided into two
main aspects. The first aspect is peer influence and the second
aspect is media influences. The interviewees become interested
in Japanese music and Japanese male singers via their friends
introduction, because ordinarily teenagers spend most of their
time with friends so that they can be easily influenced as a
result. Only a few of the interviewees were independently interested
in Japanese music and singers. The second influence is media
such as Japanese cartoons; magazines and television that delivers
the repetitive presentations of feminine males, making them
a stereotyped image of the ideal men, embedded in mass media
so that teenagers are getting progressively used to this image.
However, the image of feminine males is originally generated
from Japan where Japanese woman are oppressed by men and therefore
fantasize of romantic, equal love through the characters of
feminine males as representations of femininity. After which,
society changes and women can become stronger, with the image
of feminine male being more accepted and brought to the wider
public.
Accordingly, the popularity and acceptance of feminine
male singers was also generated by changes in society. As gender
roles have shifted and women become stronger with more opportunity
in life, stereotypes and the way of looking through each gender
has been changed. Men can show their weak side and do not have
to show their masculinity all the time. Accordingly, the trend
of feminine males presented in many kinds of media and feminine
male singers are one part of these changes. The popularity of
Japanese feminine male singers has created the trend of the
feminine male amongst a wider group. This can be seen in many
countries within Asia, and they themselves are now producing
more and more feminine male singers.
From the research’s finding on the attitudes towards feminine
male singers from other countries, the interviewees are strict
in their favoring Japanese singers as their highest priority.
In their point of view, Japan is the pioneer who produces feminine
male singers and they regard any male singers from other countries
who have similar styles or feminine image like Japanese singers
as ‘imitation’. Though some of them may like some feminine male
singers from other countries, such as Thailand and Korea, they
still regard Japanese male singers as the highest priority and
their most favorite. More importantly, the interviewees do not
like the idea that Thai male singers imitate Japanese male singers.
However, the rising numbers of feminine male singers signifies
the acceptance among the wider group in society. Though the
interviewees state that they did not accept or like the feminine
singers of other countries much, they are just a minority in
society and perhaps their strict loyalty to Japanese singers
could be one of the main reasons to make them have bias against
singers from other countries. Consequently, the popularities
of feminine male singers in Thailand, such as Japanese, Korean
and Thai for instance, can show the well-acceptance of this
kind of men among Thai female adolescents.
6.2 Research’s applications
This research does not aim to study the attitudes and behaviors
of Thai female adolescents toward the feminine image of Japanese
male singers only, but it also hopes to lead to a better understanding
on Thai adolescents as well. As ‘Globalization’ created different
culture exposures, teenagers have more chance to be influenced
by foreign culture, their behaviors and changing identity may
be misunderstood by the majority in society and sometimes regarded
as a problem. Actually, their favoring of Japanese music and
singers as well as their activities is just their struggle for
space in society. Because they cannot share their opinion with
people in family or school, the community between fan clubs
is a ‘way out’, where people of the same opinions can inhabit
together. The internet society, fan club party, web board meeting,
all of these are teenagers’ struggle in society to show their
identity. According to research’s finding, their favoring the
feminine image of Japanese male singers is just one of their
activities. So, the information on the study of attitudes and
behaviors of Thai female adolescents towards the feminine image
of Japanese male singers can provide baseline information and
other perspectives for those who are concerned with the impact
of foreign culture to evaluate such an impact intelligently.
Moreover, this research has also shown the changes in society
and its impact as well. The world’s development has caused gender
roles to shift in many countries such as Japan and also Thailand,
so that women can become stronger while men can show their weaker
side. As the world has changed, therefore, the gender stereotype
and the way of looking through each gender could be changed.
Accordingly, the producing of feminine male singers is one of
the results from these changes and in turn teenagers are affected
by these changes. In this way, they could be just the victim
of marketing process which produces this kind of men to sell
in mainstream society. Adolescents are easily seduced and persuaded
by media, so they will change their idea, attitudes, behaviors
and life style according to social and media changes. As they
want to have their own space and something to cling onto, they
would not deny or reject anything that the media tries to present.
For those who are interested in any topic about adolescents
and some changes in the world, it would be more useful in one
way or another to use this research as a background and supportive
information.
6.3 Suggestions for further studies
This research could be expanded more in many ways to achieve
a better understanding in some specialized issues. The researcher
thinks it would be more worthwhile and interesting to further
study on the suggested topics as follows:
1. The psychological theory of female adolescents such
as the sexual oppression or sexual deviation that leads them
to be interested in feminine males or love to fantasize about
stories that are concerned with male romance.
2. The gender stereotype and role shift in the world as
well as its impact on society.
3. The impact of the popularity of the feminine male on
male adolescents or male adults and how it might influence many
people in society to become more feminized in order to be liked
by the opposite sex. This topic could be linked to the idea
of ‘metrosexualism’ where men become more concerned about their
appearance.
4. The differences and similarities between Thai and Japanese
women on the factors influencing them to favor the feminine
male, and whether Thai women want to have more power or equal
relationships with men like Japanese women, or whether they
just imitate and are being influenced by Japanese trends and
values.
These are just some guidelines and suggestions, now that
this research has been completed. However, there are many prospects
for further study that this research has not yet covered and
explored, and it would be worthwhile studying these in a wider
frame.
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