Because members of China’s “boy band” have female members who dress up in androgynous attire, fans also get confused and fall in love with them. Some fans even consider them “husband material” and send the members of ACrush love letters.
Strict Contract Provisions
However, the contract of the band prevents the members from answering their fans’ love letters, Reuters reported. The contract also bans them from disclosing their gender preference or if they are involved in a romantic relationship.
It does not help that some of the band members, like Min Junqian, a 23-year-old former art student from Shandong Province, like to wear unisex clothes. It turns out that Zhejiang Huati Culture Communication, an entertainment startup, was seeking female musicians with boyish looks and into androgynous outfit.
Peng Xichen, a 21-year-old member of ACrush, assures her parents when she left home that she would be safe because of her boyish look. Instead of packaging members of ACrush – which released its debut single last week – as sweet young girls who would appeal to males, Zhejiang Huati instead created individual identities for band members.
Women Fans
They have so far a loyal fan base of 750,000 most of whom are young females, The Guardian noted. Wang Tianhai, the man behind ACrush, said the group has no political agenda such as pushing for gender equality. “They just enjoy the male appearance, the carefree style and want to sing like men,” he explained.
Lu Keran, the band leader, is being marketed as an energetic dancer with a sunny outlook. Peng is portrayed as a gentle romantic, while Min is the group’s comedian. The identities, while apparently not gender-based, does not exempt the band members from questions over their gender preferences.
The ACrush members claim not to know what the acronym LGBT means, but they insisted they are only “handsome girls.”