Korean Cuties: Understanding Performed Winsomeness (Aegyo) in South Korea

Aegyo (performed winsomeness) is a layered articulation of behaviours, gestures, vocal and linguistic adjustments, narratives and fashions that serve to enact child-like charm and infantilised cuteness. It is a widely debated but poorly studied phenomenon observed especially among younger South Korean women and, more seldomly, among men. This article will provide a preliminary ethnographic description of aegyo based on the fieldwork performed in Seoul, Incheon and Seongnam in 2015 and 2016, supported by the results of two online questionnaires from early 2016. The article tackles three separate dimensions. First, it briefly relates aegyo to comparable articulations of performed winsomeness in the broader East Asian context. Second, it relates it to the elements of Korean traditional or indigenous knowledge. Third, it explores the meaning of these performances with regards to contemporary figurations of femininity and the local politics of gender, with aegyo seen as a marked but normalised multidirectional process between various social actors.