I think Hyuna and Dawn made dating more acceptable

Well Hyuna was already out of 4Minute when she started dating him right?

I’ve noticed the reactions to idols dating is way more tame than it used to be, love to see it.

sure but we also have to keep in mind that we are in 4th gen right now. Of course, 3rd gen kpop fans who are most likely grown ups now will less care about dating scandals. Maybe we can be sure of this, if even 4th gen idols are unaffected by dating scandals.

I do think that's at least partly true

we have to keep in mind that some of these are dating rumors not necessarily about being acceptable or not

I really hope so

I still do see some weird comments about 2nd gen idols dating or getting married. They are in their 30s, when will people give up.

To draw the exact equivalence with Baekhyun and Taeyeon I think groups less than 2 years of debut need to date.

As groups have been around longer, people care less and less. Idols are older and fans are older too.

I don’t think those will have a great reception still tbh lol.

Eh. I think it really depends on three things:

- how big is the group?

Knetz are still salty about Chen, for instance.

- which idol is it?

More popular members of the group are going to face backlash here, particularly stan attractors. I guarantee the reaction to Jaehyun or Doyoung dating is going to be dramatically different than Johnny or Yuta. People are going to react differently to Cha Eunwoo dating than Rocky.

- who is the idol dating?

There was a lot milder response to V and Jennie dating (two people consistently ranked as the most beautiful) than Jennie and G Dragon. It seems like the reaction is worse when it’s someone the fans deem not good enough for the idol (not pretty enough/successful enough). I’ve seen that even on the Ryujin-Haechan rumor you reference where people are constantly saying this.

Quote from quarkie

Bobby was out of the blue too and the reaction was very different. It still very much depends on the image of the group and how popular the member is... had it been Baekhyun who was just like "welp I'm gonna get married" someone would have tried to burn SM down instead of just their EXO merch.

If baekhyun dates or gets married, i can gurantee you, kexols are going to commit some crimes

Quote from OldJeans

Bobby was more apologetic though. That's why they hated Chen, cuz in their eyes he was being arrogant with the way he handled the announcement

I respect chen a lot. He never apologized for being in love, for having a child, and for getting married. Because he doesnt owe anyone an apology.

The thing with Ikon and Bobby and the way they were marketed, more fans and people accepted it because they never sold that boyfriend image. I don't think Bobby particularly had hard-core fangirls like exols who were extremely possessive of the exo members. That is why there wasn't the same uproar from ikonics(?). Exo sold the boyfriend image which created a more rapid, frenzy fanbase

I wouldn't say kexols hate him for being arrogant. There were other reasons. Fans of other groups also joined in the bashing because they don't want their idols to start dating as well. So they used chen as a punching bag

Maybe, but they're a little too out there in my opinion.

Idols should be able to date freely tbh