The wildly successful K-Pop industry has risen from a rather culturally conservative society, evidently differing from that of America's, where almost anything goes. Many a times in K-Pop, the concept of "sexy" is normally infused with a healthy dose of the "cute" factor - to seemingly create a good balance of both.

Yet as time went by and competition in the industry reached new heights, it became less about just showing a good deal of legs (for girl groups). Deemed lacking, various entertainment companies began to seek new ways to produce music videos with more thought-provoking visuals. Sometimes, this is done to the extent of being overtly sexual or indecent. Or perhaps, this is simply not something K-Pop fans were accustomed to seeing?

Before, the general sexy concept that artists pursue in K-Pop had mostly been perceived to be done tastefully. Many of them have since been propelled to fame because of their success in portraying the right concepts of "sexy".

A prime example would be Sistar's "Alone" concept, along with their famous "Sexy leg" dance routine which rocketed the girl group to their unprecedented popularity back in 2013. It was one that made boys infatuated and girls absolutely envious.

Sistar's "Alone", 2012

They showed us that being sexy wasn’t necessarily about showing too much skin or being skimpily clad in lingerie. Their skin-tight, slit red ensemble complimented their well-endowed bodies and their tasteful and sensual dance moves. As usual in K-Pop, a lot of leg was exposed – but it never really came off as offensive or over-the-top.

Only three months into 2014, we have already witnessed a couple of strongly sexually suggestive music videos being released.

In January and February, racy music videos like that of Gain’s “Fxxk U”, Gary of Leesang’s “Shower later” and Stellar’s “Marionette” began to make their way into mainstream media. Two of these music videos were rated R19 for being overly sexual and unsuitable for younger viewers.

In these music videos, women are often seen to be highly sexualized objects. It certainly does not mean that implied nudity, wearing little or exposing cleavage should make a woman more desirable and sexy to the male gaze.

In Gain’s “Fxxk U” video, the explicit shower scene is almost too provocative, with the clear outline of naked bodies and even blood in the bath. Scenes like these are highly questionable and verging on pornography.

Gain's "Fxxk U", 2014

This problem is exacerbated by the fact that many K-Pop fans are teenagers and despite given ratings like R19, they can still gain access to these highly sexualized and controversial videos.

Such music concepts have a specific target audience, but the industry has to be responsible and attempt to better filter these videos. There may be artistic value to these videos, but they have to ensure that such videos do not communicate wrong ideas of what it means to be “sexy” to their millions of impressionable fans.

So exactly to what extend should K-Pop’s “sexiness” be accepted? And to what degree should they be deemed offensive?

Due to its highly subjective nature, there is no right or wrong answer. Perhaps it is this grey area that the industry exploits in their own interest. Popularity is gravely important in the cutthroat K-Pop industry – sometimes to stand out from the mass number of music groups, one has to do something quite absurd or extremely provocative.

As famed novelist John Berger aptly mentions (in Ways of seeing), “Publicity increasingly uses sexuality to sell any product or services.”

Sex sells and will continue to do so - It is also inevitable that human nature makes us ever so inclined to thought-provoking visuals. As such, we are helplessly drawn to these songs and videos despite their possible negative social impact.

It is safe to say though, if we are able to condition ourselves to accept how music industries have often been over-sexed up in recent times as a result of consumerism and as a way of survival -or simply accepting our degenerate society as it is - we will surely do just fine.