ITZY successfully released their album 'NOT SHY' on August 17th at 6 PM KST. At the end of their showcase, ITZY revealed a video titled "Letters to MIDZY" in which each member talked about the difficulties that the group had to face.

Lia confessed she had difficulties when she seemed to lack compared to the other members while Yeji spoke about the pressure of leading the group and her sense of responsibility as a leader.

In particular, member Ryujin spoke up about the unintended misogyny that ITZY experiences as they promote - Ryujin stated, "I wish to be seen as just me without prejudice and without judgment" and revealed her feelings when she heard certain compliments.

She stated that the group members don't strive to be skinny just to look pretty, but they strive to be skinner for the sole reason to perform better and dance more easily. Ryujin stated that many people believe girl group members need to be skinny for aesthetic reasons, however, they want to be skinny so that they can express their dance clearer.

She also stated that audiences and people watch ITZY's performance and compliment them for their difficult choreography and performance. However, some people compliment the group by stating, "For a girl group, the performance is cool." and implying that a girl idol group must perform in certain ways.

Ryujin stated she understands that these individuals have complimented without any ill-intentions however she stated that she wants to be seen and complimented for their performance without anyone bounding them to a certain bias. She stated, "I want to be complimented...without our performances being relative to anything else." 

Many netizens complimented the group's efforts and agreed that idol groups should be complimented and recognized on their performances without being related to certain biases.

Netizens' commented:

"I can understand where Ryujin is coming from. I too sometimes think 'these girls dance pretty good for a girl group' when I see some girl idol performance so I will stop using that expression."

"ITZY is really good at dancing, doesn't matter if they're girls."

"Ryujin is awesome for being able to voice this."

"If someone is complimented in that way, of course, that doesn't sound like a compliment."

"What Ryujin said is right. Just say 'You're awesome' without the 'for a girl group' comment."

"ITZY will become the top girl group just solely because of their performance."

"I hope you guys become more successful."