South Korea is crippled by Misogyny, while it fails to find a proper answer
Since a murder at a toilet around Gangnam Station in Seoul, misogyny has become a hot potato in South Korea. A man in his 30s killed a woman in her 20s. The murderer said that his crime was motivated by the hatred of women, assuming that most women belittled him. The crime fueled the rise of feminism in Korea, while some men, imbued with misandry, demonized women on the internet. Women have organized demonstrations, speaking up for misogyny, calling for the society to respect women’s rights.
Sadly, even with women’s efforts to tackle the chronic misogyny issue, it is still pervasive., And, some webtoons in South Korea have recently faced fierce criticism for misogyny. Last month, Kian 84, one of the most famous cartoonists in South Korea, was denounced by netizens after publishing his webtoon, which depicts an episode of a female intern who is in search of an opportunity to be a permanent worker.
In the episode, the female character is an incompetent young woman, poorly performing at work. Noticing that she is unlikely to be employed as a permanent worker after the end of internship, the intern puts a clam on her belly, breaking it with a stone while drinking alcohol with her coworkers and manager. Moreover, the intern kissed her manager in his 40s, having a sexual relationship to be a permanent worker.
Netizens pointed out that the episodes implies that women sell sex to find a job. Moreover, it was not the first time for Kian 84 being blasted for misogyny on his webtoon. A series of brickbats led an internet user to post an online petition on the official website of Blue House, the presidential office in Seoul, to ban the publication of Kian 84's webtoon on the internet. More than 130,000 people signed up for the petition, arguing that the webtoon risks spreading a distorted view on sex.
The cartoonist belatedly offered an apology on his social media. His apology, however, just revealed his ignorance about misogyny and gender equality issues. He said that he hasn’t ever been aware that the episode about the female intern can be seen as a misogyny. He just claimed that his intention was highlighting the female character’s cuteness.
Ui Keun-woo, a prominent male feminist in Korea, slammed Kian 84’s apology. He suggsted that the cartoonist had to do soul-searching for his improper view on sex. “The apology indicates that Kian 84 seems to downplay the misogyny issue itself. People, who have a view on sex like him, dismiss sex crimes perpetrated by taking advantage of social status as a love affair issue, not a sex crime.”
Kian 84’s controversy failed to end the publication of misogynistic webtoon. Another popular webtoon has been recently reprimanded for expressing the hatred of women on most of its episodes. The webtoon indicates women are just sex slaves for men, as well as showing how women sell sex or being subjected to sex crimes in detail. Teenage sex criminals can be easily found on the webtoon. In the most recent episode, it described an old lady who’s been persecuted and sexually assaulted.
It also defamed some celebrities. There, some characters’ appearance and name are quite similar to Korean top stars: A female character, that reminds viewers of a popular singer, is raped; A male character, that looks like a member of BTS, is watching pornography, committing sex crimes.
Most people were outraged at the webtoon and its cartoonist for the hatred of women and defamation. And, twitter users hashtagged “#Stop expressing the misogyny on webtoons”, “#Tackle the misogyny on webtoons”. Heavy criticism made Hell-per, the cartoonist of the controversial webtoon, stop publishing it.
In Korea, the patriarchism and a male-chauvinistic sex education at schools fed the extreme hatred of women. Most baby boomers and their parents’ generation were grown up in a society where the preference of boy over girl was pervasive. In most households, parents backed their sons’ education, while forcing their daughters to do house chores, dropping out of school to earn money, supporting their brothers’ tuition.
As for sex education, most schools don’t see it as an important education for students. Teachers just show an old video, which tells women are responsible for being sexually assaulted; Women can protect themselves from sex crimes by saying no; All men are right to have a sexual impulse.
Combined with patriarchism and dated sex education, some men absurdly claim that women’s rights are largely improved, as most women are allowed to have tertiary education, and men, not women are being subjected to discrimination. And, few of them think watching pornography is a crime. More seriously, some even assume sex crimes as a minor crime, let alone being wary of misogygy, valuing gender sensitivity.
Feminists have been fighting against prolonged misogyny for several years. Rather, some online trolls generally circulate misogynistic materials on the internet. And, feminism has become extremism, as some self-proclaimed feminists whipped up the hatred of men, as a part of ending misogyny. The extremists just fueled the conflict between misogyny and misandry.
Misogyny is obviously a serious problem that South Korea has to handle. An old sex education, that teaches dated and distorted view on sex, and patriarchism have to be ended. But, misandry never can be an answer to get to grips with misogyny. We all need to understand opposite sexes, stop demonizing each other. For this, a proper educations about sex and gender equality are indispensable.
