feminism
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Where Are All the Women in South Korea's Democracy Protests?
Moon Young-me was one of the five million South Koreans estimated to have come out onto the streets in June 1987. She was bare-faced, wearing no makeup or fancy clothing. That was the norm for the student protest culture at the time. She was a 21-year-old history major, a transfer
Menstruation: I Don't Want to Whisper. I Don't Want to Wear White.
In the two minute ad, a youthful man beckons the unseen female behind the camera into his kitchen. “This special restaurant has opened just for you,” he says with a sheepish smile. After fumbling with kitchen utensils and ingredients, he serves the dishes on the table. The table is covered
What If Snow White Was Fat?
Snow White steps into the room and takes her robe off after a long day. Two dwarfs, accidentally entering the room through a magic teleporting mirror, hurriedly hide under a sofa, leering at her as she undresses herself. She goes on to take off her red heels, in an oddly
Moon Jae-in's Road to Gender Equal Cabinet
With his good-looking entourage (especially one of his campaign bodyguards), newly-elected president Moon Jae-in has excited many in South Korea and beyond. Now, he is enthralling the electorate with his choice of ministerial nominees – this time, not for their appearances but because they are women in positions previously dominated
Murder at Gangnam Station: A Year Later
Yesterday marked the first anniversary of the murder near Gangnam Station in Seoul, South Korea. Nearly a thousand people — mostly in the younger generation — silently marched across the streets of Gangnam, paying tribute to a 23-year-old woman who died in the hands of a stranger in a public
Meet S Korea's "Feminist" Grandpas
Handmaids are a rare breed in the Republic of Gilead, where most women are barren. The purpose of their existence is to reproduce. If these few fertile women shirk their duty to breed, they face immediate execution or, worse, are banished to “The Colonies” to die slowly of radiation poisoning.
Glass Zoo: Tales of Veteran Women Journalists
Recently, the Korea Exposé team was looking at presidential candidates’ lists of pledges. “Woman” was the name given to one of the categories. A colleague asked me, “How do you feel about being a policy category?” I didn’t really know what
Twitter User Flags 'PedoFILA' Controversy
An old advertisement is suddenly going viral online in South Korea. Keywords: “pedoFILA” and “sexualization.” Against a pink background, dotted with strawberry patterns, “Strawberry gelato” is written in playful cursive lettering. By the way, this ad is not for a new flavor of Baskin Robbins. Underneath the script, a sneaker
Sim Sang-jung: A Superwoman Without Superpower
She calls herself the maid to Park Geun-hye’s princess. She’s the fringe to Park Geun-hye’s mainstream status. Park grew up in a castle: the president’s official residence that her father occupied for 18 years until his assassination in 1979, to which she returned many years later
"A Day Without Women" on the Streets of South Korea
Today was International Women’s Day, and South Korean women took this celebration to another level. Korean Women Workers Association (KWWA) held a “Day Without Women” march in downtown Seoul and other cities nationwide, calling out for women to fight against the gender wage gap.
Korea's Independence Movement Had Women, Too
Mar. 1 marks one of Korea’s most famous pro-independence protests, which saw hundreds of thousands take to the streets against Japanese colonial rule in 1919. Many protesters are remembered today as national heroes, but among them, Yu Gwan-sun is one of the few female leaders that most South
The Enemy Is Within Our Ranks
Two narratives generally dominate the portrayal of South Korea’s most important holidays, Chuseok (the Autumn Harvest) and Seollal (the Lunar New Year), which was just last week. There’s the happy narrative: Extended families get together to celebrate over traditional home-cooked Korean dishes; smiling celebrities in hanbok promote the