misogyny
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'Parasite Moms' Vs. 'Meat Shields': A Novel Prompts an Online Spat
34-year-old Kim Ji-young sits outside a café with her baby daughter in a stroller beside her. Out of the blue, she overhears young men talking about her: “I wish I could drink coffee with my husband’s money too. Must be so easy to live like a Mom-chung.” “I
How Netflix Disappointed South Korean Users
Starring in SNL Korea and numerous other TV shows, comedian Yoo Se-yoon is a familiar figure in South Korea. So when Netflix Korea, struggling since its launch in 2016, chose Yoo to promote their latest original series, they thought it would attract attention. “Yoo Se-yoon is throwing in his
For Better or Worse, All Roads Lead to Namuwiki in South Korea, Not Wikipedia
“All roads lead to Namuwiki,” a popular saying goes. Type any search term into Google Korea. Chances are, you’ll be taken to Namuwiki, not Wikipedia. Namuwiki is South Korea’s indigenous open-source encyclopedia, which started out as a half-baked collection of pages deep in the bowels of Korean cyberspace.
South Korean Comedy's Misogyny Machine
“Ugly and fat” is one of her most marketable characteristics. She talks openly about her weight and invites guffaws for saying that even her tongue is fat. She makes passes at sexy male celebrities, which people think is funny, because — duh — it’s a fat
Weekly Brief: Dec. 5th - 11th
Corruption at heart of Presidential scandal In a rare scene, lawmakers questioned the CEOs of nine major conglomerates on live television. The CEOs represent the largest companies in the country, each suspected of buying favors from the government through Choi Soon-sil, the President’s confidante. The most common answer? “I
Weekly Brief: Nov. 21st - 27th
State-authored textbooks: Another victim of Choi Soon-sil? Today the government gave the public its first look at the new state-authored history textbooks. When announcing it last year, the government held firm on its plans for new textbooks despite strong opposition from historians and academics. Possibly due to the weakened state
Open Letter to the Student Who Harassed Me
Editor’s Note: The following is an open letter from Professor Olga Fedorenko, who teaches anthropology at Seoul National University, one of South Korea’s most prestigious schools. The letter provides a glimpse into the racism and misogyny experienced by a white female foreigner from
Misogyny in South Korea: Murder in Gangnam
Editor’s Note: Last week was the six-month anniversary of the murder of a young woman near Gangnam Station. The murder sparked an explosive discussion in South Korean society about rampant misogyny. This comic strip is the first in a three-part installment that discusses feminism and gender inequality since
Megalia: South Korean Feminism Marshals the Power of the Internet
Founded on August 6th, 2015, independent website Megalian.com embodies a new type of feminism – one that uses the country’s world-class information and communications technology infrastructure to promote gender equality and to humorously bash misogyny on the South Korean web. The name, currently filed for trademark registration&
Men Who Yearn to Be Erect, and the Women Who Bear Them
He leans in and caresses her face. He plants his lips on hers. She opens her eyes wide, looking utterly surprised. Then she gives in, chastely closing her eyes as she keeps herself perfectly still. When I get around to watching a South Korean drama, this is more or less
Gender Equality in South Korea: A Long Way to Go
In 2004 a police officer in Miryang told several middle school girls who were repeatedly raped over the course of a year by forty-one high school boys that they, the victims, were “embarrassing his hometown”. Eight years later, in 2012, it was revealed that the girlfriend of one of