One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: The Rise of Anti-Feminist Movements in South Korea
From taking up their jobs to emojis supposedly mocking their genitalia — why Korea’s men have had enough of ‘feminism’.
There have been great strides towards breaking down the institutionalised sexism and objectification of women that defines the patriarchal society of South Korea. Korea is home to the world’s longest demonstration where women have been fighting for international recognition and ramifications for sex crimes committed by the Japanese Imperial Army during the Second World War. New battles for Korea’s women’s rights have since emerged, such as the one for comprehensive legal punishment for perpetrators of illegal spycam filming.
Not even two years on from the scenes pictured above, the streets of Seoul have begun to see a growing number of men participate in marches of their own — this time supporting a self-proclaimed ‘Antifeminism’ agenda. The latest outcry from these groups, such as the ‘New Men’s Solidarity and ‘DangDangWe’ (Group pictured below), have been calling for the abolishment of the Gender Equality Ministry. The groups all share the same ideology that misogyny is ‘non-existent’ and that Korean women all too often give false statements of mistreatment and inequality. The movement has managed to rise from the cracks of discussions between older, conservative right-wing groups to the mainstream political sphere.
The growing popularity of this movement has been spearheaded by younger men. The groups are usually non-profits that campaign and hold demonstrations in hopes to see changes in their favour. So far, they have successfully normalised identifying as a feminist or projecting feminist ideals as controversial.
The blame game?
It’s difficult to pinpoint when exactly the rights of women became a partisan issue and indeed ‘feminism’ itself became a dirty word for Koreans. Alongside its economic development, in the last 70 years, the country has seen a divergence in the socioeconomic status of women from traditional norms like being obedient housewives that had participated in primary and light manufacturing industries. Wesley Jenning from the University of Southern Florida concluded that women are now comprising an increasing proportion of Korea’s present-day workforce in diverse sectors.
For anti-feminist groups, this is where their discontent begins.
Korea’s job market is at its most oversaturated and competitive state it’s ever been, with everyday living costs rising and homeownership for younger adults becoming close to unattainable. Yonsei University’s Professor Park Ju-Yeon has concluded that anti-feminist groups have utilised the dire social situation by linking it to women taking up jobs and opportunists away from men — thus sparking insecurity among younger men and leading them to believe they’re falling behind compared to their female peers.
Further aggravation has been caused as a result of President Moon’s cabinets promoting government-backed programs that aim to improve equality. For example, one program which encourages more women to participate in the workforce has created pathways to make it easier for working mothers to return to their prior job roles. But protesting groups like DangDangWe have claimed that such programs give women an unfair advantage and preferential treatment for jobs.
Empirically, while the social environment for young workers is universally challenging, according to Numbero, women face harsher realities, often struggling to find high-paying employment in comparison to men. For example, a 2019 study by Hankyoreh found that only 4% of Korean executives are women and Korea still has the largest gender pay gap among advanced economies according to the World Economic Forum.
Rather than women taking away job opportunities from men, a more astute analysis of the Korean job market would conclude that the recent deindustrialisation of Korea’s economy has resulted in manufacturing and industrial jobs being moved abroad. For example, large conglomerates like Samsung and Hyundai Group have moved their factories to the world’s new and emerging manufacturing powerhouses. Economists from Seoul National University, have pointed out that South Korea’s hollowing out of their male-dominant manufacturing sector has contributed to the high unemployment figures in the country but there is no significant gender difference in the unemployment rate, weakening DangDangWe’s claims.
To exacerbate the gender wars further, all able-bodied men are required by law to complete mandatory military service. This takes a minimum of 21 months of their twenties away to serve and protect the Korean peninsula on a minimum wage — a sore point for some men who feel unfairly burdened. Most men find that treatment from higher-ups during their enlistment is demeaning and hierarchical. However, there have been cases of soldiers reporting abusive and unfair treatment — in 2020 alone, 42 soldiers committed suicide during their service. So when the suggestion was raised by the Gender Equality Minister to make enlistment mandatory for all to improve gender equality, it was not welcomed by women. As abuse in the military is already happening, women anticipate they will disproportionately suffer from harassment if they enlist too.
The F Word
The remnants of Confucianism and the rise in evangelicalism have created a conservative cultural backdrop in South Korea. Its media portrayal of women has cemented modern ideals of femininity of what women should be and look like — such as thin physics, obedience towards men, and beauty standards requiring extensive cosmetic procedures to maintain. The objectifying way in which women are presented in the media grants them a passive role in society, almost like extras in the background, as opposed to an active one — protagonists with their own agency.
Feminist groups, such as Haeil, continue their efforts to break down gender stereotypes and fight for the rights of women in areas such a reproductive health, equal pay, and beauty standards. However, fringe groups like ‘Megalian’ mask misandry and homophobia as ‘pro-feminism’ online forums. The group has received mass backlash from feminist groups and antifeminism groups alike due to their aggressive and often nonsensical attacks. The group members have outed closeted men publicly, shared explicit photos nonconsensual, and even gone as far as to mock the deceased children who died in the 2014 Sewol Ferry disaster.
As a result of the extremist group’s association with the feminist movement, it has aided in overall negative perceptions of feminism ideology and those who show support for the movement. Feminism has become a dirty word and anti-feminist groups brand anything that strays from these ideal beauty standards as ‘anti-men’ symbols.
For example, An San, a three-time gold medallist at the Olympics, was told to return her medal and apologise — why? Because they’ve concluded that her short hair radiated ‘anti-men’ energy and promoted feminism on an international stage. Public figures who are seen reading feminist novels, like Kim Jinyoung, Born 1989., which depicts the gender discrimination a middle-aged Korean mother has faced throughout her life- has resulted in these individuals receiving mass public backlash and even had photographs of themselves being burnt in protest by DangDangWe members. The latest ‘anti-men’ symbol — this emoji 🤏 anti-feminist groups have claimed it’s an “extreme, misandrist feminist’” use as a symbol for small penises.
The overall impact of the rise in antifeminist sentiment has led to companies apologising for using ‘feminist language’ and recalling ads that according to them represent the feminist idealogy. Anti-feminist sentiment has become so normalised, as a result of Megalian and DangDangWe activities, that from May of this year alone, more than 20 brands and government organisations have removed what some see as feminist symbols from their products after mounting pressure. The “feminist symbols” in question….“🤏”, The recalling of ‘controversial’ advertisements have worked in the anti-feminist groups’ favour and legitimised their ideology.
Some antifeminist Koreans have gone one step further by collating data of public figures who support feminism or who have not publicly denounced its philosophy and compiled the names into a neatly organised database named “Check Femi’, making it easily accessible for anti-feminists to boycott brands.
Turning back the clocks?
The next Presidential election is in sight — the big question is will the anti-feminism movement continue to gain momentum and formally make its way into the mainstream political sphere? The young conservative front runner and leader of the opposition, Lee Jun-Seok, has empathised with antifeminist groups, speaking at their conventions and has labelled all feminists as ‘radicals’ who are disturbing gender relations themselves.
A future presidential candidate who goes along with the conspiracies of his demographic is nothing new. However, it would be concerning if a future candidate was to believe that having more women participate in the labour market was to blame for the high employment levels for young men, and not to do with the deindustrialisation of the economy.
The 2020 April regional election results saw 57 women elected, the highest ever since democratization in 1987. 30 Democrats and 18 from the conservative opposition. Unfortunately, despite Korea having a 50–50 gender policy for regional representatives, statistically, female representatives struggle to get reelected. A study, organized by a group of former and current women politicians, showed there were negative perceptions of female politicians both in public opinion and within their parties. The study found parties often avoided nominating women for constituencies seats; a public survey also found that many Koreans stated that they ‘’don’t feel comfortable with women politicians. ” with 24.5% adding that they believed that male politicians are “supposed to be more capable” than their female politicians. This study is one of many examples highlighting the patriarchal nature of Korean society.
Nevertheless, not all hope is lost for groups like Haeil; the newly founded Women’s Party had a strong political debut last April — receiving more than 200,000 votes (although no seats in parliament were won).
The gender war in South Korea shows no signs of mellowing out anytime soon and with the presidential race likely to be competitive until the end. It’s safe to say whichever way the majority swings — One person’s change for the better, will be another’s step backwards.
Sources for my article can be found here.
