What is feminism? Feminism refers to women's rights and equal opportunities in social and political movements. Its theorization is called feminism. The feminist opposes the male-oriented social order. It is the feminist position that the status of women is created according to social circumstances and they should be treated on an equal footing with men. Feminism movements are becoming proactive in our country. However, Korea is suffering from endless conflicts about feminism. At present, there is a view that feminism is perverted; it is called with qualifiers that do not match what feminism should be such as 'male aversion' and 'female supremacy'. Why has happened?
There are 'WoMad' and 'Metoo’ movements. WoMad is a malicious Internet site derived from Megalia. The site is a symbol of feminism in Korea that is currently perverted. It is accessible via a subscription only reserved to biological women. Members of this website believe in female supremacy and have taken the lead in publicly hating men. They write articles depicting men in derogatory ways, such as posting male murder stories, insulting independent activists, blaspheming the flag, and distributing photographs of naked males. The 'Hong-Ik University nude mystery case' is a representative example. In May of this year, a female model was filmed on WoMad taking a nude picture of a fellow male model. The female model was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment. After this incident, the police began an investigation of WoMad in earnest. The website intervenes in politics as well, including disseminating nude photoshopped photographs of President Moon Jae-in. The police is currently investigating the WoMad managers on suspicion of distributing pornography.
The Metoo movement is a hashtag movement that began in the United States. Initiated from the accusation of sexual assault by famous Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Korea is also home to an active Metoo movement. Seo Ji - Hyun, a top member in the prosecutor’s office, promoted the movement by accusing her boss of sexual assault in the news. Many cases have been exposed coming from the arts, politics, and literature, but over time a number of cases have been found to be false. A petition was sent to the Blue House about the many people falsely accused who lost confidence, honor and recognition. The national content’s was that the ‘Metoo’ movement that reported sexual crimes is turning into a means of socializing innocent people. As an example, popular Youtuber Yang claimed that a studio intimidated him into taking obscene shots. However, police investigation revealed that Yang was actively involved in filming, and drove the director of the studio to be involved in it. The director committed suicide. This initiated a people’s petition to enact a "special law on innocence." However, Blue Houae said it was better to punish those convicted severely than to enact a special law because the sentence is heavy but actually small.
'Girls can do anything' means 'women can do anything', and the meaning of the phrase emphasizes the 'independence of women'. The goal is 'to achieve your goal and to win by yourself', escaping the bondage of 'society where men lead and teach women'. It is also used to encourage the accusation and prosecution of aggressive sex crimes; "Women, let's stand up without silence" after the Metoo movement in Korea began in early 2018. However, with the advent of the 'female supremacy' and 'male aversion' groups, which do not match the nature of feminism as described above, most men do not have a good awareness of the phrase 'Girls can do anything' and, thus, are not equipped to solve social problems other than by 'gender frame and public opinion fight' rather than 'substance improvement'. Some women also think that the feminist movement needs a transition, but if they overturn a movement that does not reflect the feminist character, it will lead to conflict rather than equality.
Many people have a rough understanding of what feminism is, but they do not know it well. In many cases, feminism is seen as a definition referring to information on feminism that is floating in SNS. In addition, there are people ignorant of the conflicts and problems that arise in society. There are endless conflicts about feminism in society, but how many people have the right knowledge and information to speak out? We should pay attention to the problems, to study then and to make rational choices to foster constructive views feminism?
