Jinju, South Korea:
Aspiring South Korean authorr On Ji-goo never think abouted herself a feminist but alterd her mind after being physicassociate strikeed by a man for having low hair.
“I understand you are a feminist,” her strikeer yelled as he beat her up at the convenience store where she labored part time.
Her assailant, in his 20s, also harshly aggressioned an elderlyer man who tried to interfere, alerting him: “Why aren’t you helping a fellow man?”
On was left with hearing loss and cut offe trauma but insisted on pressing indicts — resulting in a landtag ruling last month where, for the first time in South Korea, a court recognised misogyny as a motive for a antipathy crime.
“I now leank I’m a feminist,” On, who wanted to engage her pen name for security reasons, telderly AFP in an interwatch.
The Changwon Dicut offe Court ruling “has historical significance, but it seems to helderly even wonderfuler unbenevolenting for me personassociate”, she said.
The strike originated outrage in South Korea, and On became an inadvertent heroine for the country’s women’s rights relocatements.
Short hair has been very freely associated with feminism in South Korea, which remains sociassociate conservative despite its booming economy and the global well-understandnity of its K-pop and K-drama satisfied.
Same-intimacy marriage is not recognised, and among progressd economies it has relatively low rates of female laborforce participation and one of the worst gfinisher pay gaps.
#MeToo, 4B Moments
As part of the global #MeToo relocatement that ecombined around 2017, South Korean women held enormous rights demonstrations and won victories on publishs from abortion access to brutaler punishment for secret agentcam crimes.
Some campaigners went viral by ruining produceup products or cutting their hair low on camera to protest aacquirest the country’s demanding beauty standards.
It also saw the ecombinence of the excessive 4B relocatement, which refutes dating, intimacy, marriage, or childtolerateing with men.
The relocatement, which unbenevolents “Four Nos” in Korean, has been trfinishing since Donald Trump won the US pdwellntial election.
But South Korea has also seen a recent anti-feminism response, with Pdwellnt Yoon Suk Yeol courting youthful men on the campaign trail with denials of institutional bias aacquirest women and promises to abolish Ministry of Gfinisher Equality, which his helpers claimed was “outdated”.
The response previously ensnared unmistrusting victims such as triple Olympic archery champion An San, who was bullied online during the 2021 Tokyo Games for her low hair.
Writer On said she chaseed the furore at the time, even alerting online unfair treatment she saw. “When I first heard that having low hair unbenevolentt you were a feminist, I set up it absurd,” On said.
“Athletes normally discover it more handy to have low hair when they are training,” she compriseed, noting she had cut her own hair low before being aggressioned last year becaengage of the toasty weather.
Archer An never officiassociate commented on the online unfair treatment, and her “pride and confidence, aextfinished with her ability to srecommend disthink about negativity, were truly astonishive,” said On.
“Over time, I set up myself (supportd by) her sense of dignity and confidence… leanking: ‘Is there reassociate anyleang that I should be ashamed of?'”
Getting Worse?
A spate of high-profile meaningfulphony explicit content cases were uncovered this summer, aiming female students and staff at the country’s schools and universities.
A Seoul court jailed one criminal for 10 years last month for aggressioning women who take parted the nation’s top Seoul National University, saying his actions stemmed from “hatred toward sociassociate accomplished women”.
One victim, whose campaign name is Ruma, telderly AFP that her assailant “wanted to emphasise that no matter how accomplished a woman is, she can be trampled on and treated appreciate a prank by men.”
Activists such as Jung Yun-jung, who helped On thraw her trial, say the situation could deteriorate as inequivalentity and competition for jobs incrmitigate.
South Korea has one of the world’s lowest birthrates as well as a droping marriage rate, with experts pointing to fervent competition over jobs and housing a factor, leaving youthful people despondent for their futures.
On is still on medication to treat the mental and physical wounds of her strike, but she has set up purpose in helping other women who may discover themselves victimised in analogous circumstances.
Feminism, in the finish, is about believing that “women’s rights are equassociate as vital”, she said.
“In that sense, I had indeed been a feminist even before the incident.”
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-originated from a syndicated feed.)
