"Femi Daejangbu Is Coming," "Tell Me If You're Femi"... Hate Attacks Against Women Continue

Ansan Athlete's Alma Mater Teacher Impersonation Post Faces 'Feminist' Ideological Screening
Expert: "Ignorance of Feminism" "Misogyny and Misandry Frames Must Stop Now"

2020 Tokyo Olympics Women's Archery National Team Athlete An San. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] Hate attacks against Ansan, the female archery national representative at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, continue. A netizen who claimed to be a teacher at Ansan's alma mater posted defamatory comments about Ansan, calling her a "feminist leader" and other derogatory terms on an online community. Some even rudely demanded Ansan to "say whether you are a feminist or not."

There is growing criticism that such remarks lead to a negative perception of the very meaning of feminism. Experts pointed out that the tendency to demonize feminism by perceiving it as hatred against men is a misinterpretation of feminism.

On the 3rd, after news spread that Ansan would visit her alma mater, Gwangju Munsan Elementary School, a post titled "This is a disaster, the feminist leader Ansan is coming while I'm working" was uploaded on an online community.

The netizen who wrote this post claimed to be a teacher, but Munsan Elementary School suspects that an outsider impersonated a teacher. The school requested an audit from the education office to verify the facts.

Previously, Ansan was subjected to indiscriminate malicious comments in some male-dominated online communities, citing her short hairstyle and attendance at a women's university as reasons, with remarks such as "Short hair means over 90% chance of being a feminist" and "Feminists are extremely disgusting."

Foreign media also reported on this controversy, criticizing the hate attacks against Ansan and the use of "feminist" in a negative sense as 'sexism,' but hate attacks continued as Ansan was again called a "feminist leader."

Archive photo. As hate attacks against An San, the female archer representing South Korea at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, continue, voices of criticism are rising among citizens. / Photo by Yonhap News

There were also cases where Ansan was demanded to "reveal whether she is a feminist." Former Game Rating and Administration Committee member Yeom Myung-sook pointed out on her YouTube channel on the 4th that Ansan had used misogynistic words such as "ung-eung-ung" and "o-jo-o-eok" on social media in the past, claiming, "The core of this controversy is not the hair length but the use of misogynistic words." She then demanded Ansan, "Ansan just needs to answer. Just say whether you are a feminist or not."

However, there is no clear evidence that "ung-eung-ung" and "o-jo-o-eok" are misogynistic words. "Ung-eung-ung" is a popular online slang meaning "muttering nonsense" or "talking gibberish." A Twitter user described inaudible movie lines as "ung-eung-ung chokipoki," and American actor Thomas McDonell retweeted it, which helped popularize the term. "O-jo-o-eok" means "a lot" and has also become widely used online, even appearing in advertisements.

Among citizens, there is strong criticism against hate attacks that use the term feminist in a negative sense, emphasizing that no one is obligated to disclose whether they are a feminist to others.

A Twitter user in their 20s, A, said, "Now they say the problem was misogynistic words, but before being labeled as such, many people used these popular words well," adding, "This is a ploy to avoid criticism by suddenly claiming the use of misogynistic words was wrong after being accused of sexism."

Another netizen said, "I don't know since when feminism has been distorted into a negative meaning," and raised their voice, "Demanding to reveal if someone is a feminist as if undergoing an ideological test?whatever one thinks is personal freedom, so why should they explain it to others?"

Experts pointed out that the tendency to perceive feminism itself negatively, such as equating it with misogyny, is a misreading of feminism.

Kim Eun-joo, director of the Korean Women's Political Research Institute, said, "Dividing feminism into 'good feminism' and 'bad feminism' and saying 'I don't agree with bad feminism' stems from misunderstanding and ignorance about feminism," adding, "Feminism seeks to identify the causes of discrimination and inequality against women and propose alternatives, and various feminisms exist depending on what those causes are. It should not be approached with a simplistic binary thinking of good or bad."

She continued, "The hate attacks against Ansan revealed attacks on feminists and anti-feminist expressions as a single phenomenon. It is true that such hate attacks continue," emphasizing, "However, the debate should no longer be framed as 'misogyny' or 'misandry.'" She added, "Especially evaluating the issues of people in their 20s and 30s only through the lens of misogyny and misandry may hinder the proactive role of youth who can express more diverse social and political voices."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.