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How An Assault Changed Korean Woman’s Outlook


Jinju, South Korea:

Ong Jig, an aspiring South Korean writer, never considered herself a feminist, but she changed her mind after experiencing violence from a man because of her short hair.

“I know you're a feminist,” her attacker yelled as he beat her at the convenience store where she worked part-time.

Her assailant, a man in his 20s, also violently assaulted an older man who tried to intervene, asking him, “Why don't you support your fellow man?''

Ong suffered hearing loss and severe trauma, but insisted on pressing charges. As a result, last month, a court issued a landmark ruling that became the first in South Korea to recognize misogyny as a motive for a hate crime.

“I consider myself a feminist now,” Ong, who wanted to use a pseudonym for safety reasons, told AFP in an interview.

The Changwon District Court's ruling “has historical significance, but it seems to have even greater significance for me personally,” she said.

The attack sparked outrage in South Korea, and Ong became an unexpected heroine of the country's women's rights movement.

In South Korea, short hair is very loosely associated with feminism, and despite a strong economy and global popularity of K-pop and K-drama content, South Korea remains socially conservative.

Same-sex marriage is not recognized, women's labor force participation rates are relatively low among developed countries, and the country has one of the worst gender pay gaps.

#MeToo, 4B moment

As part of the global #MeToo movement that emerged around 2017, South Korean women held large-scale rights demonstrations and won victories on issues ranging from access to abortion to harsher penalties for voyeurism.

Some activists have made headlines by destroying cosmetics and cutting their hair short in front of cameras to protest the country's strict beauty standards.

We also saw the emergence of an extreme 4B movement that refuses to date, have sex, marry, or have children with men.

The movement, which means “four no's” in Korean, has been trending since Donald Trump won the US presidential election.

But South Korea has also seen an anti-feminist backlash in recent days, with President Yoon Seok-yeol denying systemic discrimination against women and promising to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality, which the ministry's supporters have argued is “outdated.” and is courting young people campaigning for elections.

The backlash has sometimes involved unsuspecting victims, such as triple Olympic archery champion Ahn Sang, who was bullied online for having short hair during the Tokyo 2021 Games. .

Ms Ong, a writer, said she followed the uproar at the time and also reported abuse she saw online. “When I first heard that having short hair meant being a feminist, I thought it was ridiculous,” Ms Ong said.

“Athletes often find it more convenient to have short hair while training,” she added, noting that she had cut her own hair short last year before being assaulted due to the heat.

Archer Anne has never publicly commented on the online abuse, and Ong said her “pride and confidence and ability to simply ignore negative comments was truly impressive”. .

“Over time, I noticed her sense of dignity and confidence. I thought, 'Do I really have anything to be ashamed of?'”

Is it getting worse?

This summer, a series of high-profile deepfake pornography cases targeting female students and staff at schools and universities in Japan were discovered one after another.

Last month, a court in Seoul sentenced a perpetrator to 10 years in prison for assaulting a woman attending Seoul National University, the country's top university, calling the act “an act of hatred against socially successful women.” He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

One of the victims, whose campaign name is Luma, told AFP that her attacker “wanted to emphasize that no matter how good a woman is, she can still be trampled on by men and treated like a prank.” ” he said.

Activists such as Chung Yoon-jeong, who supported Ong throughout her trial, say the situation could worsen as inequality and competition for jobs intensify.

South Korea has one of the lowest birth rates in the world, marriage rates are declining, and experts say fierce competition for jobs and housing is causing young people to despair about their futures. There is.

Ong, who is still taking medication to treat the physical and mental scars from the attack, has found purpose in helping other women who may be affected by similar situations.

At the end of the day, she says, feminism is about believing that “women's rights are just as important.”

“In that sense, I was definitely a feminist before the incident.”

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)


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