[AJ] DKDKTV talks about Korea, the feminism culture war, and idols getting roped in + thoughts

[My Everything]

 

Despite the baity title, DKDKTV provides a decent explainer of the other side of the current culture war of sorts in Korea over feminism and why some have such negative reactions to any indication female celebrities might be feminist. I think they do a decent job of explaining the environment to an international audience while also not co-signing on most of the bullshit, even if it does seem delusional to say there isn’t a bunch of misogyny in the country.

 

 

 

Anyway, regardless of what you feel about the video, I’m just using it as a jumping off point for the issue at large.

 

While this is understandably a sensitive subject, given the discussions that went on in the comments of a recent article, I think it’s important for international netizens to have a brief context of sorts. Us in the West have to realize that feminism didn’t rise to prominence the same way as in say America. It’s relatively new in Korea, and to this point, it’s hard to deny that a lot of the faces of the movement that do get representation in the mainstream are radfem community sites who are populated by many who are openly homophobic, transphobic, and are just generally toxic. Mirroring is the frequent explanation, but as even their apologists note, it’s not helping the gender divide any. I’ve briefly touched on this before when talking about Han Seo Hee, and I said she was an appropriate representation of that segment of feminists for a reason.

 

So knowing that, there are a bunch of things to consider here, I think.

 

People who try genuinely to contextualize what’s going on in Korean society to those who may be clueless are doing quality work. However, those just distracting from the irrational hate are simply co-signing on the misogynistic bullshit, IMO. We don’t need context to understand why a phone case or a book doesn’t deserve death threats and harassment. If these celebs become Han Seo Hee-esque, then sure, they can be called out and I’ve done so myself. Trying to distract from legitimate examples of irrational reactions just because maybe they’re kinda sorta showing signs of being a feminist is just utter nonsense.

 

Again though, when talking about larger pictures, I do think it is important to know how much of the conversation is dominated by feminists that even many in the international community would deem problematic. So when speaking about Korea in general, not all of the backlash against things labelled feminist is about woman hating or even anti-feminism, and some of it is just hating certain feminists who drag down the movement, IMO. To that point, when going through the spy cam tag in Korean regarding idols, I saw many queer or trans feminists who explicitly stated they don’t fuck with TERFs. Or for more entertainment-related stuff, many of the witch hunts led against certain celebrities (even female ones like IU) stem from them as well. The point I’m making with this is that I would bet many people here would side-eye the shit these communities are doing as being problematic messes as well, and less extreme feminists in Korea do as well, so it’s worth understanding that.

 

Still, too often when people try to explain the two sides of this, I feel like they’re drifting too close to a gigantic false equivalency. Insofar as mentioning hundreds of years of institutionalized sexism in Korea and then Korean TERF radfem communities and throwing their hands up as if to say, “Welp, both cancel each other out.†Seems like an intellectually dishonest way to avoid harsh realities about gender inequality in Korea more than anything else.

 

——

 

As far as the spy camera thing, I’ve basically already said my piece on it in that I support the movement based on their stated goals even if some within it are a mess. If you throw it out just because of the bad apples, I think you’re dumping the baby with the bathwater and sort of missing the bigger picture. Fix what needs to be fixed and criticize what needs to be criticized. No need to throw legitimately meaningful good away just because some rallying for it may be shitty.

 

Anyway, I’m interested in hearing people out in the comments and I’m open to updating this based on further information.

 

http://www.asianjunkie.com/2018/06/10/dkdktv-talks-about-korea-the-feminism-culture-war-and-idols-getting-roped-in-thoughts/

[starsocks]

I’ve basically already said my piece on it in that I support the movement based on their stated goals even if some within it are a mess. If you throw it out just because of the bad apples, I think you’re dumping the baby with the bathwater and sort of missing the bigger picture. Fix what needs to be fixed and criticize what needs to be criticized. No need to throw legitimately meaningful good away just because some rallying for it may be shitty.

 

Yes.

[gore]

i think their video definitely offers a better context on the overall issue and why some people are wary of it.  ultimately tho i still stand by the idea that as long as these celebrities aren't expressing the same kind of viewpoints as the extremists, it shouldn't be an issue.

[Deâ„“phina]

AJ being reasonable? This is truly the darkest timeline. 

[Bitoku]

Korea should do something about this "spycam porn" women are facing when changing or doing their things in restrooms.

[swiftswitchsurf]

AJ being reasonable? This is truly the darkest timeline.

AJ has always been pro women's rights and generally has far more extensive coverage of things like the metoo movement than any of the other kpop news sites.

 

Like you can hate them for their opiniond on kpop and k-entertainment

 

But this is hardly a new stance from that site.