Korean Culture Essay
“We Take the Red Pill, We Confront the DickTrix”
The article published by Euisol Jeong & Jieun Lee deals with the thought-provoking topic of feminism in South Korea. The theme is worth scrutiny attention because the authors raise a social concern of the women’s position in the patriarchal society of South Korea. The identified issue reveals in the emergence, functioning, and development of the feminist group Megalia. Personally, the problem is interesting because analyzing the situation of the contemporary world, feminism represents a current, which is taken for granted by a vast number of communities like Germany, France, the USA, Canada, etc. However, considering the industrial, technological, and cultural raise, South Korea remains the country of patriarchal dominance. Notoriously this dominance does not mean mainly the males’ defending of the females’ as personalities but humiliating and diminishing the value of women instead. What is problematic in the authors’ argument is that the females of Megalia tend to fight back the males’ offense, which does not elucidate the direct governmental response to the gender attacks. When a man oppresses the woman it will be regarded as a normal thing; however, the woman’s counter-reaction is considered an abnormality. The government is not involved in the resolution of the gender fight, which means that the females’ aggressive response can be interpreted as the absence of the governmental interference to the vindication of the females’ rights. In this case, the authors provide the instance of the mirroring principle, when a woman utilizes the same oppressive tactics in response to the men’s attacks like the word ssipchi (fucking Korean men) (Jeong & Lee 2018, 708-709). Concludingly, Megalia represents the aggressive response to the patriarchal oppression of the female’s dignity, which serves not as discrimination of males but a way of ceasing their inappropriate behavior.
Regarding the analyzed perspective, the principal question indicates: Do the gender attacks between Megalia (females) and DickTrix (males) impose and intensify the danger of the real attack on the woman? The inquiry is essential because it relates to the emergence and rapid development of Korean feminism, which faces a cultural shock and oppression of acceptance among the male’s community. The activity of DickTrix focuses on the verbal discrimination of women. However, analyzing the brutal response, the males tend to inquire what right does the woman have to fight back? In this case, regarding the presented mentality pattern, the female’s aggression may be utilized against them in the form of the male’s direct attack, which imposes the oppression to obey the perverted patriarchy.
“#MeToo and Broadcast Journalism in South Korea”
In the article, Misook Lee raises the concern of the feminist #MeToo interpretation in JTBC Korean Broadcast. The identified hashtag of MeToo represents the worldwide movement related to the cessation of the sexual oppression (assault, harassment) of the females. I find the issue of sexual harassment in South Korea interesting and though-provoking because it reveals the patriarchal mentality of the community. Indeed, South-Korea is a male-dominated country, which proclaims the woman’s subordination. However, I find the issue of broadcasting the analyzed issue to be worth attention because of the distortion of the nature of perversion. The author indicates that the Suh Ji-hyun, a prosecutor, who elucidates the case of being personally sexually harassed, launches the #MeToo movement in South Korea (Lee 2019, 223). In this case, Lee evaluates the levels of journalism gatekeeping process of #MeToo. What is problematic about the argument is that the author states that journalism’s self-understanding paradigm indicates that the media is not a court to judge and impose guilt (Lee 2019, 236). However, regarding the perspective of patriarchal dominance, male journalists tend to focus on the woman’s personal features like makeup, clothing, and behavior, while speaking about sexual harassment. In this case, the self-understanding distorts the understanding of self-judgment by minimizing the female’s status of victim and enhancing the level of her guilt in seducing the man. Regarding a personal understanding, the way of illustrating the #MeToo movement faces the point of ambiguity, which means that the most sincere and genuine intention to elucidate women as victims will have the covert aim of preserving JTBC reputation from the possible attack of the male community. Hence, the issue is worth attention because the marginalization of the female’s position and covert intensification of her guilt may cause the distortion of the meaning of the #MeToo movement as a way of preserving male dominance in terms of a democratic society.
While analyzing the article, the “obligation” of the male journalists to respond to the #MeToo movement raises the question of: What effect does the covert and ambiguous marginalization of the female victims produce on the female spectators of JTBC? Indeed, the media can raise the concern of a female as a victim, but this demonstration can be regarded as a falsification of the real consideration of the issue. The question is essential because the female can face additional oppression after the broadcast. Hence, while the issue of patriarchal dominance is crucial, the female spectators may subconsciously not support the victim, but accept the “non-judging” attitude of the male journalists and start victimizing her as a way of preserving personal safety.
Bibliography
Jeong, Euisol, and Jieun Lee. “We Take the Red Pill, We Confront the DickTrix: Online Feminist Activism and the Augmentation of Gendered Realities in South Korea.” Feminist Media Studies 18, no. 4 (2018): 705–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2018.1447354.
Lee, Misook. “#MeToo and Broadcast Journalism in South Korea: The Gatekeeping Process of #MeToo.” Interactions: Studies in Communication & Culture 10, no. 3 (2019): 223–40. https://doi.org/10.1386/iscc.10.3.223_1.
