The word “feminism” has become a dirty word for many Koreans
A South Korean court has sentenced a man to three years in prison for brutally attacking a convenience store worker in Jinju last November. The attack, motivated by the victim’s short hair, which the defendant believed was a symbol of feminism, sparked discussions about gender bias and social norms in South Korea. independent the report said.
CCTV footage of the incident shows the man entering the store just after midnight and punching and kicking the woman. “Since you have short hair, you must be a feminist.” He told her, according to police, “I’m a chauvinist and I think feminists should be attacked.”
Local media reported that the man did not stop the attack until police arrived at the scene.
The word “feminism” has become a dirty word for many Koreans, and people don’t want to be associated with the label. The country is deeply patriarchal and scores poorly among developed countries on gender equality. It’s also a place where women have strict and unforgiving beauty standards, and long hair is seen as a symbol of traditional femininity.
The attack left the young woman in her twenties with serious injuries to her ears and ligaments. However, police said her injuries were not life-threatening.
The man is also accused of attacking another customer in his 50s who tried to intervene, causing the customer to suffer fractures to his shoulder, nose and forehead.
The attacker, who used a chair during the attack, was ordered to pay compensation, but women’s rights groups criticized the sentence as being too lenient, especially given the attacker’s reported mental state.
“It is regrettable that the court did not treat this incident as a hate crime,” a women’s rights group said at a news conference after the ruling.
“If targeting someone out of hatred simply because they belong to a particular group is not considered a hate crime, then what is?
The organization added: “The cause of this incident was not mental illness or instability, but the defendant’s hatred of women.”
