Numerous faces of feminism and their meaning in contemporary South Korea through the lens of the country’s young adults

Abstract

Beginning with contextualizing and historicizing South Korean feminism, this work aims to provide an inclusive perspective that recognizes numerous social, political, as well as economic conditions that have influenced the feminist resurgence in contemporary South Korea, but also the increasing backlash it has been recently receiving there. Further, the research continues by introducing the diverse forms of contemporary feminist activism in the country, focusing the examination on several of the most influential and publicized ones. In addition to the wide range of previously conducted studies on the subject, several secondary quantitative data sources, such as surveys, are used to thoroughly demonstrate the currently prevailing trends and phenomena. Finally, relying primarily on qualitative data in the form of seven semi-structured interviews with young South Koreans, the research explores the meanings, personal experiences, and attitudinal orientations, as well as ultimately, the feminist identity or lack thereof, as expressed by this group of interviewees. The study concludes that the major impediment to the endorsement of the feminist identity of its participants seems to be the negative cultural stereotypes attributed to the country’s feminism that either make individuals reluctant to manifest such a label or influence their complete rejection of this ideology as harmful and deviant. The difference between the two orientations can be potentially associated with the experiences of gender discrimination of both the participants themselves and of people in their social environment, as well as their perception of the nature of the existing inequalities as an either structural, systemic, and collective social problem or as a highly individual, unshared incidents.