Answering to the question: ARE YOU A FEMINIST? by Juhong Min

Being a feminist is to be a person who changes society by claiming that women and  men exist equally. I represent myself as a feminist, with pride, since my parents have carefully  nurtured me not to internalize the gender stereotypes inside. Since childhood, learning the  identity which was being discriminated, such as gender, I recognized that women take the  largest number among minorities, and that gender discrimination spreads both in public and  private sector. 

I always have been a feminist. However, Korean society has started to treat ‘feminist’ as an identity to attack especially around the internet communities. If you don't deny the  question "Are you a feminist?", it's as if you claim superiority and domination of women,  causing social division. Moreover, women claiming gender equality, reading books about  gender discrimination, and sympathizing with other people's discriminatory experiences are all  being disparaged. A female celebrity is being criticized just because she read a book about  sexism called “Kim Ji-young, Born 1982. Just because I read a feminism book at school, I was  asked if I belong in the Womad(*Internet misandry community) from a male teacher. Recently,  the police have started to investigate the criminals who damaged the poster of Seoul mayor  feminist candidates. 

Interpersonal and institutional sexism is a huge and solid wall that blocks women's equal  rights; including becoming a feminist, revealing oneself to be a feminist, to be honest about  women's rights: to resist discrimination. Korean women are in an environment where it is  difficult to say their opinion out loud. This is the biggest problem Korean women are now  facing, and they need an environment where they can confidently become feminists. 

This phenomenon was not first started in Korea. I have analyzed this phenomenon as  backlash, the strong opposition against feminism, which was accompanied the long history 

together since feminism has started. South Korea's feminism has experienced a rapid growth  recently and so the backlash came along. But why? Do you hate to let go of power even though  you acknowledge that women are being discriminated? Backlash, which promotes as if  claiming for the equal rights are "wrong", doesn’t feel right to me. 

In a survey of men and women in their 20s and over 30s in 2019, more than 59% of men in  their 20s agreed with the answer, "I think feminism is female supremacy." Next, in response to  the question, "Is the law fairly enforced between men and women?" more than half of the  respondents in their 20s said that laws are disadvantageous to men. Men are considering  feminism a major contributor to the new reality of ‘male discrimination’. 

In 2020, I joined a feminism club, and heard students talking 'not to deal with' the students in  feminism club. On the poster to refrain from saying prejudiced words from the feminist club  in 2020, there was a graffiti saying, "There were many haters among feminists." I experienced  the backlash caused by the misconception of feminism in the act of attacking feminism with a  shallow understanding. 

The aforementioned statistics, and personal experiences, respectively, enable us to understand  backlash based on the minds of who do not want to be deprived of non-visual power and their  vague understanding of feminism. Although women's entry into society has increased, Korean  society is still a male-centered society and male opinions are the mainstream. Feminism has  been damaged by this backlash to assert itself. So now even women are wary to mention of  feminism.
In modern society, gender cannot exist in independently but intersects with the  problem. If I pursue feminism and follow only women's rights, I will have to face practical  limitations. I thought that the start of feminism was from women, but ultimately a society that  guarantee the right to live equally despite all kinds of identities should be the arrival. Therefore,  this problem that has come for women will be expanded to a task that everyone needs to solve. Instead of being silent on the victims, I raise a problem and constantly reason, extend 

the harm of hate and discrimination to everyone’s problem, solidarity with movements  that resist discrimination of various forms. This huge backlash is counterevidence that  feminism is changing society. The signal of change has been thrown and our role is t o lead the revolution. I am always aiming for a society that can answer confidently li ke this. 

"Are you a feminist?" 

“Yes, I am, and will be. I oppose all forms of discrimination and hatred."