Gangnam murder spurs outpouring of women telling experiences with violence and misogyny

Posted on : 2016-05-21 14:00 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
After previously keeping quiet, murder is leading more women to voice fears that they could also be victimized
Women listen during an “open air speakers corner opposing violence against women” in Seoul’s Sinchon area
Women listen during an “open air speakers corner opposing violence against women” in Seoul’s Sinchon area

A recent seemingly random stabbing murder of a woman in Seoul’s busy Gangnam neighborhood has triggered an outpouring of previously undisclosed memories of fear and anxiety among South Korean women. For company employee Gu Min-gyeong, 31, the situation is “familiar yet also strange.”

“These are terrifying yet familiar experiences - the kind of things women might end up discussing after just a few hours together,” she said.

In South Korea, “ordinary” women have begun speaking out about violence against women and their own experiences with misogyny. In the past, gender issues had previously been raised chiefly by groups in the women’s movement. Now it is women in general who are raising questions about existing as a female in everyday life.

For a third straight evening of May 20, a candlelit memorial to victim at exit 10 of Gangnam Subway Station bore witness to accounts from visiting women. Around the same time, an open air speaker’s corner calling for an end to violence against women continued late into the night in Seoul’s Sinchon neighborhood. Most of the speakers were women in their twenties and thirties.

“A man was in the stall next to mine in the women’s bathroom of the subway, and he stretched out on the floor to look in,” recounted one. “I ran like hell, and for a while after that I couldn’t use a subway bathroom.”

“It was around one in the morning, and I was on my way home after working late when I got frightened by a man I didn’t know who was drunk and kept yelling strange things at me,” recalled another.

 May 20. (by Kim Myoung-jin
May 20. (by Kim Myoung-jin

The fact that the murder took place in a public bathroom in the heavily trafficked Gangnam neighborhood is reminding many women of their past vulnerability in settings such as elevators, side streets, playgrounds, bathrooms, parks, and taxis.

Many “confessions” have been offered on social networking services and at platforms like the “misogyny experience sharing” organized at Exit 10. Since the incident, thousands have followed or liked a Twitter account titled “Public Debate on the Gangnam Station Murder” and a Facebook page titled “Exit 10, Gangnam Station.” As of May 21, thousands of tweets had been posted with the hashtag “#survived.”

Experts have expressed surprise at the phenomenon. In the past, issues involving women in South Korean society have typically followed a pattern in which a particular incident has prompted debate among women’s groups, which has led to the suggestion of institutional alternatives or a discourse on “protecting” women.

“Before, the approach was one where it was mainly women’s groups that raised issues. Now it’s ordinary citizens making their own voices heard,” said Lee Mi-kyung, chair of the Korea Sexual Violence Relief Center.

“This incident shouldn’t be a case where we end up with things like ‘bathroom laws.’ The focus should be on allowing women to live a life where they’re safe and not cowed on a daily basis,” Lee said.

Chung-Ang University sociology professor Lee Na-young said, “We can view this kind of natural trend as a kind of ‘third wave’ in the South Korean women’s movement after the ‘young feminist’ movement of the 1990s.”

Some have also noted that women have been emboldened to speak out after previously keeping quiet about their experiences for fearing of being criticized as “oversensitive” or “suggesting all men are potential attackers.” The argument is that a recent current of misogyny in South Korean society has united many of them in the sense that they too could be victimized - perhaps fatally.

“I had made my own decision to forget about the sexual harassment on the subway or the fear I felt on the street at night,” said a 35-year-old university student surnamed Jung.

“After seeing about this incident, I really sense just how scary it is,” she added.

By Lee Seung-joon and Park Su-ji, staff reporters

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

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