Why South Korean women are reclaiming their short hair

When South Korean archer An San won three Olympic gold medals in Tokyo, what greeted her back home wasn’t just praise. There was a flood of criticism as well.

Why? Because she has short hair.

Among the many insults that flew her way, An was labelled a feminist – a loaded term in South Korea often associated with being a man-hater.

One man said in a post: “It’s good she got a gold but her short hair makes her seem like she’s a feminist. If she is, I withdraw my support. All feminists should die.”

But as criticism of her grew, so did a campaign to defend her.

Thousands of women across the country began posting pictures of themselves with short hair – declaring that it did not make them any less of a woman.

Women in South Korea have long battled discrimination and misogyny but over the last decade have made steps forward, from the country’s #MeToo campaign to the abolition of its abortion ban.

Han Jiyoung is the woman at the heart of the short hair campaign on Twitter, and created it under the hashtag #women_shortcut_campaign.

She told the BBC she was troubled when she saw “not one or two, but [many] misogynistic comments [about An] coming up on every male-dominated online community.”

These anti-feminists are largely young men, but also include older men and even some women.

“This kind of mass attack… sends the message that men can control the female body and a message that females need to hide their feminist identity,” she said.

“I thought starting a campaign for women to [show off] their short hair and to show solidarity to female Olympians would be effective in tackling both issues.”

 

Source: BBC