So women changing their looks or not changing their looks to fit the societal norms makes some uncomfortable.  They are suspected lesbians or subversives. They are fired from their jobs if their employer doesn’t like their haircut.   Flipping the coin... or not.... the South Koreans have more plastic surgery per capital than any other nation.  They seem to feel it MUST be done so that they can fit into their job and or society.  Seems a bit more extreme than what women experience in the US, but it is understandable. Lots of people want to fit in....

I found it incredibly interesting that a movement has found its way to South Korea to challenge beauty standards for two reasons: (1) because it has been long overdue in my opinion and (2) it seems like western culture has had its own challenge of beauty standards in the last few decades. The article, "South Korean Women 'Escape The Corset'And Reject Their Country's Beauty Ideals" describes an art installation that depicts women in photographs that challenge the make up and long luxious hair that you would normally see. More so interesting was the fact that the author concluded the article by saying that this movement has had "mixed results. On the one hand, she has found that men now treat her as an equal. They give her access to social circlesand information previously forbidden to her. They invite her to smoke with them afterclasses. But they don't invite other women whose appearance is more conventional,and she feels that she is treated simply as one of the guys." This conclusion reminded me of a time when tomboys was a term that was thrown around a lot to describe girls who would hang out with guys - and now among my students, it virtually doesn't exist. Today, we have girls that play on our school's football team and people who don't feel the pressure so much from stereotypes as they would have decades ago. I hope that more people in Korea get on board with this movement. But, I'm interested in seeing what direction takes. Will there be a korean drama reminiscent of Glee? Will the country go through a slim-thicc phase and realize how ridiculous it is? Only time will tell, I suppose.

The Los Angeles Times and The Guardian’s “#MeToo articles, which were published two months apart (the former was February 22nd of this year; the latter was March 22nd of this year),  demonstrate how the movement is seen in South Korea. The Los Angeles Times discusses how young girls face sexual harassment in an academic setting. Though the article states that more and more individuals are becoming aware of the harassment these young women face, it seems their voices are only being heard and some are attaining justice because the public is gaining awareness. When teachers and administration did nothing, students began sharing their stories via the hashtag #MeToo. This hashtag has allowed them to share their stories with the world, which has caused schools to finally look into cases that were initially dismissed due to “lack of evidence.” The latter makes me wonder: Had these young women not shared their experience on social media, would the schools continue to let them and future students suffer? 

The Guardian’s article also echoes the same issue but in the music industry. Jung Joon-young, a singer-songwriter, and Seungri, a member of a well-known K-pop group (Big Bang), have been accused of sexually exploiting females. Jung Joon-young “shared footage of himself having sex with several women without their knowledge” in a chatroom. Seungri was said to be in the chatroom. Additionally, he was “alleged to have run an illegal prostitution ring.” I feel these scandals were allowed to take place because these individuals are linked to K-pop; “K-pop has helped South Korea project its soft power.” K-pop, as BTS has shown, helps stimulate South Korea’s economy. Like in the first article, the #MeToo movement has made the public aware about female sexual harassment and exploitation is seen everywhere, including the elite class. This article, like the first, makes us aware that changes are taking place...though these changes might be very gradual. However, had the #MeToo movement not become so public, I fear individuals would continue to perpetuate sexual harassment and exploitation.

Professor Kim presented a great concpet of "Good WIse , wise mother, which really connected to our Day 1, Ban ZHaoś five lessons for Chinese womenfor our i further discussion female roles and gender development in Korea. It seems Korean women are pretty similar in characteristic with Chinese and Japnese women in their demoestic roles as a wife and mother, whcih to serve their men and children traditionally. Now more women uplfted their positions in different areas as professionals and seeking their own happiness and freedom. Many women sacrifice their own freedom and happiness for their family and children. I am not sure if all Korean women do the the same as Chinese mothers developed themselves for better - educate their childree and prepare their children for their best outcomes, but we can see the trend that their roles have beend changed. My korean friends even USC graduates never worked as teachers with USC degrees, Instead, they became housewives staying home serving their husbands and children for 13 years without complains. Ironically I called them  "USC Certified-mothers". Obviousely, she is a female homemaker and responsible mother holding her family together and making extreme efforts to pretect her family. 

In a society where women have been oppressed for a long time and the gender distinctions have been very strong, I'm heartened that the #MeToo movement has arrived and is gaining traction in S. Korea, because these things happen everywhere, and that women are finally being heard there is great to hear, though sad to read about the backlash. Similarly, that the accusations have hit K-Pop I actually find to be a positive for the same reasons: it is there as everywhere, but the money in the industry could easily silence the accusations. The fact that people have gone to prison for sexual assault is impressive.

Hello,

Last year we learned about China having to work around the censorship on social media for the #MeToo movement. The people who wanted to be involved used emojis to do so with a rice bowl and a rabbit; the way you pronounce the two sounds like "mi tu" so they were able to secretly get around the censored hashtag.

Talking with students from Tianjin while I was in Japan was interesting when they spoke about social media. Students in the US primarily use Instagram. The chinese students use We Chat or QQ, but if you use a VPN you can use whatever you want so they downloaded instagram to keep in touch with us anyways! We shall see how long the communication on there with them will last.

Hello,

Yes, this is interesting to me to hear that since I didn't know that and because our speaker explained that at one point in the 1920s when women started to alter their appearances that it was disrespectful since you were not born with those features/appearances. I think it's interesting though that now it is the number one location for people who have opted for the plastic surgery. 

I heard that there was a lawuit that a man made against his wife for "false adverstising" because his children didn't come out with her features. However, I learned that that was false according to snopes and this article: https://www.her.ie/life/remember-the-wife-that-was-sued-by-her-husband-for-having-plastic-surgery-263697. Apparently the female model is suing because it has ruined her modeling career and has never actually had plastic surgery, and the pictures of the children that have been photoshopped they fear will also be scarred from the misuse of the photo. Between our knowledge of plastic surgery being so rampant in Korea and the dark humor of the lawsuit, it is understandable why it would be believed. How sad for the people invovled in that photo though and that there ended up being a lawsuit in the end!