Celebrities Speak Out Against Misogyny Surrounding Recent Homicide In Gangnam

[fabulousdoll.livejournal.com]

Tensions are running high in Korea after the murder of a 23-year-old woman by a man she didn’t know.

The woman was found stabbed three to four times in a bathroom in the stairwell near the bar where she’d been drinking with friends. The suspect, a 34-year-old man identified only as Kim, reportedly confessed to the crime and told police that he was motivated by his hatred for women, according to the Korea Herald.

Now, people in Korea are speaking out against the kind of misogyny that cost the young woman her life – even celebrities have expressed their outrage. 2PM’s Chansung took to Twitter to speak his mind.

“What should I say…” Chansung wrote. “This is really low. Would this have happened if [the victim] had been a man? It was the fact that she was a woman that motivated him to act that way. It wasn’t an accident, but a choice. If only he could feel the consequences his choices brought about…”

He continued, “Also, I think that this exposes the problems in our society, even though the incident was a result of [the suspect’s] individual problems. I think that there are those kinds of people among us, and they easily hide in plain sight.”

Chansung also retweeted another person’s tweet on the matter, which read, “Him saying ‘I was belittled by women’ sounded like ‘I was belittled even by women.’ He said he was belittled, but the truth is that he was the one doing the belittling, and he hated holding back when it came to women. He said he hates women, but in truth all he was doing was discriminating against them.”

The idol isn’t the only one to speak out, either; singer Kim Heung Gook also spoke up about the issue on the May 19 broadcast of his radio show. He said, “We have to create a world in which women feel at ease. If women live in fear, the world will become difficult.”

The murder has shocked the nation, and many women cite the prevalence of violence against women, sexual harrassment, and victim blaming as a contributing factor.

1. 뭐라고 말을 해야할까.. 정말 저열하다. 같은 남자였다면 그랬을까? 그 행동을 할 수 있게 만든 동기의 점화선에 불이 붙은 건 여자였기 때문이다. 우발적 사고가 아닌 선택이었다. 본인의 선택이 어떤 결과를 초래하는지 제대로 뼈저리게 느꼈으면..

— 황찬성 (@2PMagreement211) May 19, 2016

2. 그리고 이 사건은 그 개인의 문제이기도 하지만 우리 사회가 갖고 있는 문제를 보여준다고 생각한다. 우리들 중에 저런 사람도 있다고, 자연스럽게 우리들과 어울리고 있을 거라는 생각이 든다.

— 황찬성 (@2PMagreement211) May 19, 2016

"여자에게 무시 당했다"라는 말이 "여자에게까지 무시 당했다"로 보였다. 무시 당했다고 말하지만, 사실은 자기가 무시하고 있었기 때문에 여자에 대해서는 참기 싫었겠지. 혐오했다고 말하지만, 사실은 차별하고 있던 거겠지.

— 하상욱 (@TYPE4GRAPHIC) May 19, 2016

Source: Soompi, 2PMagreement211 (1,2), TYPE4GRAPHIC, entertain.naver, kpopherald (2)

The two kpopherald sources have more information about the case.

Comments

[springsky.livejournal.com]

Fucking tell em' Chansung. This makes me so sick inside, I want to puke. Watch him get like 5 min in jail. What POS!!

Edit: I read the two KPHerald articles and they're saying that he had schizophrenia? I wonder how that's going to factor into his sentencing. Also, the woman's boyfriend found her. :( RIP

[chibi-rei.livejournal.com]

Yes, and supposedly (I am getting info second hand from Korean friends) articles say he was taking medication for it, but stopped a couple months ago.

[tree-star123.livejournal.com]

ugh that's so tragic and sick.

[belintuchiha.livejournal.com]

I used to think my country was prob the biggest misogynistic one in the world, then I grew up and learned just how fucked up the world is :/ and it's disgusting how most men and even some women feel so offended by feminism and thus accuse everyone of being 'feminazis' just to defend a cause, not taking any of these problems seriously.. Which is really discouraging. As if women haven't been opressed and belittled already for damn too long, it just keeps getting worst in some places, ISTG. It makes me so mad I could cry tbh, when I see things like this, I just hate the world. I love my country, but I honestly hate the ignorant and stubborn people living in it.

Lol sorry for the ramble.

[lechuza-yoya.livejournal.com]

I feel the same way

[chimpansee.livejournal.com]

It's so odd because I've noticed more tolerance in my country and people really seem to take women's issues more seriously, but somehow people are still scared to call themselves feminists?

[fabulousdoll.livejournal.com]

Ramble all you want. I'm so tired of everytime I tried to talk about sexism and get too heated up someone ends up calling me feminazi or that I'm taking things too seriously. Well sorry if I care about something that affects me directly every day, ugh!!! The most annoying part is that I know they only say that because they don't have a point and want to belittle me or make me look irrational, but then I'm the one who gets mad and when I'm like that I can't think straight and end up "losing" the battle, which kind of makes it look like it's me the one who doesn't know what is talking about. I really hate when that happens U_U

[modestgoddess79.livejournal.com]

I completely relate. I'm just tired of the constant misogyny women are subjected to but then everyone acts surprised when it ends in violence.

[thranduiles.livejournal.com]

this makes me sick. it's so sad, that poor girl had the world open for her and a piece of shit decides to steal it?? i'm also so exhausted by all of this shit happening in the world. when will it ever end? when will people start to see and listen so things can change?? when will we stop hearing about cases like this? ugh idk what to say tbh, there's too much

i hope that fucked up bastard rots in jail and afterwards in hell

[caipirinhas.livejournal.com]

This story is so sad, and I'm happy to see people actually addressing the misogyny of the crime. Chansung in particular is very direct in his commentary.

[torontok.livejournal.com]

Between this and the story of the 3 year old girl who got shot because her mom rejected some guy, I'm just exhausted. Being a woman is honestly too much at times when you have to fear every little thing. This girl was at kareoke with friends when this piece of shit stole her life from her.We're never safe

[jasmineakaiumi.livejournal.com]

mte like my (straight white cis male) friend got offended and gave me shit for saying that I was always going to assume the worse when a guy comes up to me at night when I'm walking alone, because "not all men" but with things like this happening constantly around the world, can you blame me for being wary of any man around me when I'm alone??

I have become so sickeningly paranoid that even on the subway, if a man is standing too close I feel terrible anxiety...

[jasmineakaiumi.livejournal.com]

This incident, and the article titles and comments that came after...

Living in Korea myself and having gone to a womans university it made me feel so physically ill to think that it could have been me, or could have been any of my classmates or friends.

Cannot believe that hatred of women is still at this scale around the world...

[fabulousdoll.livejournal.com]

:( Stay safe
It sucks that you have to be afraid of your own life while doing the most basic things and no one thinks is a serious matter.

[chimpansee.livejournal.com]

Good on them for speaking out, but I can't say I'm surprised. That poor poor woman.

Hate against women is so easy to find, and sometimes it still shocks me how agressive the hate can be. I could never hate men as much as they genuinely seem to hate women (SOME of them, okay).

EDIT: This post reminded me that I still need to read The Macho Paradox: why some men hurt women and how all men can help. Does anybody know if it's any good?

[fabulousdoll.livejournal.com]

I could never hate men as much as they genuinely seem to hate women (SOME of them, okay).

I know what you mean. I say all the time "I hate men" / "men are the worst", but that is just like an automatic and defensive response to how some of them treat women. However I always treat them with respect (unless he is a proven asshole) because that specific person didn't do anything to me, but then I do get treat like shit by random men all the time just because I'm a woman.
The fact that there is so many times that I have get insulted, cat called, touched without permission, followed (...) that I cannot count it it's really fucked up.

[warsawed.livejournal.com]

I heard about this and read that in SK, 80% of violent crimes are against women? is that true? If so WTF

[nana-the-dwarf.livejournal.com]

Was told by a Korean acquaintance that the man was a schizophrenic. My Korean is crap so I don't know if it is mentioned in the articles or tweets. Not that it exonerates him from the crime, but it might explain a thing or two about his behaviour and reasoning.

It's so damn sad, may she rest in peace.

The comments left in the articles though. Victim blaming, misogyny... And some have the nerve to say that women are exaggerating, dramatic and paranoid bitches? I'm tired of all this violence everywhere, it doesn't make any sense.

Props to Changsung and that other celebrity. I hope their words can at least reach some people and change the way they think and act for the better.

[lizanka23.livejournal.com]

just because someone has schizophrenia doesn't mean they would go kill someone or hate women because of this. plenty of men are violent towards women without mental illness. he already had the hatred in him. it's just that without the illness maybe he would've beat her instead of straight up killing her

[earthequality.livejournal.com]

This reminds me of the article about that one area of Seoul with the highest amount of SA crimes being filled with young, single women living on their own. Like 70%? And the crime statistics were hidden from new movers until they all started talking to each other. This shit is awful :/ and men crying about someone telling them to leave them alone

[iznanassi.livejournal.com]

I'm glad there are men speaking up about this bc honestly people wouldn't listen otherwise. Then again the tools would just accuse them of white-knighting.

Like other people have said the fact that women still have to be afraid of going outside, of saying no to people, of interacting with men in general is disturbing. Then add on the extra layer of trying to talk about it and receiving more abuse because you did. It's all just very depressing and exhausting.

[lizanka23.livejournal.com]

rip to this woman. i like the tweet that points out that that guy's self-worth was tied to being above women. as soon as women were a threat to his superiority he felt he had to "act". not all men murder like this loser but a lot of them espcially those in positions of power like to act out their dominance and supposed superiority over women in other ways, i.e. sexual harassment, mansplaining, domestic violence. etc. society needs to be changed through educational, judicial, health and other reforms and even subconcious sexist behavior needs to be addressed, no matter how small, even if it's just a sexist comment someone made because ideas turn into action. also i would rather have people listening to women regarding these matters because male allies have shown their asses before. i'm not referring to changsub, he may be an ok guy, but past cases have made me wary

[jeeelim5.livejournal.com]

I am a Korean college student currently living in Korea, and I am shaking from this tragedy. My mom called me yesterday in fear, because my parents live overseas and they are terrified that they are going to find out one day that it was their daughter who was killed. My friends and I now have a buddy system to go to the bathroom when we meet up because we're scared.

Do they know that when a women begins living by herself, her friends will tell her "Put a pair of men's shoes where you keep your shoes and men's underwear on your drying rack so delivery men/technicians/any other man will think you aren't living alone."

Do they know that we tell each other how best to avoid becoming a target of rape? "Carry a bigger umbrella because then you will have a weapon and he won't come near you," "Never look at your phone and walk with purpose."

Do they know we cover our skirts with our bags, check for two-way mirrors in bathrooms and check the screws in bathroom stalls to make sure they aren't hidden cameras.

Korea has one of the worst records when it comes to gender discrimination yet I am told I am simply overreacting and being a "feminazi" for talking about it.

[iviih.livejournal.com]

Poor girl.

This is terrible. This is why I always go to places with a friend, we never go Alone to restroom, open places etc

Last week I Went to a date , and everything was alright until he told me he Didnt like superwomam from Batman vs superman, when I asked why he told me because she was too strong, stronger than superman and This he Didnt like ... Uhh

Then he told me to stop himself if he Went too far, and I was like ??! "You should be Able to control yourself." ... Never talked to him again.

[sayuridoll.livejournal.com]

I'm glad that other men are speaking up about this. I'm sorry for the victim's family during this time.

[lightframes.livejournal.com]

Awful.

[staaan.livejournal.com]

apparently he had severe untreated schizophrenia (or at least he stopped taking meds recently which... yikes) :/ would make sense if he already harbored misogynistic values but possibly the paranoia related to his illness elevated things to a new level. not trying to take away his accountability but it's frustrating bc schizophrenia is stigmatized enough as it is and then shit like this happens

[jrt131n.livejournal.com]

This is a sad situation that happen so my thoughts are with the family. I'm glad to see men speaking out, but my thing is, it shouldn't take something like this happening to get men to see that there is a problem with out women are being treated. And regardless if he has a mental illness he decided to take someones life.

A woman shouldn't have to be on her guard while out with friends but this is something we got to do because men have proven that they don't how to act when a woman is around and feel this sense of entitlement when it comes to women. This is like that director son that went on a killing spree at a women's sorority because women weren't throwing themselves at his feet and he began to resent women and it lead him doing that.

Is it going to take a mass murdering of women for people to wake up and realize that there is a huge problem?

[fabulousdoll.livejournal.com]

Is it going to take a mass murdering of women for people to wake up and realize that there is a huge problem?

I hate to write this, but not even then they would care. Like you said it already happened before. They would make any excuse to act like everything is alright, in this case the police is already saying it's not a crime against women because of his schizophrenia. The fact that as a society we cannot admit all the things that we are doing wrong so we can improve is one of the main reasons I don't want to bring kids to this world U_U