Some weeks ago, there was a Japanese TV show in which famous female athletes competed against Japanese male comedians and entertainers. For the martial arts portion, a South Korean fighter agreed to face off against 3 middle aged comedians in three rounds of three-minutes. Since she was a professional Muai Thai fighter, she was not allowed to wear protective gear, despite being injured. The comedians wore head gear and knee protectors when fighting Lim Su Jeong. To the surprise of Lim Sujeong, the comedians had backgrounds in martial arts (one of them even tried to become a K-1 fighter in 2007).
Here is the link of the same program, but the men are fighting a Japanese female fighter, who was very fierce by the way and was once defeated by Lim Soo Jeong, which implies how the latter injuries precluded her from beating them.
The reaction of Korean netizens was one of anger. Some of the comments in youtube videos censure the fight, not because of the lack protective gear, neither for the fact that it was fight three versus one, but for the sex of the fighter. Some people even posted on Facebook that they did not want to "hate on Japanese", but these acts made it difficult.
The anger, coming from straight and gay Korean men, help me to better understand how sexism operates in Korea. I know historic rivalries play a key role in the reaction of Koreans, but this occasion seems like the perfect excuse to talk about sexism in Korean media.
As a leader in many fields, Korea resembled more and more to the advanced countries. However, in some aspects, Korea was still developing. According to the Economic World Forum, South Korea is ranked 107th in the Global Gender Gap Index of 2011 (last year was 104), which quantifies the gender-based disparities among 135 countries for this year. Some of the countries that have similar levels of sexism are Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Suriname and Zambia. Japan is above in the 98th position. Click here to go to the report.
Despite current advances and government efforts, Korea can be classified as a country where sexism is pervasive. As some of you might have guessed, sexism is also a constant in the entertainment industry. In a popular drama named City Hunter, which featured Lee Min Ho as Lee Yoon Sung, a kind of hero who targets corrupt politicians, and Park Min Young as Kim Na Na, a competent bodyguard, as the main characters, there were many questionable scenes. Despite being very strong and a professional bodyguard, Kim Na Na always ended up being saved by Yoon Sung or being taken hostage by a fat, old and short politician. I know Yoon Sung was very strong and agile, but writers portrayed Na Na as a complete incompetent girl who was unable to take care of herself instead of what she was: a bodyguard with martial arts experience.
There are other examples of sexism in Korean dramas (like domestic violence in Personal Taste), but I have not watched many shows lately.
It seems like men in many countries see women as defenseless creatures disregarding anything that could prove the contrary: economic independence or, something more extreme, mastery of martial arts. Lim Soo Jeong, Kim Na Na and Rena are not poor and weak “damsels in distress", they are killing machines and it is their job to be that way; the mere fact they are fighting well men proves their value as fighters; men and women should feel proud of them because they are making a point: women are not weak.
The situation in Mexico is similar, it is ranked in the 89th position of the index, but given the huge cultural differences, the vast territory (compared to Korea) and regional cultures it is not possible to speak about national features of sexism. There are more conservative areas of the country that most likely would be on pair with Saudi Arabia (131) and others that would fare better in the list.
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