"Nyeu(女)" In the Eyes of Korean Men by Seeun Kwon

“Nyeu (女)” –the general term that refers to a “woman,” possess a somewhat ambivalent, double- sided character in South Korea. A brutally murdered woman was named ‘Kareoke-nyeu’ as karaoke was the place she had her last breath. A woman who enjoys consumption of extravagant brand goods are condemned as either ‘Kimchi-nyeu’ or ‘Dwenjjang-nyeu,’ both of which contain dire misogyny towards Korean women specifically, as they utilize the name of kimchi and dwenjjang—both Korea’s traditional foods. Major media corporations are willing to capture the attention of millions of viewers by coining new ‘—nyeu (--women)’ in hopes of satisfying the mainstream, or in other words, male-dominated perspectives. The massively prevalent usage of such negative terminology on women leads the society to believe that all “nyeu (women)’” are to be blamed, denounced, and detested for their mere existence. The history of the Korean misogyny dates all the way back to the 14th century, when Confucianism first made its appearance as a foundational value of the Joseon Dynasty. Since then, patriarchal values instigated tolerance for belittlement of women and coerced ‘women-like’ traits. Benjamin Barber once said that culture is resistant to change—that people only consume contents that support their beliefs and unintentionally boycott what they are not used to. He was indeed proven right. In a capitalistic society where profit equals incentive, the Korean media naturally began to supply contents that were supportive of patriarchal values in advertisements, dramas, shows, movies and even in official news channels that all partake in vilifying women in derogatory terms. With the media serving as a propeller in instigating misogyny in Korea, the consequences are clearly observable. Media platforms aggressively express fixated archaic gender roles. K-Dramas’ most repeated plot portrays women as Cinderellas, helplessly waiting for prince charming to save her world. K- variety programs demand ‘ae-gyo (actions of cuteness)’ and sexy dances from women celebrities of whom become the subject of sexual productization. Denigrating women guests about their physical traits with the excuse of ‘providing laughter’ to the audience is additional concern. Another severe problem the media holds is gender ratio. MediaToday investigated Korea’s seven major broadcasting stations on the gender ratio of the cast in all variety programs. A shocking number of 67% was dominated by men whereas 32% was taken by women. Meanwhile, the Korean Women’s Development Institute reported that among the employed workers in the media industry, men took 68% of the population, rest of which being women. The numbers surprisingly were equivalent to that of casting gender ratio, which explains why male casts are prioritized to that of women. Such an unbalanced, male-dominant population further gives grounds as to why female casts are unfairly limited to fashion and beauty-related contents; male casts face no limits in program themes, displaying men’s professionalism in various fields. All in all, the dominance of men in the industry has guided media programs to inevitably become male-hosts dominant, with only attractive, young, and unmarried women to be casted to serve the main roles of men. Such rigid structure in the media industry is fueling the already-existing gender inequality within the Korean society, perpetuating and stressing upon the precondition of ‘beauty’ that women must prioritize upon as that is the only way that can prove her self-worth. From children to adult programs, the media unconsciously feeds patriarchal beliefs into people’s minds, reminding them how a woman must say, look and behave, from the eyes of men. The reason why media influence is dangerous is because it influences human life steadily. Its impacts are not as aggressive, so even when it feeds us hatred, we take it in, slowly and dangerously letting such notions to pervade over our minds. Yet, the society must acknowledge that blind individuals lead on to blind society. In other words, unconstrained permissiveness to gender inequality and unjust discrimination will only perpetuate such injustice. Hence, the structure of the media industry must change first to cease the deeply entrenched male-dominant perspectives and values in all media programs. With more women casted to show professionalism in diversified media platforms, the society needs to see more of what women “really” can do. With more women engaging in the media industry, the field of production will change, thereby altering the direction and contents of media programs to become gender discrimination-free. Small steps at first, yet if they are done, it will have a slow, but powerful influence upon the nation, unveiling the dark curtains of Confucianism that has been blinding the eyes for centuries.