Interest in women’s issues on rise since hate murder

Interest in gender issues has surged among Koreans since the Gangnam Station murder that took the life of a woman, in what many believe to be a hate crime. Since the incident, one year ago, gender issues have become a hot, although controversial, topic in Korean society.

One of the changes since the incident is that men have become more involved - more male students are choosing gender studies as their majors, and are taking outside courses to better understand the issue. They also took a visible role in a memorial event held nation-wide, Wednesday, commemorating the one-year anniversary of the incident.

Lee Seong-hwa, a male college student, has become an active volunteer and activist on feminist matters since the incident. What sparked his interest at the time was how differently the incident was perceived by men and women.

“I thought I must be missing out on something. I wasn’t sure if I lacked the ability to empathize, or if I hadn’t experienced what women go through,” he said.

Since then, Lee has become an avid reader of feminist books; the most recent one he’s read is “Who Cooked Adam Smith’s Dinner?” by Katrine Marcal.

According to Yes24, one of Korea’s major online book shops, books on feminism sold during the last year increased over three-fold compared to the previous year. Thirty-two percent of the books were purchased by men, mostly in their 30s.

Lee also actively participates in rallies supporting women’s rights, including the memorial ceremony held Wednesday.

“I didn’t go last year, because I wasn’t sure if I had the right, being a male and obviously lacking such experiences. This year, I went to remember, and also to reflect on my past behavior — if I had said or had done anything that was hateful towards women.”

Around 1,000 people came, but he was surprised there weren’t more. Yoon Hye-kyeong, a 23-year-old college student, also became more interested in women’s rights after the Gangnam murder.

“I became more exposed, because people were talking about the murder and their personal experiences on SNS.”

She feels that the crime, however, didn’t have the same effect on men.

“The murder made me feel that it was my problem, and also that of the whole society. Most women have experienced sexist incidents, but when I see comments on SNS, most of my male peers still don’t really understand.”