“Can I become a true feminist?”: An interpretive analysis on the mirroring experience of young Korean women

Abstract

ABSTRACT Since its beginning in 2015, South Korean feminism has undergone profound and far-reaching changes, forming a pivotal moment. Amid this transition, mirroring holds central stage, revealing rampant misogyny. Gender issues, which were previously buried underneath the surface, were brought to the fore in Korean society. Online feminist groups mirror the hate speech and derogatory terms used for women, targeting them back at men with the intention of ridiculing the opposite sex. We conducted a series of ethnographic in-depth interviews with ordinary Korean women in their 20s who were exposed to mirroring and attempted to understand what mirroring meant to them. Our analysis revealed that mirroring does not simply mean releasing long-suppressed emotions; rather, it causes inner conflict among women. This, in turn, leads women to continuously educate themselves with respect to feminism, and to gather the strength to question deeply ingrained patriarchal norms. Although the sense of frustration and skepticism born of these conflicts that permeate oneself is inevitable; however, we mark this point as a new beginning in the journey to becoming a feminist as an ordinary woman in a society in which more tightly entwined patriarchal norms operate, encouraging their intense reflexivity and constant adaptability with the world.