For the first time in her life, Hyesu Cho, an 18-year-old college student from Changwon, South Korea, turned her long silky locks into what can be described as a "boy's hairstyle" on November 14.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th December, 2018) For the first time in her life, Hyesu Cho, an 18-year-old college student from Changwon, South Korea, turned her long silky locks into what can be described as a "boy's hairstyle" on November 14.Cho's decision came after she learned about an alleged violent attack against women bearing similar looks in a subway station in Seoul on the previous day.
"I cut my hair to support the victims in the Isu [subway] station attack, because they're also part of the 'Escape the Corset' movement. I did this hoping to change the society's view that women have to wear makeup and care about their appearance," Cho told Sputnik.
At around 4 a.m. on November 13, two South Korean women were reportedly assaulted by five men in a bar close to the Isu subway station in Seoul. According to the victims' account of the incident, posted on social media, the women were picked on by fellow male guests at the bar because of their appearance, as both of them had short hair and did not wear makeup. The dispute escalated quickly after both sides started to trade verbal insults, leading to a physical altercation. One of the female victims had deep cuts on the back of her head and had to seek medical treatment in a hospital.
Although the cause of the assault at Isu station remains under police investigation, the incident led to a heated debate in South Korea between feminists, who accused that they are being wrongfully targeted, and others, mostly men, who denounced the feminists' provocative attitude and tactics.
Nevertheless, the Isu station incident also shed more light on the growing sentiment among young women in South Korea, who are increasingly vocal about their discontent with the country's obsession over the "perfect look" for women and started to take part in a movement known as "Escape the Corset."
"I'm not sure if you have been to South Korea before, but it [the focus on female appearance] is serious problem. Flight attendants in South Korea have to worry about their appearance and wear makeup and care about their weight. And they even can't wear glasses. I was surprised when I came first came to the United States that some of them [the girls] are a little fat or some don't even wear makeup," Cho, who currently studies in a US university, said.
She pointed out that expectations on women's appearance in South Korea are much harsher compared to that on men.
"When you turn on news programs in South Korea, the old men on tv don't wear makeup. But for young women on TV, they not only have to wear makeup, but also were not allowed to wear glasses before. That's why it became a big issue when one of the female hosts started to wear glasses on news programs on TV. The society's aspect on women's appearance is much harsher than men. They [women] have to spend more time to do makeup and care about their appearance, while still can be easily blamed," she said.
Other South Korean women, who joined the "Escape the Corset" movement by not wearing makeup and cutting their hair short for an unconventional look, suggested that such imbalanced gender views were taught at a young age in South Korea.
"I think women in South Korea are [treated] like dolls, not human beings. In children's magazines, the girl is always wearing makeup and a princess' dress. The boy is represented as wearing glasses and looking for his dreams in math and science. In South Korea, even before elementary school, young girls are brainwashed with the idea that 'girls should be pretty.' Some say, 'She's just pretty, so it's best to marry a good man,'" Hye Eun Lee, a 23-year-old college student, told Sputnik.
Lee explained in detail what she had to go through in order to become the "perfect looking girl."
"I used to live on a diet because I was afraid to gain weight. 'She needs to be slim and pretty' is something I've heard since I was born. I used to wash my long hair and dry it. It took me two hours to get my hair done before I went out. And the makeup took more than an hour. There were times when I proudly said, 'I finished a full-makeup in 30 minutes!' It's a shame to think about how much time I've wasted on doing makeup," she said.
Lee added that she was happy after the change in lifestyle, because she no longer has to wear uncomfortable clothes and she can sleep much longer in the morning, because it takes only 1-2 minutes to wash her short hair.
Joining "Escape the Corset" movement also helped Lee avoid sexual harassment at work.
"When I worked part-time before joining the movement, my nickname was always 'Ms. Lee.' Men who didn't know me always tried to ask for my phone numbers. I faced different kinds of sexual harassment. When I cut off my hair, the sexual harassment disappeared. The nickname for me changed to 'the boss,'" she said.
At the same time, Lee admitted that she had to face a lot of negative comments from people who did not agree with her choice in changing her appearance.
"When I walked down the street, men often looked at my chest if they didn't know if I'm a woman or a man. After they pass by, the men who didn't know me would swear a lot from behind. But I don't care," she said.
Liool Jo, a 23-year-old woman who works in a cafe in Seoul, shared a similar experience, after joining the "Escape the Corset" movement last year.
"Sometimes stupid people ask me 'do you want to be a man?' This is a very rude, stupid and discriminatory question. I just want to live like a human being. The men are angry because they can no longer satisfy their eyes," Jo told Sputnik.
To demonstrate the strict social pressure on women's appearance in South Korea, Mina Baek, a 25-year-old college graduate from Seoul, created a page called "The Social Uniforms Project" on Instagram in hope of raising awareness on the issue.
In a diagram illustrating what a "chwi-joon-saeng," which means young job applicant, is expected to look like, Baek offered the following details.
"Hair should be neat and not overly styled or dyed. A jacket that cinches at the waist will keep the look elegant with a demure and feminine silhouette. Appropriate shoes for the job hopeful would have a heel of 3-5 cm (1.18-2 inches), with anything above 7 cm being too risque and anything below 3 cm too casual. The nose of the heel should be rounded and generic in feel, with black and neutral colors preferred," she wrote in the post on Instagram.
Baek gave another example that a recent dress code published by a stock brokerage in South Korea had over 19 detailed instructions on women's attire, while only having a few short sentences for men.
She explained that she hoped to offer different examples of social expectations on women's appearance in South Korea through her project, as a middle ground to bridge the gap between feminists and people with conservative views.
"The Social Uniforms Project is sort of a middle road way to address the issue of gender norms and social constructions, mostly by avoiding complete indifference. Our technique is to take a more subtle and semiotic approach, to make the argument about women's social constructions in a visual way that few people could deny as real, and which speak directly to what people know is socially true," Baek told Sputnik.
According to Baek, feminist ideas only started to attract attention in recent years in South Korea, after a series of high profile cases such as the Gangnam murder case, when a male assailant stabbed a woman in 2016 to death over his claimed hatred against women who ignored him all his life.
Unfortunately, strong reactions from radical feminist groups such as Megalia, which advocates a controversial "mirroring" approach by using harsh words against men, led to further confrontations and divisions in South Korea.
Following allegations from the female victims in the Isu station attack that they were targeted because of their appearance, a counter narrative emerged online accusing the two women of instigating the incident and launching verbal insults first.
The online petition initiated by the female victims with the South Korean president's office to investigate the alleged assault attracted over 364,000 signatures, while a counter petition demanding clarification of the facts related to the incident also attracted over 165,000 signatures.
"As a member of the society, we feel a little sad that here in South Korea today the gender discussion has been coming toward men and women fighting against each other," Baek said.
While supporting the freedom of feminists, including those who take part in the "Escape the Corset" movement, to express their views, Baek believes they need to avoid trying to push their views on other women in South Korea.
"I personally think that if you want to look pretty, you should do whatever you want. But I felt for some people, who call themselves a feminist and are actively involved in the 'Escape the Corset' movement, are imposing a different type of corset to other women. I think the whole purpose of this movement is you can dress whatever you want to," Baek said.
For Jo, who joined the "Escape the Corset" movement last year, her purpose of taking part in the movement is also about improving women's status in South Korea.
"Usually have to quit your job if you become someone's wife. And you should focus only on your family. This is what makes you depend on your husband or child. Everyone didn't say anything, but the wife is practically a slave. And this makes it impossible for competent women to climb higher," she said.
Jo is determined to continue her current path and fight to improve women's opportunities in South Korea.
"I have no intention of going back. I just don't wear makeup, don't grow hair, and don't wear skirts. It's not important. It doesn't matter for someone to understand me. And I don't want to build a family. My goal is to reach the top. I hope every woman's goal is getting to the top, instead of making a family or something like that. And if having short hair and no makeup can cost women a job, all men should be fired. Am I wrong?" she said.
According to the latest report from Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on gender equality globally, major gender gaps in earnings, labor market participation and representation in government continued to exist in South Korea.
The gender pay gap in South Korea, where working women earn only 63 percent of what men make, is the highest among the 36 OECD member states, the report showed.
