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Megalia () was a
feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
movement on the South Korean Internet. It is most well known for the "mirroring" strategy that participants (Megalians) used to defamiliarize misogynist ideas. Megalians mirrored the style of misogynist content but reversed gender roles, intending to provoke laughter or outrage. The Megalia movement began in May and June 2015 with a surge of feminist
trolling In slang, a troll is a person who posts deliberately offensive or provocative messages online (such as in social media, a newsgroup, a internet forum, forum, a chat room, an Multiplayer video game, online video game) or who performs similar be ...
on the South Korean Internet forum
DC Inside DC Inside (), also known as DC, is a South Korean internet forum that was founded in 1999. It is a prominent online platform in the country, allowing users to engage in discussions on a diverse range of subjects with little moderation, such as ...
. Participants reporting feeling a sense of catharsis after enduring years of misogyny and gender-based harassment online. After moderators on DC Inside banned the posts, Megalians created a series of
Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
groups and an independent website, Megalian.com. They continued to mirror misogynist posts but also mobilized for feminist political causes. Megalian activists advocated that women "break the corset" of Korean beauty standards, helped pressure the South Korean government to shut down the non-consenual pornography site ', and protested
violence against women Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence (GBV) or sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), violent, violence primarily committed by Man, men or boys against woman, women or girls. Such violence is often considered hat ...
after the 2016 Seocho-dong public-toilet murder case. In December 2015, moderators on Megalian.com banned
homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...
posts that targeted gay men. This led the majority of its users to leave for other forums, most prominently the website
WOMAD WOMAD ( ; World of Music, Arts and Dance) is an international arts festival. The central aim of WOMAD is to celebrate the world's many forms of music, arts and dance. History WOMAD was founded in 1980 by English rock musician Peter Gabriel, w ...
. Although many South Korean feminists continued to identify with Megalia, Megalian.com and the Megalia Facebook groups lost their importance as online hubs and eventually shut down. Megalia is well known in South Korea for its provocative tactics and for openly espousing feminism at a time when it was not widely accepted by Korean society. Feminist scholars generally praised the movement for revitalizing
feminism in South Korea Feminism in South Korea is the origin and history of feminism or women's rights in South Korea. As of 2023, South Korea ranked 105th out of 146 countries in the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index which evaluates gender-based gaps in edu ...
. Nonetheless, some feminist scholars criticized Megalians for focusing exclusively on combating misogyny while ignoring other issues that intersect with women's rights.
Backlash Backlash may refer to: Literature * '' Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women'', a 1991 book by Susan Faludi * ''Backlash'' (Star Wars novel), a 2010 novel by Aaron Allston * Backlash (Marc Slayton), a comic book character from ...
to Megalia contributed to the rise of antifeminism in South Korea. Many Koreans interpreted mirrored posts as expressions of genuine
misandry Misandry () is the hatred of or prejudice against men or boys. Earliest recorded use: 1885. "No man whom she cared for had ever proposed to marry her. She could not account for it, and it was a growing source of bitterness, of misogyny as wel ...
rather than as ironic critiques of misogyny. Far-right users of the
Ilbe Storehouse Daily-Best Archive () or Ilbe Storehouse (), also known as Ilbe, is a South Korean Internet forum that has a predominantly far-right userbase. The site was created in April 2010 and started as an archive of the ''daily best'' posts from the for ...
forum quickly developed a rivalry with Megalians that was framed in the mainstream Korean media as a "gender war". The media habitually blamed both Ilbe and Megalia for extremism. Today, "Megalia" remains a shorthand in South Korea for feminism, especially "extreme" or
radical feminism Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a radical re-ordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts, while recognizing that women's experiences are also affected by other ...
.


Background

South Korean society has deep gender inequalities; in 2016 it ranked 116th out of 144 nations on gender equality according to the
Global Gender Gap Report The Global Gender Gap Report is an index designed to measure gender equality. It was first published in 2006 by the World Economic Forum. It "assesses countries on how well they are dividing their resources and opportunities among their male an ...
. It is also a highly digitized society where Internet forums have been popular since the late 1990s. Two of the most popular forums are
DC Inside DC Inside (), also known as DC, is a South Korean internet forum that was founded in 1999. It is a prominent online platform in the country, allowing users to engage in discussions on a diverse range of subjects with little moderation, such as ...
and
ILBE The improved load-bearing equipment (ILBE) is a United States Marine Corps program that had included individual load carriage equipment, individual hydration systems, and individual water purification. Since the rucksack was the first component o ...
. DC Inside is a mainstream forum "comparable to Reddit in size and scope", and has a predominantly male user base. ILBE is a DC Inside splinter forum dominated by
right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...
users. In the 2000s and early 2010s, moderate gains for Korean women's rights caused an anti-feminist backlash on these forums. Users coined a number of misogynist
neologism In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...
s such as "", "", and "", among others. These three terms are negative stereotypes of Korean women at a different stages of life. A "''doenjang-nyeo''" () is a college-aged woman who eats cheap meals such as ' in order to save money for conspicuous luxuries like
Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...
. A "''gimchi-nyeo''" () is a slightly older woman (late twenties, early thirties) who takes advantage of financial support from her male partner. The use of the word "kimchi" is a way of saying that this is the stereotypical Korean woman, in the same way that
kimchi Kimchi (; ) is a traditional Korean side dish (''banchan'') consisting of salted and fermented vegetables, most often napa cabbage or Korean radish. A wide selection of seasonings are used, including '' gochugaru'' (Korean chili powder), ...
is the stereotypical Korean dish. Middle-aged Korean women are targeted by the term "''mam-chung''" (), which "reduces a housewife/mother into a kind of idle and self-obsessed parasite who wastes money without appreciating her husband's struggle as he labors and sacrifices at his workplace, and does not do her own job of disciplining her child." Paired with these negative stereotypes, online Korean misogynists invented ideals for women to conform to. In contrast to the stereotypically Korean "''gimchi-nyeo''", they coined the term "" () for Japanese women, who they believed to be models of submissiveness and traditional feminine values. These terms became
normalized Normalization or normalisation refers to a process that makes something more normal or regular. Science * Normalization process theory, a sociological theory of the implementation of new technologies or innovations * Normalization model, used in ...
online and even spread to Korean mass media. For example, a large part of the popular song "
Gangnam Style "Gangnam Style" () is a K-pop song by South Korean singer Psy, released on July 15, 2012, by YG Entertainment as the lead single of his sixth studio album, ''Psy 6 (Six Rules), Part 1'' (''Ssai Yukgap Part 1''). The term "Gangnam Style" is a n ...
" parodied the stereotypes of the ''Doenjang'' girl. Scholars Donna Do-own Kim and Minseok Yoo argue that these misogynist stereotypes pressured Korean women to "continuously police and prove themselves" so as avoid getting labelled selfish, materialistic, or undesirable.


Feminist trolling on DC Inside

The Megalia movement was sparked on DC Inside. In the spring of 2015, DC Inside users started a forum called "MERS Gallery" for sharing information on the
Middle East respiratory syndrome Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) is a viral respiratory infection caused by '' Middle East respiratory syndrome–related coronavirus'' (MERS-CoV). Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe depending on age and risk level. Typi ...
(MERS) outbreak. A false rumor spread that two women with MERS had refused to quarantine and instead went on a shopping trip to
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
. Forum users bashed them and called them "kimchi women". On May 15, 2015, female users began spamming the forum with humorous posts blaming men for all of the world's problems. The women making these posts "began as group of
trolls A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human be ...
without an explicit activist goal". Their primary motivation was simply "to provoke and irritate young Korean men" who had spent years "ridiculing, denigrating, and bullying" Korean women online. One widely-shared post had a title meant to sound like it was written by a male user, "We men are rational so we don't hesitate before doing things by chattering like girls." But when viewers opened the post, they would see the punchline ("We simply kill you!") and statistics showing that 94% percent of felonies in Korea are committed by men. In later interviews, women who had participated in this initial wave of trolling described it as "cathartic" and "exhilarating". As these trolling posts grew in popularity and spread across the Korean Internet, posters began to take on a more self-consciously feminist attitude. They adopted the name "Megalians" as a
portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.
of "MERS Gallery" and "'' Egalia's Daughters''." ''Egalia's Daughters'' is a feminist novel about a world where women are the dominant sex and men are forced into a subordinate role. By reversing gender roles, the novel reveals the misogyny hidden in many aspects of society, especially language. Megalians sought to do the same thing to misogynist language on the Internet, "mirroring" the misogynist language used against women. Popular mirroring posts included such comments as "Men should demurely handle housework at home," "Alcohol tastes best when served by men," and "Men are men's worst enemies." Misogynist words were "mirrored", too: "kimchi woman" became "kimchi man" (), meaning a man who judges women by their appearances. " Plastic surgery monster" () was countered with the
homophone A homophone () is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning or in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, for example ''rose'' (flower) and ''rose'' (past tense of "rise"), or spelled differently, a ...
"sex buyer" (). "Bean paste girl" was replaced with "
mackerel pike Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish, mostly from the family Scombridae. They are found in both temperate and tropical seas, mostly living along the coast or offshore in the oceanic environment. ...
man" (), referring to cheap men who refuse to pay for dates.


Migration to Facebook and Megalian.com

Feminist trolling and the use of mirroring language provoked a strong negative response from website moderators. DC Inside banned mirrored terms like "kimchi man" and removed trolling posts. Megalians considered this moderation biased because DC Inside had tolerated—and would continue to tolerate—the misogyny that these posts attempted to mirror. Megalians founded a series of Facebook pages that were taken down for "derogatory language", leading frustrated Megalia users to call Facebook the "Blue ILBE". A Facebook page called "Megalia 4" was formed in September that avoided a takedown by moderating its language and abandoning the "mirroring" strategy. Instead, it focused on internet activism and reporting on instances of gender discrimination. In the face of repeated bans from the moderators of other websites, a group of anonymous supporters created an independent website named Megalian.com on August 6, 2015. Megalian.com was a message board like DC Inside, featuring boards such as the "best" board, "new posts" board, "Menyeom eaning suitable for Megaliaboard", "news" board, "data" board, "lecture" board, "capture" board, "humor" board, and "free" board. Users were
anonymous Anonymous may refer to: * Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown ** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author * Anonym ...
, but had to make an account using an email address in order to make or react to posts. Megalian.com became very popular within the first few months of its existence. To the Megalians who had migrated from DC Inside, the influx of new users appeared to include many who used "intimate, warm and amenable" language they associated with female-dominated internet spaces. The more aggressive Megalians denounced this manner of speaking and argued that posts on Megalia should be conspicuously hostile in order to offend their opponents.


Social activism

Megalians used their website and Facebook groups to work for feminist political causes. Megalian
activism Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from ...
drew on
Internet culture Internet culture refers to culture developed and maintained among frequent and active users of the Internet (also known as netizens) who primarily communicate with one another as members of online communities; that is, a culture whose influence ...
and involved humor and vulgar language. Megalians developed a unique vocabulary to describe female liberation. For example, some Megalians called patriarchal society "the DickTrix" (" dick" plus "''
The Matrix ''The Matrix'' is a 1999 science fiction film, science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the first installment in the The Matrix (franchise), ''Matrix'' film series, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Ca ...
''") and described becoming aware of sexism as " taking the red pill". Humor and fun played an important role in building a sense of community among Megalia's users. Many activists found the process of creating and sharing mirrored posts to be enjoyable because it took the power away from misogynist posts that would otherwise feel threatening or uncomfortable. Megalians frequently used the same vulgar language common on male-dominated Internet forums like ILBE, and reclaimed misogynist language by affectionately calling each other "cunt" (). The word "
corset A corset /ˈkɔːrsɪt/ is a support garment worn to constrict the torso into the desired shape and Posture correction, posture. They are traditionally constructed out of fabric with boning made of Baleen, whalebone or steel, a stiff panel in th ...
" became a
metonym Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something associated with that thing or concept. For example, the word "wikt:suit, suit" may refer to a person from groups commonly wearing business attire, such ...
for the restraints women place on themselves in order to conform to the expectations of a male-centered society. The popular view on Megalia was that all Korean women start out "corseted", but that exposure to feminist posts can help them notice and "break" their corsets. This evolved into the "break the corset" movement in which women consciously rejected traditional Korean standards of female beauty. Participants would often cut their hair and stop using makeup.


Shutting down ''SoraNet''

' () was a Korean porn-sharing site notorious for allowing the distribution of illegal pornographic content, including videos of
rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...
,
children A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...
, and
molka ''Molka'' (, , lit. 'hidden camera') is the Korean term for hidden cameras or miniature spy cameras secretly and illegally installed, often in order to capture voyeuristic images and videos. Molka is an abbreviation of ''mollae-kamera'' (), whic ...
(non-consensual spycam videos). In addition to illegal pornography, ''SoraNet'' users allegedly used the site for "invitations", where someone would post a video of an incapacitated woman and invite other users to participate in a
gang rape In scholarly literature and criminology, gang rape, also called serial gang rape, party rape, group rape, or multiple perpetrator rape,Ullman, S. E. (2013). 11 Multiple perpetrator rape victimization. Handbook on the Study of Multiple Perpetrato ...
. ''SoraNet'' had been active since 1999 and had over one million members in 2015. In October 2015, Megalians began a movement to shut down the website. They made digital infographics, created an
online petition An online petition (or Internet petition, or e-petition) is a form of petition which is signed online, usually through a form on a website. Visitors to the online petition sign the petition by adding their details such as name and email address. T ...
, and put post-it notes in public places with messages against ''SoraNet''. Their efforts eventually inspired Korean parliamentarian Jin Sun-mee to demand the Chief of Police take stronger action against ''SoraNet''. In the hours after her speech, Megalians raised ($10,000) for Jin's office. The police began a probe into ''SoraNet'', and on April 6, 2016, South Korean and Dutch authorities cooperated to take down the site. A number of websites attempted to recreate ''SoraNet'', leading Megalian activists to launch anti-"digital sex crime" organizations like Digital Sexual Crime Out (DSO) and the Korea Cyber Sexual Violence Response Center (KCSVRC).


Feminist Post-it notes

In October 2015, Megalians began sticking
Post-it note A Post-it note (or sticky note) is a small piece of paper with a re-adherable strip of glue on its back, made for temporarily attaching notes to documents and other surfaces. A low-adhesion, tack pressure-sensitive adhesive allows the notes to ...
s with feminist messages in public spaces such as public toilets and elevators. They hoped to spread feminist ideas and attract new participants to the Megalia movement. Megalians would share photos of themselves posting the note and often sign them with the phrase "Megalian in action". They adopted the use of Post-it notes from
K-pop K-pop (; an abbreviation of "Korean popular music") is a form of popular music originating in South Korea. It emerged in the 1990s as a form of youth subculture, with Korean musicians taking influence from Western Electronic dance music, danc ...
fans, who used Post-its to protest unpopular management decisions. The strategy proved affective at attracting newcomers to the website.


Reaction to Gangnam station femicide

On May 17, 2016, a man stabbed a woman to death in the toilet at a
karaoke is a type of interactive entertainment system usually offered in nightclubs and bars, where people sing along to pre-recorded accompaniment using a microphone. Its musical content is an instrumental rendition of a well-known popular song. I ...
bar near Gangnam station in Seoul. The two had never met before that night, and the murderer later claimed that he did so out of his hatred for women as they had ignored and humiliated him all his life. Thousands of Koreans, including Megalia users, gathered at the subway station to create a memorial for the victim. They left flowers and 20,000 Post-it notes speaking out for women's rights. Megalians helped organize a series on night marches in memorial of the victim and to raise awareness of
violence against women Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence (GBV) or sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), violent, violence primarily committed by Man, men or boys against woman, women or girls. Such violence is often considered hat ...
. On several occasions, men carrying anti-mourner or misogynist messages arrived at the memorial and confronted the mourners.


Facebook lawsuit and t-shirt fundraiser

On May 28, 2016, the Megalia 4 Facebook group began to raise funds for a lawsuit against Facebook. They argued that Facebook had engaged in gender discrimination by taking down two Megalia-related groups while leaving up a ILBE-associated "Kimchi woman" group where a user had posted a video saying that he wanted to kill women. To raise money, Megalians sold t-shirts with the slogan "Girls Do Not Need a
Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...
". The campaign succeeded in raising ($95,000) from about 3,500 donors, ten times the initial goal. On July 18, Korean video game
voice actor Voice acting is the art of Acting, performing a character or providing information to an audience with one's voice. Performers are often called voice actors/actresses in addition to other names. Examples of voice work include animation, animated, ...
Kim Jayeon posted a photo of her "Girls Do Not Need a Prince" shirt on
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
. Male Korean gamers pressured
Nexon Nexon Co., Ltd. (formerly ) is a South Korean video game developer and publisher. It develops and publishes titles including ''MapleStory'', ''Crazyracing Kartrider'', ''Sudden Attack'', ''Dungeon & Fighter'', ''The First Descendant'', and ''Bl ...
, the company that had hired her to do voice acting in the game '' Closers'', to fire her. Nexon did so the following day, explaining their decision by saying they were listening to their customers and that Kim had "exacerbated the issue by posting inflammatory tweets such as 'what's wrong with supporting Megalia?'" Social media harassment forced dozens of those who had stood up for Kim to issue public apologies. The Justice Party (a center-left political party) issued a statement saying that Kim should not have been fired, leading several of its parliamentary members to threaten to withdraw from the party. The protesting members said that it was more humiliating to be associated with Megalia than to be associated with supporters of North Korea (an accusation that the party had faced in the past).


Other projects

Megalians engaged in a number of smaller feminist campaigns using the website as a platform for organizing. After a Korean man maimed his ex-girlfriend in an
acid attack An acid attack, also called acid throwing, vitriol attack, or vitriolage, is a form of violent assault involving the act of throwing acid or a similarly corrosive substance onto the body of another "with the intention to disfigure, maim, tortu ...
, they successfully lobbied the Ministry of Environment to block online sales of high concentrations of
hydrochloric acid Hydrochloric acid, also known as muriatic acid or spirits of salt, is an aqueous solution of hydrogen chloride (HCl). It is a colorless solution with a distinctive pungency, pungent smell. It is classified as a acid strength, strong acid. It is ...
. They organized protests against ''
Maxim Maxim or Maksim may refer to: Entertainment *Maxim (magazine), ''Maxim'' (magazine), an international men's magazine ** Maxim (Australia), ''Maxim'' (Australia), the Australian edition ** Maxim (India), ''Maxim'' (India), the Indian edition *Maxim ...
'' magazine and a boycott against
Namyang Dairy Products Namyang Dairy Products () is a food and dairy corporation headquartered in Seoul, Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in ...
for sexist practices. Megalians also compiled a list of misogynist celebrities.


Reception and criticism

Because of its deliberately provocative nature, Megalia's mirroring strategy became a major source of controversy in South Korean society. On the mainstream Korean Internet, Megalia is considered to have been as extreme as ILBE, just on the other side of the political spectrum. It is common to accuse Megalians of
misandry Misandry () is the hatred of or prejudice against men or boys. Earliest recorded use: 1885. "No man whom she cared for had ever proposed to marry her. She could not account for it, and it was a growing source of bitterness, of misogyny as wel ...
. The mainstream Korean media criticized Megalia for being intentionally provocative and condemned both Megalia and ILBE for having hatred towards the opposite sex. For example, YTN described Megalia as a "female supremacy" community. Many, including some feminists, say Megalia's tactics are unproductive and divisive. One example was the website's logo, which shows a thumb and forefinger almost touching. The
hand gesture A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each "han ...
is meant to mock to the allegedly small size of Korean men's penises, a mirror of "the constant and often cruel subjection of Korean women's appearances to male scrutiny".
Cultural anthropologist Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans. It is in contrast to social anthropology, which perceives cultural variation as a subset of a posited anthropological constant. The term s ...
Sealing Cheng argues that this insult reflects mainstream Korean anxieties about masculinity. Many Korean men worry that they "are unworthy of respect and power ''because'' of their penis size." Targeting this insecurity made the Megalian.com logo especially offensive to many Korean men, and thus, from the perspective of the Megalians, particularly effective at exposing the cruelty of
body shaming Body shaming is the action or inaction of subjecting someone to humiliation and criticism for their bodily features. There are so many types of body shaming, including but not limited to fat-shaming, shaming for thinness, height-shaming, shami ...
. The mockery of Korean men's penis size is found elsewhere too, such as with the mirroring term "god-Western-man" (''godyangnam'', the equivalent of the "sushi woman"), who is described as a progressive Western man with a large penis. Feminist scholar Donna Do-own Kim, while defending mirroring in general, calls the idealization of Western men "unfortunate", and suggests that it "shows that fighting misogyny was not just ''one'' of the motivations... but ''the'' motivation; other social injustices were of lesser importance." Another feminist scholar, Youngmi Kim, defended the mirroring strategy:
As unpleasant, vulgar, polarizing, and ultimately divisive as the strategy was, the mirroring strategy vividly and successfully exposed the misogynistic culture among some Korean men by "throwing back"—mirroring—the very same terminology and demeaning attitude towards them.
Another controversy caused by a mirroring post occurred in October 2015. The post claimed to be from a
kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...
teacher, and declared the user's desire to have sexual intercourse with a ''jonnini'' (), which is Korean slang for a male child. The poster (referred to by the media as "Ms. A") later addressed this, and while admitting the gravity of her statement, claimed that she was merely trying to bring awareness to the fact that male-dominated boards such as Ilbe allegedly routinely discuss sexual desires for underage girls (). Other controversies include when users of Megalia posted gory images of severed or severely damaged male genitalia, or when users publicized men's explicit photos without their consent.


Dispute over homophobic slurs and end of Megalian.com

A major argument between Megalian.com users took place in December 2015 over the use of homophobic slurs. The most common was ''ttongkko ch'ung'' (lit. "butthole-bug"), a term originally used on DC Inside to insinuate that overly-enthusiastic fans of male sports stars were homosexually attracted to them. It was adopted by some Megalians to troll gay Korean men. Other incidents included the
outing Outing is the act of disclosing an LGBTQ person's sexual orientation or gender identity without their consent. It is often done for political reasons, either to instrumentalize homophobia, biphobia, and/or transphobia Transphobia consists ...
of gay men married to women by some Megalian.com users. After Megalian.com moderators banned the use of ''ttongkko ch'ung'' and other homophobic slurs, the majority of users left to join splinter forums elsewhere. The largest of these splinter forums was
WOMAD WOMAD ( ; World of Music, Arts and Dance) is an international arts festival. The central aim of WOMAD is to celebrate the world's many forms of music, arts and dance. History WOMAD was founded in 1980 by English rock musician Peter Gabriel, w ...
, which became Megalian.com's ''de facto'' successor. Megalian.com shut down in 2017, and the Megalia 4 Facebook page stopped posting in 2018.


Legacy

Megalia had a transformative impact on South Korean feminism. Both for critics and supporters of the movement, Megalia is considered "the emblem of South Korean popular feminism". At the end of 2016, almost half of Korean women in their twenties considered themselves feminist, and a quarter of them credited Megalia for turning them into feminists. However, the controversy associated with Megalia created negative associations with feminism in the minds of many South Korean men. Even some feminists in Korea today distance themselves from Megalia, calling themselves "feminists but not Megalians". Long after the movement went into decline, "Megalia" continued to be a shorthand in South Korean discourse for feminism, especially feminist beliefs or activists considered extreme. For example, in 2018 after two women reported they had been assaulted for not conforming to traditional standards of feminine appearance, 350,000 Koreans signed a petition asking police to prosecute the men who had assaulted them. When a
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
video emerged showing the women taunting the men for their penis size, a counter-petition asked the police to prosecute the women because "there should be a different set of measures when dealing with women who belong to Megalia and WOMAD." The hand gesture depicted in the Megalian.com logo was the inspiration for the finger pinching conspiracy theory. The theory claims that there is a conspiracy to promote
misandry Misandry () is the hatred of or prejudice against men or boys. Earliest recorded use: 1885. "No man whom she cared for had ever proposed to marry her. She could not account for it, and it was a growing source of bitterness, of misogyny as wel ...
by subtly inserting the hand gesture into various media. In 2021, convenience store brand
GS25 GS25 () is a South Korean chain of convenience stores operated and owned by GS Retail, a subsidiary company of the GS Group. The headquarters of the company are located at the GS Tower in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. As of June 9, 2020, GS25 operates 13, ...
had to remove an image of a pinching hand reaching towards a sausage from its ad campaign after backlash from Koreans who thought it looked like the Megalian.com logo. In 2024, the Korean unit of
Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...
faced backlash when numerous videos on its corporate YouTube channel were alleged to show the finger-pinching hand gesture. Numerous news outlets, such as ''The Hankyoreh'', ''The New York Times'', and ''Korea JoongAng Daily'' have criticized the conspiracy theory as fictitious and as cover for
antifeminist Antifeminism or anti-feminism is opposition to feminism. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, antifeminists opposed particular policy proposals for women's rights, such as women's suffrage, the right to vote, Female education, educat ...
harassment.


See also


Notes


References


Bibliography

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External links

* {{Official website, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161007025447/http://megalian.com/ , name=Megalian.com (archived and in Korean)
''South Korea's Gender Wars''
101 East,
Al Jazeera Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pro ...
English, April 2017 (video, 25 mins) Internet properties established in 2015 Cybercrime Discrimination against LGBTQ people in South Korea South Korean websites Internet forums Feminism in South Korea Feminist websites Radical feminism Sexism in South Korea 2015 establishments in South Korea 2017 disestablishments in South Korea Internet properties disestablished in 2017 2010s controversies