> My mind is blown that this oddly specific behaviour was apparently so common that the government mandated all cellphone cameras must play shutter sounds that cannot be muted. What the hell
It was and is extremely common. It's happened to my partner, many of her friends and has been an issue for years. And is not just contained to cell phone cameras but hidden cameras in general. Public bathrooms are such a hotspot that many women fear using them.
Not sure if it's an issue involving a lot of men or just a smaller more active group. But there is a lingering issue with how young Korean men think of women. For example in a poll, 76% of men in their 20s oppose feminism:
While South Korea is a deeply paternalist and sexist society and there are many disadvantages women face in Korean society, men in Korea do have compelling reasons to oppose Korean feminist movements. In particular, the government has instituted gender quotas in some industries:
> The flustered “angry young men” believe that government policies aimed at ensuring gender parity are in fact giving women an unfair advantage.
Enforcing gender parity when the workforce is majority male is indeed giving one gender an advantage. They don't "believe" these practices are unfair any more than they "believe" the sky is blue. If you want to eliminate discrimination, anonymize applications and take steps to eliminate the ability to determine the gender of applicants. Forcing outcomes is indeed putting your finger on the scale.
While there's definitely a lot of sexism and paternalism in South Korea, it was very unfortunate that explicit gender discrimination was path that feminist movements decided to take. It's very bad for feminism to create situations when anti-discrimination is a form of "anti-feminism". This severely curtails good will and willingness to work on issues like the one described in the linked article.
Both Korean and Japanese societies are quite paternalist, so I'm not surprised. In Korea they have all kinds of exaggerated expectations from women and the largest gender pay gap in the OECD.
Here's the Hollywood Reporter, adding context to an article about how the Barbie movie didn't do well in Korea:
'But in Korea, a country where gender disparity and anti-feminist backlash are prevalent, the film’s focus — albeit uplifting — on female empowerment may have sparked discomfort and even fatigue.
“Given how gender has been politicized and became a polarizing issue in Korea in the past few years, young people seem to be easily exhausted by discussions around gender,” says Kang Yu-jeong, a professor of Cultural Contents at Kangnam University in the city of Yongin. “It’s such a sensitive topic for the younger generation — the film’s main target — that they want to avoid it entirely.”'
It was and is extremely common. It's happened to my partner, many of her friends and has been an issue for years. And is not just contained to cell phone cameras but hidden cameras in general. Public bathrooms are such a hotspot that many women fear using them.
Not sure if it's an issue involving a lot of men or just a smaller more active group. But there is a lingering issue with how young Korean men think of women. For example in a poll, 76% of men in their 20s oppose feminism:
https://www.theglobalist.com/south-korea-anti-feminist-young...