In Seoul, South Korea, a court made a groundbreaking decision, recognizing misogyny—hatred of women—as the motive for a hate crime. This ruling is seen as a big step forward for women’s rights.
The case involved a convenience store worker who was attacked by a man because she had short hair. The man shouted, “feminists deserve to be beaten” before assaulting her. The Changwon District Court decided to keep the man’s three-year jail sentence and added that the attack was driven by misogyny, which means the man acted out of hate toward women. The court spokesperson shared this information on Thursday, stating that this kind of prejudice and hatred toward women is a very serious reason behind the crime.
The attack had a terrible impact on the victim. She lost hearing in her left ear and has been unable to work since the incident, according to the activists supporting her.
The victim’s lawyer was happy with the decision, saying it helps make the country safer for women. Lawyer Lee Gyeong-ha explained that this is one of the first times a court has specifically named misogyny as the reason for a crime. Many people who commit such crimes often say they don’t hate women, but just hate feminists. This ruling proves that attacking feminists is also a form of misogyny.
South Korea, despite being a global leader in technology and pop culture, still has problems with women’s rights. Many women suffer from issues like deepfake porn, where people create fake videos to harm them. Even though President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was elected in 2022, claimed that women don’t face “systemic gender discrimination,” there are still big differences in wages and job opportunities between men and women.
In 2021, during the Tokyo Olympics, a South Korean athlete named An San was bullied online just for having short hair, which led people to assume she was a feminist. Some even said she should return her Olympic medals and apologize.
Women’s rights activists celebrated this court ruling, calling it a “historic moment.” Activist Lee Gyeong-ork from the Gyeongnam Women’s Association said that in the past, crimes against women driven by hatred weren’t punished properly, which hurt efforts for gender equality. But with this ruling, the court has created a way to legally punish those who commit misogynistic crimes.
