| Website of Womad / Captured from its website |
By Kim Jae-heun
Only two months after a photo of a naked male model was uploaded on the radical feminist website “Womad,” another photo of a nude model taken during a life-drawing class was posted on the website again, Sunday.
The post with the title “Nude croquis dressing room phonecam” showed a photo of naked male models. The writer of the post said she took the photo secretly and she will keep uploading new photos of naked men
Many feminist communities here have wrongly developed the original concept of pursuing gender equality to a gender war. The biggest radical feminism site Megalia has produced various branch websites including Womad that supports misandry and female chauvinism.
According to the doctrine of Womad, its members are not a feminist group and they are not responsible for the rights of minority groups. It only cares about women's issues and their acts can be immoral if they fit in with their mission idea.
The radical community instantly sparked controversy from its launch in 2016.
Multiple posts by members proudly claim that they have committed various crimes such as killing a man by pushing him into a reservoir and aborting a male baby.
The next year, an anonymous member wrote a post claiming she had raped an Australian boy. The Australian Federal Police arrested a 27-year-old Korean woman identified as Lee Areum and charged her with producing child abuse material. Womad members defended Lee by sending a petition to the Australian police for her release. It also raised funds to appoint a lawyer for her
Apart from sexually provocative content, others mocking incumbent President Moon Jae-in and independence fighters are continuously being posted.
Recently, a member revealed the personal information of a journalist who wrote a story against the website. The writer shared the journalist's photo and his personal details online.
Experts say Womad is a product of “Ilbe Storage,” a right-wing website that expresses hatred toward woman. They say Korean women's emotions have been suppressed for a long time and this has turned into extreme hatred toward men.
“This is called the rebound phenomenon. It will take time for the women to calm their anger and get rid of their victim mentality to pursue a true altruistic feminism. I am worried the movement could be distorted and perceived wrongly by people here,” said researcher Lee Na-mi at a psychological analysis center.
“We have not reached a social consensus on shutting down harmful communities like Womad or Ilbe Storage. The government should reinforce control against outrageous content online and ban them,” Lee added.
Professor Lee Hyun-jae at the University of Seoul said Womad is a hot potato among feminists too. The original idea of feminism is against discrimination and it unites with social minorities, but Womad is based on female chauvinism.
“I do not agree with Womad but going against Womad only creates vicious cycle,” Lee said.
Kim Sun-hye, a researcher of women's studies points out that Womad is only one of many online communities and it does not represent Korean feminism.
“We cannot say they discuss important ideas related to woman's rights. It is up to individuals to say whether Womad is a feminist gathering or not and that shows what Koreans thinks about feminism at this stage,” Kim said.
Meanwhile, over 800 petitions requesting the banning of the radical website have been posted on Cheong Wa Dae's website as of Thursday.
People are concerned over its pushing of immoral ideas in society. There are suggestions that those behind Womad should be punished too.