Asian country court recognizes misogyny as motive for hate crime

A South Korean court for the first time explicitly recognized misogyny as a motive for hate crime amid a growing "anti-feminist" movement in the East Asian country.

The Changwon District Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court's sentencing of a man to three years in jail for aggravated assault, destruction of property, and obstruction of business. The court ruled that the man's actions "were rooted in baseless hatred and bias against women", The Korea Herald reported.

The man in his 20s was arrested last November for attacking a woman he perceived to be a feminist because she had short hair. "Since you have short hair, you must be a feminist. I'm a male chauvinist, and I think feminists should be punished," the man had said, according to the South Korean police. He reportedly kicked and punched the woman who was working at a convenience store in Jinju in the South Gyeongsang province.

He also assaulted a customer, a man in his 50s, who tried to intervene. "Why are you not taking my side? She is a feminist," the accused allegedly told the customer.

The accused continued the assault until he was stopped by police after they arrived on the scene to find him in a drunken state.

The woman suffered serious ligament injuries and hearing impairment while the male customer suffered fractures to face and shoulder. The attacker hit him with a chair.

The accused later pleaded guilty but claimed he was in a state of "mental and physical weakness".

"The defendant repeatedly declared 'feminists deserve to be hit' while attacking the female clerk and questioned the intervening male victim by asking, 'Why aren't you siding with a fellow man?' indicating a misogynistic motive," the court said.

South Korean women wearing short hair have been targeted by men who consider them to be feminist, a term often confused with misandry.

When archer An San won three gold medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, men back home were busy criticising her short hair. To counter the growing criticism of Ms An online, many South Korean women, including politicians and celebrities, posted messages and photos of their own cropped hair to support the athlete.

South Korea ranks poorly for gender equality among advanced nations.

The country has the worst gender pay gap among OECD countries and is consistently ranked at the bottom on the Economist’s Glass Ceiling Index, which assesses the extent to which women experience equal treatment in the workplace.

South Korean president, Yoon Suk-yeol, 62, disavowed the label of a feminist when he was running for office. He had previously insinuated that feminism was responsible for the abysmal birthrate, which is currently the world’s lowest and has left the Asian country facing demographic collapse.