SARAH LOHMANN WRITES – “Does it hurt?” When we hear this question, it is often with an urgent or melancholic tone. Korean author Jungeun Hwang frames the question differently when it is asked of thirteen-year-old Nana by her childhood friend Naghi after he strikes her across the cheek. She confirms it does…
Full Article BOOK REVIEW: I’LL GO ON (2018) – DAY WILL BREAK BEFORE LONG
ANDREA PLATE WRITES – (This is the first in an original series about new wave feminist writers in Korea). It was big news in 2016 when the novel Kim Ji-young, 1982, by author Cho Nam-Joo, awakened a semi-somnolent women’s movement in South Korea. The book sold one million copies—only the second novel in the…
Full Article KOREA: NEW WAVE LITERATURE AS WOMEN’S LIBERATION
DANIELA GUEVARA WRITES—Despite the country’s low crime rate, there has been a significant increase of 27% in sexual assault in Japan, specifically on public transportation. Women in crowded trains (and other public places) often face sexual harassment in the form of groping during their commutes. In fact, Japanese research shows…
Full Article JAPAN: RIDING THE RAILS OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT
ANTONIA HORLICK WRITES—In the past decade, cosmetic surgery worldwide has become more popular than ever. With the rise of social media platforms such as Instagram, young people have become more self-conscious about their looks. They live in a self-obsessed world of Snapchat and Instagram, which both have selfie filters that…
Full Article China: Plastic Surgery Industry Booms as Millions of Gen Z’s Go Under the Knife
ANDREA PLATE WRITES – Let us all breathe a sigh of relief. Tuesday’s U.S. Senate confirmation hearings (July 30) into the matter of Air Force General John Early Hyten’s fitness to serve as Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was not a #MeToo mobbing – thanks to Martha…
Full Article SOCIAL JUSTICE: SENATOR MCSALLY ON THE ASSAULTIVE QUESTION OF WOMEN IN THE MILITARY
(Certain names in the story have been shortened to protect the person’s identity.) AASHNA MALPANI WRITES– I hear a piercing wail in the background. My source puts the phone on hold for a minute, then returns with apologies: “Sometimes I wish I never had him.” She sounds exasperated, complaining about…
Full Article INDIA: Postpartum Depression, Women, and the Indian Society in Between
ANAS ALZAHRANI WRITES — While countries around the world are buying into the “this is what a feminist looks like” mentality, China still seems to maintain its distaste for the movement. Yet despite strict regulations to curb radical voices, activists refuse to stay quiet: especially the Feminist Five. The group…
Full Article CHINA: Who Are the ‘Feminist Five?’
AASHNA MALPANI WRITES – In the streets of Hyesan city, North Korea, a woman in her forties makes ends meet by selling clothes and textiles to local markets. A guard or a police officer stops her, demanding she follow him to an empty room or other such location. She complies.…
Full Article North Korea: The Deadly Silence Behind #Metoo
ELIZABETH SOELISTIO WRITES — Ahn Hee Jung, a 53-year-old politician and former rising star of South Korea’s Democratic, party was acquitted August 14 on charges of raping his female secretary, Kim Ji Eun. The controversial verdict sparked massive debates on the topics of justice, sexual hierarchies and the power wielded…
Full Article SOUTH KOREA & THE QUESTION OF JUSTICE: AHN HEE JUNG NOT GUILTY OF RAPE
RYAN URBAN WRITES: People say they are fed up with President Trump for remarks targeting the most vulnerable in our society, from Muslims to women, leaving society no other choice but to shout at the top of their lungs and scream “We need to fight against Islamophobia in America!…Then we…
Full Article MALAYSIA: FROM PLAYBOY MODEL TO MUSLIM ROLE MODEL