"I think feminists deserve to be assaulted" — Korean Man Tells Female Clerk Before Attacking Her
After mistaking a female convenience store worker in South Korea for a feminist, a man attacked her late at night and was subsequently detained. CCTV footage showed the man in his 20s entering the store in the south-eastern city of Jinju after midnight and punching and kicking the woman.
When a second customer in his fifties tried to intercede, he attacked him as well. The police stated he attacked the woman because he thought she was a feminist because of her short hair.
"Since you have short hair, you must be a feminist. I'm a male chauvinist, and I think feminists deserve to be assaulted," he told her, according to police comments reported by the Korea Herald newspaper.
When police arrived, he didn't stop attacking until they physically restrained him. He was allegedly intoxicated and had a history of schizophrenia treatment, according to authorities.
South Korea consistently ranks low on lists of the best nations for working women due to its low level of gender equality.
There has been a rise in anti-feminist sentiment in recent years, especially among young men who believe they are victims of reverse discrimination.
The woman in her twenties was severely injured in the incident on Friday (her ear and ligaments), although she was not in critical condition. Another customer who tried to intervene was hit in the face and shoulder with a chair and sustained serious injuries to the bone.
On Sunday, police reported that they had requested for a warrant to continue holding the suspect.
Women who wear their hair short have been attacked in South Korea because many misogynistic commenters correlate the style with feminism, which has been equated with being a man-hater.
An Olympic archer who won multiple gold medals at the 2021 Tokyo Games but was subjected to a barrage of online criticism because of her short hair style inspired a viral solidarity campaign in which women proudly displayed their own short hair cuts.