https://www.reddit.com/r/korea/comments/sv2u22/radical_and_liberal_feminism_and_the_discourses/?utm_source=embedv2&utm_medium=post_embed&utm_content=post_bodyThe intersection of misogyny and ethnic self-hatred
One day I was trying to explain to my white friend about the hate terms "soybean paste (doenjang) girl" and "kimchi girl" -- she didn't understand why soybean paste or kimchi was supposed to be used as an insult. That was the point I realized that there was something deeper here -- wait, why is it an insult in the first place?
Anyone who grew up in Korea would instantly understand the ethnic shame people feel about kimchi and doenjang -- the ideas that foreigners do not like the fermented food, they are stinky, inferior, and embarrassing. But if you're Korean you cannot live without them, so if you still crave for them, you're a (lowly) Korean, nothing better than that.
This ethnic self-hatred entwined with misogyny evolved into really far-reaching hatred against Korean women who enjoy foreign, imported products and brands. For example,
I searched how "soybean paste girl (doen-jang-nyeo)" was used before 2008 using Google search filter. I found out that many news articles described the stereotype as those who enjoy Starbucks coffee, designer bags, and "Western lifestyle" (whatever than means, perhaps eating pasta every once in a while?)
The underlying sentiment was that, "even though you drink $5 Starbucks coffee, at the end of the day you're just a Doenjang-nyeo who eats smelly ethnic food."
So let's get this clear: the Starbucks customers are not despised from the left (ie. despised for preferring Western products, period), but despised from the right (ie. despised for being suspected of continuing to use non-Western products
while using Western products). In other words, the problem according to them is not with the Western products themselves, but that the customers are considered to be
unworthy of the Western products they buy. This is a whole other level of low self-esteem.
What's interesting is that, Korean far-right men were often the ones who showed the deepest level of ethnic self-hatred, more than any other group online. I've seen phrases like "Ddong-song-hap-ni-da" (I'm sorry I'm Asian)
...
they constantly made a fuss about women having their own consumer preferences (e.g. buying $5 Starbucks coffee) and made it look like those women were committing the gravest sin -- the sin of hurting the feelings of men who cannot (or not willing to) afford it. / I remember some women were upset that "hey, I buy this designer bag with my own money and I'm still stereotyped as kimchi girl"
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