Megalia

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메갈리아
Megalia
Logo of South Korean feminist website Megalia.png
Type of site
Textboard
URLmegalian.com Edit this at Wikidata
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
LaunchedAugust 6, 2015
Current statusShut Down (2017)

Megalia (Korean: 메갈리아) was a radical feminist online community based in South Korea. It was launched in 2015 to protest the language policy of the South Korean Internet forum DC Inside, which some users deemed discriminatory against women.

Overview[]

In the spring of 2015, South Korean Internet forum DC Inside started "MERS Gallery" as a forum for sharing information on the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) outbreak.

When a false rumor spread that two women who had contracted MERS refused quarantine and instead went on a shopping trip to Hong Kong, it prompted bashing in this forum. These supposed health code violators were derogated with the term "kimchi woman" (김치녀; gimchi-nyeo), a misogynist term for women who only have shopping on their minds.[1]

As this continued, an influx of feminist users started using reactionary terms, coining "kimchi man" (김치남; gimchi-nam) a reclaimed term which mocks Korean men. DC Inside intervened by instituting a policy, which forbade usage of "kimchi man". A portion of its users regarded the measure as discriminatory,[a] and found these rules constraining and moved to other forums at DC Inside, eventually launching their own website, Megalia. The name "Megalia" is a portmanteau of "MERS Gallery" and Egalia's Daughters, a feminist novel by Gerd Brantenberg.[3][2]

Culture[]

In Megalia, there are several boards, including the "best" board, "new posts" board, "Menyeom (meaning suitable for Megalia) board", "news" board, "data" board, "lecture" board, "capture" board, "humor" board, and "free" board.[4]

Movement[]

SoraNet shut down Project[]

Megalia began a movement to halt the porn-sharing site  [ko]'s (소라넷) distributing non-consensual secretly photographed video content, and has moved on to petition the shutdown of the site itself, which was notorious for various types of illegal pornographic content.[5] Eventually, SoraNet was shut down.[6][7]

Post-it Project[]

They put a lot of post-it notes with phrases that protect women's rights on the walls of shared toilets, elevators, etc. And they took a certification shot and gave it to their community. Participants expressed their identity by writing the phrase 'Megalian in action' at the end of the phrase.[8]

No hydrochloric acid sales online Project[]

Megalia led a campaign to ban sales, pointing out the problems of high concentrations of hydrochloric acid being sold in online open markets.[9][10] As a result, the Ministry of Environment has blocked online sales of high concentrations of hydrochloric acid by signing agreements with three open market companies.[11]

Controversies[]

Megalia is widely perceived as a radical feminist community, which consciously mirrors the misogynistic language deployed in male-dominated forums like Ilbe.[12] Online critics claim Megalians' mirroring tactic is hateful and misandrist; to supporters, they are reclaiming a male-centered language that threatens and discriminates against women.[13]

Many, including some feminists, say Megalia's tactics are unproductive and divisive.[14] Some Megalia posters have outed gay men who are married to women.[15][16][14]

On October 17, 2015, a kindergarten teacher anonymously uploaded a post declaring their desire to have sexual intercourse with a Jonnini (좆린이), which is Megalia slang for a male child. The poster (referred to by the media as "Ms. A") later addressed this, and while admitting the gravity of her statement, claimed that she was merely trying to bring awareness to the fact that male-dominated boards such as Ilbe allegedly routinely discuss sexual desires for underage girls (referred to as lolini (로린이, 'Lolita girl').[b][17]

Users of Megalia have posted gory images of men whose genitalia have been severed or severely damaged and publicized explicit photos without consent.[18]

In October 2018, following the Isu Station assault case, more than 129,500 Koreans signed an online petition asking for the presidential office to take measures against Womad and Megalia.[19]

Derived websites[]

  • WOMAD (워마드) is a website derived from Megalia on January 22, 2016. It is a splinter group that formed when Megalia issued a ban on use of slurs against gay men.[20][21]
  • Megalia 4 is a Facebook page that derived from Megalia in 2016.
  • Ladism (레디즘) is a website that derived from Megalia in 2016.[20]

Explanatory notes[]

  1. ^ One news source describes "Compared to DC Inside's track record thus far of never handing out any sanctions whatsoever against seriously misogynic statements, this [measure] was hard to comprehend (이해하기 어려운)".[2]
  2. ^ In news coverage, the offensive word may be replaced with eolini 어린이, the ordinary word for a child, or the first hangul letter of Jonnini has been blotted out to read "O린이". The Megalian's uncensored posting is the following: "아 좆린이 먹고 싶다" [Oh I want to have a Jonnini to eat]. Megalia. October 17, 2015. Archived from the original on December 27, 2015.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Steger, Isabella. "An epic battle between feminism and deep-seated misogyny is under way in South Korea". Quartz. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Kim Jae-hui (김재희) (June 23, 2015). 일베도 서럽게 만든, '메갈리아의 딸들' [Even Ilbe was made to feel contrition by the 'Megalia sisterhood']. OhmyNews (in Korean). Archived from the original on 2018. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
  3. ^ Lee, Yeji (September 1, 2016). "Megalia: South Korea's Radical Feminism Community". 10 Magazine. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
  4. ^ "게시판 소개 및 이용자 준수사항 Archived 2018-12-06 at the Wayback Machine [Guide to the boards and user rules]" - Megalia (in Korean)
  5. ^ Kim, Jae-hui (June 26, 2015). 일베도 서럽게 만든, '메갈리아의 딸들' [Even Ilbe was made to feel contrition by the 'Megalia sisterhood']. OhmyNews (in Korean).
  6. ^ Cho Eun-ae; Sohn Guk-hee; Esther Chung (April 8, 2016). "Korea's biggest porn site gets shut down". JoongAng Daily.
  7. ^ "South Korea revenge porn: Sora owner arrested". BBC. June 26, 2018.
  8. ^ "[e톡톡] '여혐혐' 메갈리아, 행동하는 페미니즘 가능할까". news.naver.com (in Korean). Retrieved May 31, 2021.
  9. ^ "[11번가, 35% 고농도 염산판매] '독극물' 판매로 네티즌 비난 봇물". 시사위크 (in Korean). October 13, 2015. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
  10. ^ 근본없는 페미니즘 - 메갈리아부터 워마드까지. ifbooks. 2018. ISBN 9791196135539.
  11. ^ 헤럴드경제 (November 17, 2015). "범죄, 테러 악용 우려…실험용 염산 온라인판매 금지". biz.heraldcorp.com (in Korean). Retrieved May 31, 2021.
  12. ^ Gwak, Huiyang (May 22, 2013). "What Kind of Website Is Ilbe?". The Kyunghyang Shinmun. Retrieved December 25, 2018.
  13. ^ Kang, Haeryun (November 27, 2017). "Latest Korean feminism-zucchinis". Korea Expose.
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b Steger, Isabella (January 11, 2016). "An Epic Battle Between Feminism And Deep-Seated Misogyny Is Under Way In South Korea". Huffington Post.
  15. ^ jay.h (January 5, 2016). "The Rise of Radical Korean Feminist Community, Megalia". Korea Bang.
  16. ^ 메갈리아 [Megalia]. Libre Wiki (in Korean). 2015.
  17. ^ Ku Ja-yun (구자윤) (December 28, 2015). "메갈리안 유치원 교사 "어린이와 하고 싶다" 논란" [The Megalian kindergarten teacher's 'I want to do it with a child' controversy]. The Financial News (파이낸셜 뉴스). (Naver News) (in Korean)
  18. ^ Park Hye-song (박혜성) (January 15, 2016). 여성 인권' 외치던 '메갈리아'의 정체는?…"소라넷보다 더한 막장 사이트 [Real identity of Megalia who cries for women's rights? Site more extreme than SoraNet] (in Korean). Archived from the original on January 15, 2016.
  19. ^ Lee, Claire (November 18, 2018). "'Isu station' assault case triggers online gender war in South Korea". Korea Herald.
  20. ^ Jump up to: a b Kim Seo-yeong (김서영) (July 8, 2016). ‘메갈리아’ 성향 따라 워마드·레디즘 등으로 분화 [Megalia splits off Womad and Ladism that are of a different flavor]. Kyunghyang Shinmun (in Korean). Archived from the original on July 24, 2016.
  21. ^ Shinyun Dong-uk (신윤동욱) (January 13, 2016). 어떤 입으로 말하고, 누구의 귀로 들을까? [Whose mouths, whose ears?]. The Hankyoreh (in Korean). Archived from the original on October 7, 2016. Retrieved January 27, 2017.

External links[]

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