South Korean archer An San who has bagged two Olympic gold medals in Tokyo was flooded with messages of support from women on Thursday (Jul 29) after her short hair became a lightning rod for online abuse from men. Male commenters had said that An San’s choice of hairstyle suggested she was a feminist; some of them demanding she apologizes and even that she be stripped of her Olympic titles. While South Korea is the world’s 12th-largest economy and a leading technological power; it remains a male-dominated society with a poor record of women’s rights. Heres how she looks like,
Hate Comments to An San on Twitter:
An san: Basically it’s fun to talk about archery with the athletes.. Jedeok is a little hard to listen to haha
tau sendiri alasannya kenapa ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ pic.twitter.com/lJ1RYGDJzT
— din.🏸 #Tokyo2020 (@justaintnobody) August 5, 2021
Olympic 3x gold medalist archer An San’s short hair stokes anti-feminist ire from male communities pic.twitter.com/I0W3XReC3o
— Not Netizen Buzz (@notnetizenbuzz) July 31, 2021
South Korea’s President Moon praises Olympic archer An San who made history winning 3 gold medals. She was also the target of online abuse by some men for having short hair.
“Sometimes we have to overcome expectations and discrimination,” he writes. https://t.co/YHkHYva5Os
— Laura Bicker (@BBCLBicker) July 30, 2021
This is so sad.. that a whole portion of young men couldn’t read the subtitle ” faced online abuse”
They basically think that the press is on their side. They think BBC is criticizing An San for having a short haircut. https://t.co/bn7LNn2oiK— 술루🍇🤝 (@suliosulu1) July 29, 2021
The outbreak of online misogyny comes as an anti-feminist backlash grows in the country; with companies accused of endorsing “extreme feminism” facing boycotts by men and issuing public apologies. An, 20, has won two gold medals in the women’s team and mixed team archery. She scored 680 to top the women’s individual qualification at the Tokyo Games, breaking an Olympic record that has stood since 1996. Many well-known South Korean women came out to condemn the comments. “Even if you win an Olympic gold medal with your own skills and abilities, as long as sexism persists in our society; you get insulted and asked to be deprived of your medal just because you have short hair;” Jang Hye-Yeong, a woman lawmaker, said on Twitter.