제 5 호 Are We Coming Close to a Gender-Equal Society?
Kicker: OPINION (HUMAN RIGHTS)
Are We Coming Close to a Gender-Equal Society?
Approaching Recent Trans-Gender Issues from a Sociological Point of View
By Sarah Chae, Editor-in-Chief
When you are born, you are given a label based on your body parts. This is called ‘sex’, and these labels could be male, female or intersex. Some of us think of these labels – female/male- as the only gender expressions in this world. ‘Gender’ is hard to give a definition to, but can mostly refer to social gender roles or gender identity. Today I am going to talk about several gender issues from a sociological point of view. Most of us think of a lot of meanings when we encounter, ‘Gender Issues.’ Let’s take a look below and take a quick look at the differences between ‘Sex - Gender Identitity - Gender Attraction(Orientation) - Gender Problems(Actually sex problems)’ from the image below.
Among these ‘Gender Issues’, I will mostly go through some recent trans-gender rights issues and how various types of people think of them.
Looking at the key word ‘Transgender’ by Big Data
Big Data analysis results of key word "Transgender" and related words
Let’s have a moment to remember some transgender issues in South Korea. Like the image above, we can remember some issues by related words. ‘Admission into a school(입학)’, ‘Male Student’, and ‘Feminism’. About a month ago, in February, a transgender student was accepted into Sookmyung University (women’s only school). Many newspapers and media talked about this student, and along with support there was a lot of resistance in and outside the school. There have been many headlines saying that Sookmyung University and its radical feminist students were rejecting the transgender student, and that they led this student to ultimately withdraw from the school.
Looking at various positions (1): Conflict between Trans-genderism and Feminism
“Radical Feminists who act for human rights are declaring hate and have taken a step backwards.” “The Korean society’s military and women’s university has turned (transgender) women down.” The press said this. About this kind of conflict between trans-genderism and feminism, Gayle Salamon pointed out the fact that moral reflection has been avoided only in the “Gender” area. Their moral involvement in areas such as race, ability, and rank without the fear of mutual extinction was referred too.
Cressida Heyes also said that one must understand the pressure of others and one self’s privileges. If this is not done, ‘them’ and ‘us’ are separated and this causes hate or exclusion. Like this, The distinction between a ‘real woman’ and a ‘fake woman’ is not unrelated to personal gain or privilege. However, this is not the whole part of the radical feminist’s opinion.
Looking at various positions (2): Who said it is a Cold-blooded War?
The debate on transgender human rights has been reported as a cold-blooded opposition, sparking a wave of attacks on women’s universities and lead to comments of discrimination such as 'Feminazi are pretending they are the weak' and 'Why do we need a woman’s university?'
Lawyer Park Han-hee, who is respected by the transgender student above, said that there is also a problem in calling the opposing public opinion an unconditional hater or creating an offensive/damage scheme. We need to look at why the other side has no choice but to make such a claim. In other words, we also need to look at the background of radical feminism's claims. Problems never can by solved by driving only one side as an hater or demanding one-sided sacrifice and engagement on either side.
Looking at various positions (3): Safety and Human Rights
The move to exclude transgender people is said to have grown in size in connection with women's safety problems. The events in the image below are male intrusions into women's universities.
Due to these incidents, several women's universities have locked their doors and barred outsiders from entering. This, however, did not lead to the debate of how to create a safe space, causing the solution to run in the wrong direction, which means that they were not able to fully meet demands for women's safety.
Experts said that we need to take this opportunity to correct the way we use ‘safety’ as an excuse to label all transgender people as a danger. At the same time, however, they said we must address the needs of women’s safety. “The anger that the Korean society has not responded to violence/discrimination against women has been behind it," said Suh Bok-kyung, a researcher at Sogang University's Political Research Institute.
In this article, I tried to shed light on more diverse point of views, rather than focusing on any individual results or arguments. Therefore, I would say that this article is not intended to provoke conflict or promote discrimination. I will not be nosy and force your opinion or anything, but I hope you will not speak carelessly upon such subjects as 'Transgenders,' 'Feminist' and 'Women' as mentioned in this article. Instead of reproducing hate speech in the name of "opinions," let's try to ask new questions from now on. Maybe you can ask a question with a point of view that can look into various positions that have been simplified up until now.
Sarah Chae, Editor-in-Chief
Sources:
Rainbow Crosswalk Photo by Greg Rosenke on Unsplash
English
1. MEDICAL NEWS TODAY, Sex and gender: What is the difference?, Tim Newman, 02.07. 2018
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/232363
2. WHO, Genomic resource centre 2. Gender and genetics
http://www.who.int/genomics/gender/en/index1.html
3. WHO, Gender, equity, and human rights
http://www.who.int/gender-equity-rights/understanding/gender-definition/en/
4. GLAAD, Media Reference Guide - Transgender https://www.glaad.org/reference/transgender
5. SAPIENS, Gender Identity - Is Gender Unique to Humans?, Jay Schwartz, 11.29.2018
https://www.sapiens.org/culture/gender-identity-nonhuman-animals/
6. SAPIENS, What Our Skeletons Say About the Sex Binary, Alexandra Kralick, 11.09.2018
https://www.sapiens.org/body/intersex-biological-sex/
7. Thesaurus term: Gender Issue(s)
https://eige.europa.eu/thesaurus/terms/1184
Korean
1. Voice of the people, Can fear of sexual violence be evidence for excluding transgender people?, Kang Seok-young, 2020.02.12, https://www.vop.co.kr/A00001467525.html
2. Huffpost, Sookmyung University “I am giving up the admission,” Transgender Student who was accepted into Sookmyung University leaves a message (full text), Kwon Ji-dam, Kang Jae-gu, 2020.02.07, https://www.huffingtonpost.kr/entry/story_kr_5e3d07eac5b6b70886fd54a8
3. Sisain, the Place Where A Stopped, Kim Young-hwa, 2020.03.13
https://www.sisain.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=41429
4. The Kyunghyang Shinmun, [Jung Hee-jin’s Unfamiliar Space] Who is Woman and Who Decides That?, Jung Hee-jin, 2020.03.10, http://news.khan.co.kr/kh_news/khan_art_view.html?artid=202003102059025
5. BBC KOREA, International Women’s Day: Women’s Human Rights and Gender Issues In Korean Society, 2020.03.08,
https://www.bbc.com/korean/features-51787765
6. BBC KOREA, Transgender: Transgender Soldier Dismissed for Gender Confirmation Surgery, Kim Hyung-eun, 2020.01.22, https://www.bbc.com/korean/news-51203384
7. Yonhap News, Transgender Student Withdraws Sookmyung Women’s University Application Due to Resistance within the School, Jang Woo-ri, 2020.02.07, https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20200207129051004?input=1195m
8. The Kyunghyang Shinmun, ‘Hate’ in the Name of Anxiety…Digging into ‘TERF’s who Exclude Transgenders [The most ordinary person], Yi Bo-ra, Kim Hee-jin, 2020.02.21
http://news.khan.co.kr/kh_news/khan_art_view.html?art_id=202002210600015
9. Taking a Neutral Position on Transgender Issues? Most Dangerous Position [The most ordinary person], Yi Bo-ra, 02.21.2020, http://news.khan.co.kr/kh_news/khan_art_view.html?art_id=202002210700001
10. Pd Journal, Transgender Gave up Sookmyung Univ. Admittion, Is the Press not Responsible for It, Lee Mi-na, 2020. 02.11, http://www.pdjournal.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=71004
11. The Feminism Upheaval: The Point of Conflict in Feminisms as the Site of the New Thought ,Yun Ji-Yeong (2019), Kunkuk Univ., Korean Journal of Cultural Sociology vol.27, no.1, pp. 7-75
12. The Tension and Overlap between Feminism, Lesbian/Queer Theory, and Transgenderism, Kim Je Hye (2011), Yonsei Univ., Feminist Studies in English Literature vol.19, no.2, pp. 53-78
13. Big Data Issue/Reputation Analysis, Key Word: Transgender
https://some.co.kr/analysis/issuehttps://some.co.kr/analysis/reputation
