Finding the Female Gazes
If queer women say they love the MV to Anda’s Touch, this cishet man is going to listen. Not to self-appointed gatekeepers who insist women are only about the feels. Estimated reading time: 20 minutes....
View ArticleTIL About Eugenics in Singapore in the 1980s. Was This a Thing in Korea too?
Remember that hilarious Singaporean government birthrate campaign ad from the 1980s? Which I mentioned in my look at the demographics of Korean dating agencies? Twenty-plus years after laughing at that...
View Article“With Throbbing Heart and Trembling Hands, the Groom Undresses the Waiting...
Rare, 1970s English-language alcohol commercial for overseas audiences is a cringeworthy example of gendered self-Orientalism Estimated reading time: 4 minutes. Featuring actors Yu Ji-in and Shin...
View Article“Fuse Seoul” Clothing Brand Subverts Gender Stereotypes, Offers Women...
Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes. Source: Fuse Seoul. There’s just something about the Fuse Seoul underwear featured in this ad. Why do so many women want to get their hands on it? One big reason is...
View ArticleI’m Obsessed with the Collective Amnesia Surrounding EXID’s Sexy Ice Cream Ad
And I’m not afraid to quote poetry to justify it! Estimated reading time: 6 minutes. Screenshot: YouTube. You the bride are a form of grace, your eyes honey. Desire rains on your exquisite face....
View ArticleLooking for Adult K-Webtoon & Novel Recommendations?
One of my favorite Korean YouTubers starts a new series Estimated reading time: 3 minutes. Photo by @thiszun from Pexels “What is he, man or mouse? Is he interested in nothing more than tea and the...
View ArticleZoom Talk: Migrant Conversions: Money, Religion, and Global Projects of...
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes. So many of you recently responded to hearing about Erica Vogel’s amazing open-access book, which taught me so much about a community that frankly I didn’t know...
View ArticleThe Korean Conscription System Promotes a Servile, Subordinate,...
Turning Boys Into Men? Girl-groups and the Performance of Gender for South Korean Conscripts, Part 7 Estimated reading time: 9 minutes. Source, right (cropped): Streetwindy via Pexels. The contents of...
View ArticleOne Quick Thing You Absolutely Must Read to Understand Modern East Asia
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes. Original image source: The Chosun Ilbo, August 2015. For a discussion, see here. It’s not often that one brief book chapter helps your whole degree make sense...
View ArticleEven When it’s to Businessmen, it’s Still Evil to Advertise Your Hotel with...
Tell me Korea has a huge gender pay gap, without telling me Korea has a huge gender pay gap “Would you like to dance with me?” Estimated reading time: 7 minutes. Most gendered marketing, I get....
View ArticleAnnouncing the First Book of The Grand Narrative Book Club: “If I Had Your...
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes. Source (edited): Frances Cha. If you wannabe my lover, you gotta get with my books. Or, if you just want to be my friend (your loss!), I’ll settle for a shared love...
View ArticleWhy I Choose the Term “Sex Work” Over “Prostitution”—and You Should Too
Because most sex workers themselves do (duh). But if you’re looking for a deeper explanation, Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for Sex Workers’ Rights, just out in a Korean translation, would be a...
View ArticleFebruary Book Club Meeting: “Love in the Big City” by Sang Young Park,...
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes. Hello everyone! For February’s book club meeting on Zoom, we’re reading Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park (2021), translated into English by Anton Hur and...
View ArticleLocal Rights Center Only Makes *Recommendations* to Companies that...
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes. Source: MART PRODUCTION from Pexels Korea, notoriously, lacks a national, all-embracing, intersectional anti-discrimination law. Ten attempts have been made to pass...
View ArticleThe Hidden Roots of Korea’s Gender Wars
Universal male conscription and rampant discrimination against working mothers will always grab headlines, but a recent ruling against segregated seating in study rooms is a stark reminder of the...
View ArticleIf She’s Got Bette Davis Eyes…
…Science says she’d be foolish not to take advantage of them. “Eyebrows have a huge impact on the impression you make”? Estimated reading and viewing time: 5 minutes This image is from the back of a...
View ArticleHow Korean Celebrity, Gender, and Advertising Intersect—Some Quick Key Points
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes. But first, let me extend my warm thanks to Professor CedarBough Saeji (a.k.a. @TheKpopProf) for her invitation to talk on this topic to her class last week. Next, to...
View ArticleRecent Studies Show it’s Hands-On Fathers That Have More Children, NOT...
One recent study demonstrates the more of their fair share of housework and childcare fathers do, the more children they’ll probably have; another, the many entrenched workplace and social welfare...
View ArticleAnother Attempted Sexual Assault by a Stalker Caught on CCTV
Estimated reading and viewing time: 6 minutes. Two years after chilling CCTV footage showed a woman being stalked to her home, only escaping sexual assault by a hair’s breadth as her front door closed...
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*Looks Anxiously at Stomach, at Svelte Wife, Then Back at Self*
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes. Recently waylaid by a broken toe, my audacious jogging and weight-loss plans in tatters, the following home-truths about the the male gaze, female gaze, and double...
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