WOMAD ( ko, 워마드) is a radical feminist online community based in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. It has been criticized for anti-male sentiment. It split from

Megalia Megalia ( ko, 메갈리아) was a controversial 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 a ...

, another feminist online community based in South Korea.

Overview

WOMAD split from Megalia on January 22, 2016. "WOMAD" is a combination of the words "woman" and "nomad". It formed due to Megalia issuing a ban on the use of certain explicit slurs against gay men and transgender people. This change in policy led to the migration of

anti-LGBT Anti-LGBT rhetoric comprises themes, catchphrases, and slogans that have been used against homosexuality or other non-heterosexual sexual orientations in order to demean lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. They range from t ...

members. WOMAD users respond to discrimination against women in South Korea by "mirroring" it against men. According to experts, this is a reaction to

Ilbe Storage Daily-Best Archive () or Ilbe Storage (), also known as Ilbe Garage, is a South Korean Internet forum that has a predominantly far-right userbase. The site was created in April 2010 and started as an archive of the "daily best" posts from DC In ...

, a right-wing website that is also based in South Korea. The website has contributed to an anti-feminist backlash in South Korea. However, according to WOMAD itself, its users are not a feminist group. WOMAD has caused controversy due to extreme online trolling, such as postings that boast animal abuse. Others show extreme hatred towards gay and transgender people; for this reason, WOMAD has been called "Korean-style TERFs". They have also been described as "

neoliberal Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...

". Users of the site remained supportive of the former President of South Korea,

Park Geun-hye Park Geun-hye (; ; often in English ; born 2 February 1952) is a South Korean politician who served as the 11th president of South Korea from 2013 to 2017, until she was impeached and convicted on related corruption charges. Park was the fi ...

, after she was imprisoned following the

2016 South Korean political scandal Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17 *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * '' Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film di ...

. It was embroiled in a number of accusations for mocking

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that has ...

s, the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, and

labor rights Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, these rights influen ...

activists. A number of posts mocking the deceased actor Kim Joo-hyuk caused further controversy. Following such incidents, critics lambasted WOMAD as a "hateful website that is aggravating conflict and division of society" among South Koreans. The site has a voting system similar to

Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images ...

, allowing users to upvote or downvote posts. It uses a

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. It ...

symbol in the 'thumbs-up' button, with '워념글 추천' written below, meaning 'suggest this as an insightful article' in Korean. Its favicon is a representation of a vulva, with red dot at the center of it representing both period blood and fire.

Incidents

Claims of murders targeting men

In 2016, multiple posts appeared on the site, claiming that they had killed men with titles such as "I fed men coffee mixed with car antifreeze liquid" and "I killed a man by pushing him into a reservoir". The Ulsan Metropolitan Police Agency and the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency started an investigation after receiving police reports on July 28, 2016. Several shutdown requests have been made against the community, but Daum Kakao dismissed the requests stating that "some posts have been hidden, but there is insufficient illegal activity within the community to shut it down".

Child-abuse incident in Australia

On November 19, 2017, a member wrote a post on the WOMAD forum claiming that she had raped an Australian boy. She uploaded photos and videos allegedly portraying her raping the boy. WOMAD members showed support for the writer, leaving comments saying that they would pay to watch the videos of the sexual assault. News of the post quickly spread online and a petition was started on Cheong Wa Dae’s bulletin board requesting that the person responsible be caught. On November 20, 2017, a 27-year-old Korean woman identified as "Areum Lee" was arrested by the

Australian Federal Police The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the national and principal federal law enforcement agency of the Australian Government with the unique role of investigating crime and protecting the national security of the Commonwealth of Australia. Th ...

Darwin, Northern Territory Darwin ( ; Larrakia: ) is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. With an estimated population of 147,255 as of 2019, the city contains the majority of the residents of the sparsely populated Northern Territory. It is the smalle ...

in relation to the incident. The suspect is charged with producing child abuse materials. AFP announced that she will remain in custody until a court hearing scheduled for mid-January 2018. According to interviews with the victim's parents, it is suspected that her identification and credentials are fake and that she could have broken immigration and labor laws. WOMAD members actively defended her, claimed that Areum Lee was innocent and conducted an online fundraiser for her lawyer appointment. In addition, they sent a petition to the Australian police to "release Areum Lee" and protested the victim's parents. Many were shocked by this incident.

Hidden camera incident

In 2018, a WOMAD user posted a nude photo of a male model, obtained using a hidden camera (or ''

molka Molka ( ko, 몰카, ) is the Korean term for hidden cameras or miniature spy cameras secretly and illegally installed, often in order to capture voyeuristic images and videos. Molka is an abbreviation of molrae-kamera ( ko, 몰래카메라), whic ...

''). The user was quickly arrested. WOMAD users alleged that she was arrested quickly due to her gender. The incident led to the

Hyehwa Station Protest The Hyehwa Station protests were a series of Feminism, feminist protest rallies held mostly in 2018 at Hyehwa station, Hyehwa Station in Seoul, South Korea. The protests, which started on 19 May 2018, were against sexism, misogyny, and hidden ...

References

External links

WOMAD
{{Radical feminism Internet properties established in 2016 Cybercrime Internet forums Feminism in South Korea Feminist websites Radical feminism Violence against men South Korean political websites