With the misogynistic murder case at Gangnam station and Nexon’s dismissal of a feminist voice actress - misogyny controversies were big issues in Korea this year. A hot discussion of misogyny has continued onward and interest in feminism is constantly rising in Korean society. Meanwhile, The Argus met the HUFS Feminist Society ‘Judi’ and had an opportunity to hear their stories.

The Argus: Hello, please introduce Judi.
Cha Sol-bi (Cha): ‘Judi’ is a HUFS Feminist Society that was established in 2013. It is an independent society, not an official club belonging to the Union of Companion Circle. ‘Judi’ was named after Judith Butler, a gender theorist that the founding members of ‘Judi’ really respect. Also ‘Judi’ means “mouth” in the Gyeongsang Province dialect of Korean, so it means that we will talk about feminism as much as we can. We hold a seminar every Saturday in a cafe nearby Imun-dong, where we read a book related to feminism and discuss it. We also host or participate in many activities related to feminism.

The Argus: What prompted you to establish ‘Judi?’
Lee Sang-hyun (Lee): ‘Judi’ was formerly a social science society. Its members used to participate in social movements, but there were many situations in which females were being discriminated against because of their gender. For example, when we were confronted by the police, people would say “Females, go to the back!” and exclude us. Moreover, sexual crimes are often occurring with female students being the victims in or around universities. However, those incidents are overlooked and not properly posed as problems. Looking at these phenomena, we realized the seriousness of discrimination against women in society and thought we should study feminism. We wanted to make an atmosphere that does not discriminate against female students because of their gender at HUFS. Thus, our members started to study feminism, and soon decided to change the previous society into a feminist society.

The Argus: What kind of activities does ‘Judi’ do?
Cha: Misogyny has become a big controversy in our society. Thus we have held seminars on ‘misogyny’ as a topic during summer break, when interest in the misogynistic murder at Gangnam station was at its peak. We read books and papers related to misogyny such as “Hiding from Humanity” by Martha Nussbaum and “Feminism Is for Everybody” by Bell Hooks and discussed them. Last year, we gathered our thoughts on feminism and published academic journals.
Lee: Last semester, an incident in which one female student was being sexually harassed during the Department of German’s leadership training was a big issue at HUFS. At that time, we complained to them, asking for a polite apology to the victim and for them to take follow-up measures, and made our position clear on the HUFS Seoul Campus Bamboo Forest Facebook page. Likewise, we speak for female students’ rights and function as their help at the university.
Ham Yeon-seon (Ham): ‘Judi’ also participates in external solidarity activities. We attended weekly demonstrations called “Wednesday Assembly for comfort women” and various activities hosted by Korea Minwoo Womenlink. In addition, we took part in the University Feminist Union Network, where feminist organizations from every Korean university gather and share ideas on how to spread feminism at each university.

The Argus: Why do we have to study and take an interest in feminism?
Park Jeong-hyun: When I had no idea about feminism, although I was discriminated against because of my gender, I did not notice that it was discrimination. However, as I read books and discussed feminism, I started to see what I did not know before. Likewise, in order to reduce inadvertent violence without knowing whether it is discrimination or not, we should study about feminism. Studying about feminism widens your view.
Kim Jong-hun: Men are not curious about how women live their lives. I never felt any discomfort or was under restraint because of gender. I do not know what hardships women are going through in detail, but I can see them. I think overlooking women’s hardships since men do not have any problems is not right as an educated person. Learning about feminism is a first step to know what gender equality is and to make a society of equality.
Lee: Females are usually targeted as subjects of sexual violence and sexual objectification. Likewise, unfavorable situations toward women keep happening in our society just because their gender is female. However, they find it very hard to disclose the violence they suffered from as a problem and appeal to the public for a solution. Then, we have to look at the social structure to figure out why women are being damaged, and the first step toward this end is to study feminism.

The Argus: What should the university improve from a feminists’ stance?
Cha: A regulation related to sexual violence should be set. It occurs quite a lot in university, but assailants are not punished properly and the problems come to nothing. After the Department of German’s sexual harassment incident, the Emergency Planning Committee (EPC) made anti-sexual violence bylaws, but we are not satisfied with that. The regulation should have legal force to give actual punishment or disadvantage when people violate it, but the bylaw that the EPC announced is like a kind of campaign that induces certain actions. We were curious if it would have a binding force. I hope ‘Judi’ can be a help to supplement the bylaws.
In addition, a suitable counseling center for sexual violence should be built. Issues of sexual violence are not only women’s problems, but they are connected to females with overwhelming statistics. There is a codification counseling center in HUFS, but it does not handle sexual violence issues professionally since it serves many purposes. I hope there will be a counseling center for sexual violence, so that victims can go comfortably and have professional counsel.
Lee: Also, when female students are victims of sexual violence, there is no organization that helps and supports to eradicate sexual violence as a student council. So I hope a Female Student Committee rises again. It was an organization that worked to counsel victims of sexual assault and to make a university where both genders are equal. However, it was not managed well so it disappeared around 2010. As feminism rises again these days, we strongly support its revival.

The Argus: What were some hardships that ‘Judi’ faced?
Cha: ‘Judi’ is a club that is opened to everyone, so there are many members who do not participate in seminars often. It is hard to make progress in the seminar since not every member participates in the seminar or they have not read the book. They do not withdraw from ‘Judi,’ but we worry a lot when the participation rate is low. It has been difficult since we first started until now.
Lee: We had lack of members since the establishment of the society. There were four people when we first established the society, but members found a job and went to military so only two people were left. It was very strenuous, but we diligently promoted the club on our social network service accounts and around the campus. In the promotions, we included a suggestive phrase “Do you know about sex(gender)? We will teach you” to grab people’s attention. The most effective way was to bring acquaintances to meetings.

The Argus: What was a moment you felt was rewarding?
Lee: As a founding member, I feel proud that ‘Judi’ has been going since it began in 2013 until now. I personally think that university students need to study about feminism, so I think there should be a community that studies feminism deeply although its size is small. Also it is very good to say confidently that I am a feminist to everyone as a member of ‘Judi.’
Cha: I agree a lot with her. When I first told my acquaintances that I was a member of feminist society, most of them opposed me joining the club with a negative view. I was very upset then, but as I actively participated, many of my friends changed their mind. I invited some friends to ‘Judi,’ and they commented that ‘Judi’ has cured the pain they suffered from gender discrimination. I was happy to hear that ‘Judi’ has helped my friends.
Ham: Judith Butler is my favorite author, but her books are notoriously hard to understand. ‘Judi’ picked one of her books and read through it all summer break, interpreting her meanings line by line. Of course I could not understand everything, but I felt really great about learning about her theory and opinions with the members and having completed reading her book.

The Argus: What are your future plans for ‘Judi?’
Lee: We came to choose “menstruation” as this semester’s topic because we thought we need to go deep into the matter that is closely related to women’s daily life to popularize feminism. It is very common to find examples where menstruation and menstruating females are attacked politically. So we are planning to study what it is and what rights should be guaranteed to the menstruating women, by reading a book called “Political Science of Menstruation.” In addition, we will cast people from departments that implemented the Period Policy and discuss how they have come to introduce it and their progress, to help other departments that are planning to implement the policy.
Cha: We want to broaden the scale of society by applying for official club approval at the Union of Companion Circle, if all members agree. Also we want to do more external feminist activities. We are working inside the university right now, but there will be more females who suffer from more serious violence outside the university such as prostituted women. We want to study more about them and do activities to help them.

Associate Editor of Campus Section