Joy, a member of the K-pop girl group Red Velvet, faced a backlash from Korean men and K-netz after her recently uploaded photo, which is allegedly an act of feminism.
On Wednesday, the K-pop idol posted a series of photos on her personal Instagram, flaunting her visual on her striped suit and white T-shirt. According to Wikitree, the images were taken on the same day Joy and her co-member Seulgi attended an event after being selected as ambassadors for "Blue Sky for All" day, aiming to pursue clean air in Korea which will take place on September 7.
However, shortly after, a controversy involving Red Velvet's Joy sparked in an online Korean community after K-netz noticed the tee that the female idol was wearing.
In the shirt, the phrase "We should all be feminists" is written, which is a shirt launched by the luxury brand Dior and were being sold on their site for 860 USD. In the post though, the author called Joy "selfish" after wearing it, knowing that it is possible to create an issue that could affect the other Red Velvet members, now that they are also back on promoting with Wendy who was in hiatus for eight months after her stage accident.
But why is it a big deal if Joy wears a feminist shirt?
In Korea, it's taboo if a woman advocates feminism because some people in the country think that a female who's a feminist is "headstrong" and "demanding". Thus, female celebrities who are seen supporting the movement are often called out and instantly hated by Korean men.
This glaring issue generated divided opinions among Korean online users, some of whom aren't welcoming to the idea if Joy's tee:
"Why is she wearing it? This is going to affect her group."
"She clearly knows that this is going to be big, but she still wears it? Feminists only think about themselves, and she's really selfish."
On the flip side, other Korean netizens and fans believe that there's nothing wrong if Joy is wearing the shirt.
"They are just saying those words because she is pretty. She also has a good body and earns a lot of money that's why they are envious of Joy. They want her to act pure and innocent, but she's not a kid anymore."
In addition to this, other netizens are also criticizing "Hannam", which means Korean man (Hanguk Namja), but according to Koreans, other men pertain this as an insult to them. This is due to the deep-rooted history of sexism in Korea, bad-mouthing women by using terms, and thusly, feminists want to mirror the misogynist words by using this term to men as well to make them realize the derogatory words they endured.
Also, other netizens are saying that Joy only wears it because it is sponsored. The female idol has been often seen sporting clothing from Gucci and Dior. In fact, Joy is not the only K-pop idol who was seen wearing the shirt but HyunA and Suzy have worn it as well.
Meanwhile, this is not the first time that a Red Velvet member has been criticized for supporting feminism, or having things connected to the movement. In the past year, Irene was hated for reading a "feminist" book.
