Leiden University Student Repository

Tran, Alice My-Anh-Thu (2024)

A Woman’s Image in the Anti-Feminist Landscape: a Visual Discourse Analysis depicting the Anti-Feminist Ideology of New Men’s Solidarity’s Bae In-Gyu

Bachelor thesis | Koreastudies (BA)

This thesis explores the beliefs and attitudes of radical anti-feminist movements towards women’s role and position in contemporary South Korea. A case study will be conducted using visual discourse analysis (VDA) on four YouTube videos of New Men’s Solidarity’s founder Bae In-Gyu, to examine the underlying factors that drive Bae’s far-right extremism that lays his foundation for having an anti-feminist sentiment. To gain a better understanding of the motivations of (online) radical anti-feminist movements in cyberspace regarding feminism and gender roles in South Korea. The analysis discovers that Bae In-Gyu believes that gender equality is not achievable due to biological differences. This belief system stems from many centuries of patriarchal order where gender roles have been connected to biological sex. Therefore, the noticeable changing position of women who are demanding equal rights can feel like a threat to the traditional order of South Korean society. This case study...Show moreThis thesis explores the beliefs and attitudes of radical anti-feminist movements towards women’s role and position in contemporary South Korea. A case study will be conducted using visual discourse analysis (VDA) on four YouTube videos of New Men’s Solidarity’s founder Bae In-Gyu, to examine the underlying factors that drive Bae’s far-right extremism that lays his foundation for having an anti-feminist sentiment. To gain a better understanding of the motivations of (online) radical anti-feminist movements in cyberspace regarding feminism and gender roles in South Korea. The analysis discovers that Bae In-Gyu believes that gender equality is not achievable due to biological differences. This belief system stems from many centuries of patriarchal order where gender roles have been connected to biological sex. Therefore, the noticeable changing position of women who are demanding equal rights can feel like a threat to the traditional order of South Korean society. This case study cannot be generalised to answer the totality of anti-feminism in South Korea. Nevertheless, it will give insight into a portion of the anti-feminist belief system, in this case, radical anti-feminism.Show less

anti-feminism, gender equality, visual discourse analysis, right extremism, Bae In-Gyu

Author

Tran, Alice My-Anh-Thu

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Supervisors

Tilland, B.R.

ECTS Credits

10

Language

en