Feminism Without Morality, Neoliberalism as Feminist Praxis: A Computational Textual Analysis of Womad, a South Korean Online “Feminist” Community

Authors

  • JiHae Koo Kookmin University
  • Minchul Kim Sungkyunkwan University

Keywords:

feminism, right wing movements, neoliberalism, antinationalism, South Korea, topic modeling

Abstract

Womad, a South Korean online “feminist” community, has since its inception been the center of national controversy stemming from its avowed belief in the biological superiority of women (and the innate inferiority of men). Using computational textual analysis (topic modeling), we reveal how Womad’s espousal of biological essentialism is inextricable from a neoliberalist belief in individual capacity. That is, neoliberalism allows the community to reconceive feminism as a means to advance individual cis-women’s power over other identities. Womad’s communal rhetoric is thus closely linked to its users’ enthusiasm for neoliberal self-fashioning as the means to overcome female oppression, an optimism simultaneously complicated by the desire to escape Korea and the latter’s patriarchal nationalism. In sum, Womad’s vision of female emancipation—problematic as it is—needs to be situated alongside both its criticism of South Korean nationalism and its faith in neoliberalism as a means to escape the patriarchy.

Author Biographies

JiHae Koo, Kookmin University

JiHae Koo (Ph.D., Indiana University) is an assistant professor in the School of English Language and Literature at Kookmin University, South Korea. Her research interests include but are not limited to the late nineteenth century to early twentieth British literature, digital literacy and rhetoric, and affect theory. She is interested in how literature may offer a genealogy of thought which might provide a lens into understanding the way collectives emerge in the digital age. 

Minchul Kim, Sungkyunkwan University

Minchul Kim (Ph.D., Indiana University) is a research fellow in the Institute for Convergence at Sungkyunkwan University. He is interested in political communication and public opinion. His research investigates how digital media platforms influence political communication processes. 

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Published

2021-04-13

Issue

Vol. 15 (2021)

Section

Articles

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