Practicing Feminism in South Korea

The women's movement against sexual violence

Kyungja Jung

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781134581726
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Scienze sociali
• Subtopic: Studi sull'etnia

The Korean women's movement, which is seen in both Western and non-Western countries as being exemplary in terms of women's activism, experienced a dramatic change in its direction and strategy in the early 1990s. At the heart of the new approach was an increasing focus on sexual violence, which has had a huge impact on bringing women's issues onto the public agenda in Korea. This book examines feminist practice in Korea by analyzing the experiences of the country's first sexual assault center, the Korea Sexual Violence Relief Center. Based on extensive original research, including interviews with activists and extensive participant observation, it explores why feminist activists in South Korea chose to organize around the issue of sexual violence, the strategies it used to do so, what impact the movement has made and what challenges it still faces to achieve its objectives.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Series Editor’s foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Acronyms
• Glossary of Korean terms
• Introduction
• 1 The Korean anti-sexual violence movement: a newer women’s movement
• 2 Sexual assault centers as feminist practice: the establishment of the Korea Sexual Violence Relief Center
• 3 From silence to speaking out: cultural change through discursive politics
• 4 “Doing” the movement: advocacy and legal change
• 5 The renaissance of the women’s movement: the institutionalization of feminist practice
• 6 The impact of the engagement with the state upon feminist organizational practice
• Conclusion: sustaining feminist practice
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index