Misogyny and sexism against women in South Korea has permeated its society, and Facebook is only exacerbating this problem by refusing to delete its contents that overtly advocate domestic violence against women and actually go against Facebook’s own “Community Standards.”

A few months ago while browsing my Facebook news feed, I came across a video of a man physically assaulting—hitting and murdering—different women, titled “I want to beat Kimchi-women like this.” (Note: The term Kimchi-woman is a relatively new term in South Korea, used to define—and belittle—Korean women who do not conform to the patriarchal society’s standards of how women should act. It is also a label for any female who stands up for her political, economic, cultural, personal, and social rights as an equal citizen.)

I watched in shock as it gained more “likes” and comments that directly encouraged and justified violence against women, and I was not alone.

This video was posted on the Facebook page “Kimchi-nyo” (“Kimchi-woman”), a page that uploads misogynistic contents that are blatantly sexist and hateful; the page has more than 117,000 followers as of writing. This means that many Facebook users are exposed to such content, as a Facebook friend’s activity (likes and comments) automatically shows up on users’ news feeds by default.

The page is filled with other misogynistic posts and comments, with one of the most popular posts being “once every three days,” meaning that a kimchi-woman must be battered once every three days. There are other pages dedicated to misogyny as well, where a simple page search of “kimchi-nyo” yields more than 25 pages that promote violence.

There have been many attempts by users to remove such hateful content by reporting it to Facebook using its report feature, but these attempts were unsuccessful and largely ignored by Facebook, which simply says that the contents did not “violate [Facebook’s] Community Standards”; it also does not offer any further explanations for why the report was disregarded.

Facebook’s Community Standards clearly state that it “removes hate speech, which includes content that directly attacks people based on […] Sex, gender, or gender identity.” If encouraging followers to abuse women does not constitute hate speech, then I don’t know what does.

I challenge Facebook’s response and demand that Facebook and/or Facebook Korea remove all of its misogynistic content that places women in danger of physical and emotional violence. By refusing to do so, Facebook is also refusing women their right to be safe and their right to be treated as an equal human being.

It is my hope that Facebook will accept its moral responsibility as the leader in social media and adhere to its Community Standards in removing hateful content against women. By signing this petition and sharing it with others, you will help empower women by supporting a safe space for them online.

http://kimchi-woman.blogspot.kr/

This blog explains further in detail about how Facebook ignored misogyny and sexism against women in South Korea.