A few days a newsreader named, Yim Hyun-ju appeared on camera without a bra, this created a huge upheaval. She had to face a lot of criticism after this incident and she took to her social media handle to share her experience with the hashtag #nobra. Many women in South Korea came out in her support and it developed into a strong feminist movement. Everyday women fight through the patriarchal social norms to get equal status. Recently, feminism movements are gaining ground in South Korea through several ways like abandoning makeup and rejecting marriage. Yim said,
“It’s all about breaking out of the box. Many things that we considered as natural in the past was the repression of women’s rights.”
A group of women in support of Yim chose not to wear a bra in public. In, 2018 also Yim was in the headlines as she went on air with specs. In South Korea and in Japan as well, female staff and female newsreaders are not allowed to go on air wearing glasses. Yim also said that wearing glasses and not wearing a bra is all about choices. 25-year-old theatre director from Seoul, Jiann Woo, who is also the co-founder of a local feminist group expressing her opinion said,
“It’s absurd that in 2020 we have to say out loud that it’s our right to not wear a bra in public. I feel natural and comfortable since I stopped wearing it since four years ago.”
Women are coming out to protest the age-old patriarchal norms, as it’s high time the women take a firm stand in the fight of achieving equal rights.
