Monday, February 13, 2017

Sexism and President Park



First, I have no doubt that sexism one of the most inveterate problem in our society. Until today, female are not equally treated as male in most of the country. Moreover, struggles of female to attain equal rights occurs all over the world.

What I mentioned in the paragraph above is true. Social movements for women's right greatly increased and they contributed on removing gender unfairness and discrimination. They also improved treatments of women in the workplace.  These changes higher the positions of women in most of the society. If we imagine the inferior and unfair treatments or conditions of women in late 19th centuries, there are no doubts that our societies had changed a lot.

Unfortunately, however, I disagree with the statement that 'sexism had entirely perished on this society, so we don't need to discuss it anymore', sometimes argued by biased male chauvinists. What I believe toward this complex and sensitive topic is, 'we still have a long way to go'.

Last Friday, we(I and students in 11V1) listened to Malcolm Gladwell's 'Revisionist history, The Lady Vanishes' in class. While we were listening, teacher popped several additional pictures from google in order to aid our understanding. Once, since Gladwell mentioned 'female presidents' and teacher typed exactly what Gladwell mentioned. And what I saw was the photo of president park, the most unsavory president in my country(I'll not mention why she is unsavory, since there is not enough space in this margin). At that moment, I sneered at her. Not only I but also most of the students in the class sneered too.

During 15 minutes of discussion time, a focus of debate consequently flows to president Park. Some combines 'criticisms' toward president Park to sexism. They insisted the criticisms are turning to condemnation, produced by the male with a sense of superiority about gender. In another word, sexism is inciting people to become outrageous to the president. Which sounds quite plausible, but I somewhat disagree this statement. But I'll mention that I'm not the advocate of sexism. I just want to focus this topic in separated view between sexism and political corruptions.

Actually, I agree that criticisms toward president Park are becoming more and more aggressive than before. And I also approve some condemnations are outrageous. But, I don't believe this is a matter of sexism. Instead, it is the matter of karma or retribution. What president had done, and how she mocked the nations can't forgivable according to my opinion. As a criminal, condemnations from the public are not unfair at all. They are necessary procedures. This is a matter of cause and effect, crime and punishment, and just and unjust. So conducting this to sexism can be out of focus I believe.

Sexism is a hot potato. When people face sexism topic, they precisely and carefully approach and insist their opinion. They tend to criticize sexism, advocate feministic acts, and prove they devoted everything for equality. I don't think this phenomenon is normal or right. But also I don't want to assert this is wrong and abnormal. Since I'm just a young and inexperienced student, I'll not declare my opinion in this post. However, I strongly insist the political corruption should also be considered precisely, as same as sexism topic. Without any bias, delusion, or prejudice.

We can't perfectly divide sexism and political corruptions in President Park. Nobody knows what is the biggest problem with her. But we should avoid losing our focus from scrambling several topics about her. Always deal with one by one, step by step. It will find answer.

1 comment:

  1. Good personal tone. Relaxed approach where you do a good job of communicating your opinion. Keep doing that. Your writing does need to improve in terms of syntax (verbs, plurals etc.), but you are making up for that in good content.

    As for your opinion, I agree for the most part. But I'd disagree that Park's gender isn't a large part of the entire picture. We still have to consider how a male president would be treated in this situation, and this in now way has to excuse or condemn Park. It only has to raise the right questions and guard us against muddying the issue further. Park is definitely a mysterious figure who never should have been elected, and she's not an easy target for a lot of stereotypes because she's "one of a kind." I hope this in now way prevents women from entering politics or discourages them from doing so. Good work.

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