Rights without responsibilities: Exploring the antithetical vernacularization of feminism in Korean anti-feminist forums

Abstract

In this political moment of post-truth anti-feminism, far-right populists have gained immense support amid a global shift in young men’s voting habits. This paper uses Valesco’s (2023) theoretical framework for the transnational backlash to liberal norms to analyze how anonymous online forums (a prevalent means of networking within the manosphere) can facilitate the antithetical vernacularization of liberal norms for illiberal diffusion as a result of cultural friction. I use a post from the South Korean online community Nate Pann to show how the process of antithetical vernacularization translates feminism from its liberal meaning to entail female supremacy, relying on iterative citationality to naturalize patriarchy, and how this contributes to the gendered political divide capitalized on by populist politicians such as South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol.