Feminist book sales soar in wake of #MeToo movement

By Park Jin-hai

The nation-sweeping #MeToo campaign has boosted the sales of feminist books, tackling topics ranging from dating abuses to misogyny.

Sales between Feb. 1 and March 12, right after prosecutor Seo Ji-Hyun exposed sexual misconduct in the country’s legal establishment in late January, rose 137 percent from the same period last year, according to Kyobo, Korea’s biggest bookstore chain, Friday.

But, it soared to more than double the previous year’s book sales between March 8 and March 12, when the country began hearing a swarm of #MeToo testimonies.

Among the consumers, women in their 20s were the majority of customers, making up 43.2 percent of all sales in the category.

“It has been a trend that feminist book sales have been slowly increasing, after incidents like the Gangnam murder case and #MeToo campaign,” said Choi Ji-hwan, a Kyobo bookstore official. In 2016, a 23-year-old woman was stabbed to death in a public bathroom near Gangnam Station by a stranger who later said he did so out of his hatred for women.

“But, entering this year there has been a big change,” said the official.

Earlier, easy-to-read feminist books and memoirs including “Kim Ji Young born 1982” led the market, but after the #MeToo movement, consumers have been starting to read more academic books as well such as “The Challenges of Feminism” by feminist scholar Jung Hee-jin as part of support for the movement, according to Choi.

Another bookseller Yes 24 also said feminist book sales rose 1.5 times between Jan. 29 and March 12, compared with the same period last year. Female consumers overwhelmed males, accounting for 80 percent of the sales. Interpark’s online bookstore also reported a 167 percent rise between Feb.1 and March 11.