Anti-misogyny ads roll out at Seoul Metro stations

Seoul Metro last month removed from subway stations anti-misogyny ads made by feminist group "Women's Era" for being offensive and inappropriate.
/ Courtesy of Twitter

By Hong Dam-young

Seoul Metro has approved 19 of 22 anti-misogyny ads from online feminist community Women's Era for display at stations.

On July 14, Seoul Metro received 13 designs from the feminist group with a request to post them in subway stations operating from line No.1 to 4. The ads were in response to the death of a young woman, stabbed to death by a man in a bathroom near Gangnam subway station in Seoul on May 17.

But conflict arose when the group posted ads that members believed had passed the screening and Seoul Metro removed them on July 14. Seoul Metro said it had received complaints that the ads were offensive and inappropriate and contained sexist messages degrading men.

But Women's Era said it could not accept Seoul Metro's rationale for removing the ads since there are even more sexist ads around the stations. The group blamed the operator for confusion over whether the ads had been screened.

Seoul Metro confirmed Thursday it will display 19 of the Women's Era ads. Three were not approved on the grounds they are sexist and offensive to men. Two contained phrases like "Potential convict" and "Men are all wolves." One had an image of a man holding a knife chasing a woman. Another had the phrase "What men need is a leash, not woman's body."

"We are planning to modify and put up those ads after notifying Women's Era and advertising agencies about the result of the screening," a Seoul Metro official said.

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