#MeToo in East Asia: Societal and Political Implications 

26/04/2023

Written by Manon Simeon 

Translated by Lisa Selmadji 

The #MeToo movement originated in the United States twenty years ago, when Tarana Burke, an American activist initiated a campaign to raise awareness about sexual violence. It gained momentum in 2017 in Hollywood, and its expansion encouraged victims of sexual harassment or abuse to denounce men holding positions of power^[1]Servos, M. (23 octobre 2022) #MeToo en dates clés, Madmoizelle. https://www.madmoizelle.com/metoo-en-dates-cles-1452297. Five years later, it is now time to reflect upon this post #MeToo period and the consequences of the movement for women.

Denunciations initiated by #MeToo mainly involve workplace sexual harassment. It is important to emphasize here that this type of violence is part of a continuum of sexual violence against women, ranging from sexist comments to rape^[2]Kelly, L. (1991) Surviving Sexual Violence. Polity. Sexual violence is defined by the WHO as acts ranging from verbal abuse to forced penetration and includes multiple forms of coercion from pressure and social intimidation to the use of physical force^[3]Organisation Mondiale de la Santé, et Organisation Panaméricaine de la Santé (2019) Comprendre et lutter contre la violence à l’égard des femmes : la violence exercée par un partenaire … Continue reading.

Impacts of the #MeToo movement in East Asia have not been the object of many analyses or comparative studies^[4]Huang, C. (2021) #MeToo in East Asia: The Politics of Speaking Out. Politics & Gender 17(3), 483‑90. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743923X21000234. Japan, South Korea, and China may be three global economic powers, respectively occupying the third, tenth and second place^[5]World Bank (2021) GDP (current US$) Data. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?most_recent_value_desc=true, they still have some way to go in terms of gender equality. According to the World Economic Forum, China dropped down one place in the global ranking for gender equality, from 102^nd place in 2018 to 103^rd in 2022^[6]World Economic Forum (2018) Global Gender Gap Report 2018. https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-global-gender-gap-report-2018/. Its two neighbours do not fare better. Japan dropped down to 116^th place in 2022 while South Korea reached 99^thplace, thereby gaining 16 places between 2018 and 2022. Progress in each country is therefore relatively limited and none of them seems to have been overly impacted by the #MeToo movement. In terms of political regimes, it is interesting to note that the three countries studied in this article are each governed by a different political system: a parliamentary democracy, a presidential democracy, and a dictatorship.

What are the characteristics of #MeToo in the region and its consequences for women’s rights and gender equality? The emergence of the movement in East Asia, its adaptations to different national contexts and the political responses it elicited all need to be analysed to assess its repercussions in the region, and more broadly, to find out what lessons can be drawn to further improve women’s rights.  

Understanding the characteristics of the #MeToo movement in East Asia

Because of disparate national contexts in the region, the #MeToo movement did not originate in the same way in China, South Korea and Japan. In China, #MeToo took off in the universities. An explanation can be found in the structural organisation of these institutions, which both makes students more vulnerable to forms of abuse of power from teachers, but also facilitates denunciations as ties to the university are only temporary and less constraining than in a company. The movement then gained momentum online and reached other sectors. Several writers, journalists, and Buddhist monks were targeted by online accusations, despite the dictatorship^[7]Zeng, J. (2019) You say #MeToo, I say #MiTu: China’s online campaigns against sexual abuse. Dans, B. Fileborn, R. Loney-Howes (dir.), #MeToo and the Politics of Social Change (pp. 71-83), Palgrave … Continue reading. In South Korea, the high-profile case involving prosecutor Seo Ji-Hyun, who had been sexually assaulted by one of her superiors and decided to go public about it on television, sparked outrage. In fact, her case shed light on the limits of a judicial system in which those in charge of enforcing the law do not respect it themselves. It also led to the dissemination of #MeToo to other sectors via accusations against politicians, writers, and other public figures^[8]Seo, J., et Chen, A. (9 octobre 2018) How #MeToo Is Taking on a Life of Its Own in Asia ». The Time. https://time.com/longform/me-too-asia-china-south-korea/. In Japan, however, Shiori Ito, a journalist, was criticised for not being a ‘real’ Japanese and threatened with death after she publicly accused, in 2017, Noriyuki Yamaguchi, a journalist close to then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, of raping her. In this country, the #MeToo movement did not find much echo in 2018 and remained limited to the sector of journalism^[9]Hasunuma, L., et Shin K. (2019) #MeToo in Japan and South Korea: #WeToo, #WithYou, Journal of Women, Politics & Policy, 40(1), 97‑111. https://doi.org/10.1080/1554477X.2019.1563416.

The possibilities for speaking out and being listened to brought about by #MeToo are thus uneven from one country to the other, mainly because of their specific sociological contexts. Indeed, in Japan, myths and preconceived ideas about femininity and rape, in a society in which breaking harmony and questioning the hierarchy is frowned upon, dissuade women from denouncing sexual violence^[10]Dalton, E. (2019) A Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis of Sexual Harassment in the Japanese Political and Media Worlds. Women’s Studies International Forum, 77(102276) … Continue reading.  However, this is not specific to Japan in a region where Confucianism teaches respect for elders and chastity^[11]Zeng, J. (2019) You say #MeToo, I say #MiTu: China’s online campaigns against sexual abuse. Dans, B. Fileborn, R. Loney-Howes (dir.), #MeToo and the Politics of Social Change (pp. 71-83), Palgrave … Continue reading. There are, in South Korea and China, similar attitudes and beliefs about the place and behaviours deemed appropriate for women. The difference, in these two countries, resides in the existence, prior to #MeToo, of national feminist movements actively engaging with the issue of sexual violence. In South Korea, previous mobilisation of feminist groups, for example in the 1990s around the issue of “women of comfort^[12]Between 1931 and 1935 the Japanese army forcefully prostituted approximately 200 000 women, made available to its troops (source : Libération).”and then again in 2017 around the issue of spy cams, can explain a higher number of accusations^[13]Hasunuma, L., et Shin K. (2019) #MeToo in Japan and South Korea: #WeToo, #WithYou, Journal of Women, Politics & Policy, 40(1), 97‑111. https://doi.org/10.1080/1554477X.2019.1563416. Another explanation can be found in women’s levels of education; with more than 70% of Korean women now going to university, versus less than 25% forty years ago, they are now equipped with new tools and words to talk about their experiences^[14]Clement, M. (2023) Le backlash anti-féministe a été vraiment brutal” : la Corée du Sud fait volte-face sur l’égalité. Les Glorieuses Newsletter Impact. … Continue reading. In China, the diaspora, in particular Chinese students, and the activists who led awareness-raising actions between 2013 and 2017 are at the forefront of the promotion of #MeToo on Chinese social networks^[15]Zeng, J. (2019) You say #MeToo, I say #MiTu: China’s online campaigns against sexual abuse. Dans, B. Fileborn, R. Loney-Howes (dir.), #MeToo and the Politics of Social Change (pp. 71-83), Palgrave … Continue reading.

 (Re)negotiating the #MeToo movement at the national level

Media coverage in each country also influenced the movement’s legitimacy across East Asia. In China, although the government at first encouraged women to speak up, in accordance with an official line promoting harmony in society through compliance with the law, it ended up censoring the movement in the media and on social networks for fear of a more important mobilisation^[16]Zeng, J. (2019) You say #MeToo, I say #MiTu: China’s online campaigns against sexual abuse. Dans, B. Fileborn, R. Loney-Howes (dir.), #MeToo and the Politics of Social Change (pp. 71-83), Palgrave … Continue reading. From then on, in the government’s discourse, and therefore in the media’s, #MeToo was framed as an occidental concept. As for the Japanese media, they participated in the persistent victim-blaming narrative which questions their legitimacy by suggesting their responsibility^[17]Lilja, M. (2022) Pushing Resistance Theory in IR beyond ‘Opposition’: The Constructive Resistance of the #MeToo Movement in Japan ». Review of International Studies 48(1), 149‑70. … Continue reading. South Korea is the exception, as the national TV channel JTBC broadcasted testimonies and questioned the system, thereby lending more credibility to the movement and encouraging women to speak up about their experiences^[18]Huang, C. (2021) #MeToo in East Asia: The Politics of Speaking Out. Politics & Gender 17(3), 483‑90. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743923X21000234 ; Zeng, J. (2019) You say #MeToo, I say #MiTu: … Continue reading. This could explain why, out of the three countries, South Korea is the one where #MeToo had the greatest impact, with several popular political figures prosecuted for harassment and several demonstrations in August 2018 bringing together thousands of women^[19]Huang, C. (2021) #MeToo in East Asia: The Politics of Speaking Out. Politics & Gender 17(3), 483‑90. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743923X21000234.

In response, civil societies, and more particularly women organisations, each adapted #MeToo to their national context. And this, to mobilize against sexual violence and allow women to create a space within the public sphere to raise awareness about their experiences, and ultimately improve the treatment of victims by the judicial system. In Japan women organisations prioritize support to the victims^[20]Mori, K., et Oda, S. (15 mai 2018) Me Too becomes We Too in victim-blaming, The Japan Times. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/05/15/national/social-issues/becomes-victim-blaming-japan/ over judicial procedures against the perpetrators, so that women feel less lonely and less afraid to speak out^[21]Lilja, M. (2022) Pushing Resistance Theory in IR beyond ‘Opposition’: The Constructive Resistance of the #MeToo Movement in Japan ». Review of International Studies 48(1), 149‑70. … Continue reading. For example, the Flower Demo movement – which started with the mobilisation of 500 women in front of Tokyo Station in March 2019 to allow sexual abuse victims to come forward in public, in reaction to several acquittals in cases of rape – initiated the #WeToo hashtag. Since then, Flower Demo spread to 33 prefectures in the country^[22]FlowerDemo (n. d.). About Us. https://www.flowerdemo.org/about-us-in-english. Korean activists also decided to tackle the problem collectively. They use other hashtags, such as #WithYou and created the “Citizen Action to Support the #MeToo movement” to encourage victims to speak out on social media and during mobilisations^[23]Shin, K. (2021) Beyond #WithYou: The New Generation of Feminists and the #MeToo Movement in South Korea. Politics & Gender 17(3), 507‑13. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743923X2100026X. In China, censorship forces civil society and women organisations to continually adapt their strategies, for example substituting #mitu for #MeToo, so that the victims can continue to denounce sexual abuse and expose the limits of existing laws^[24]Zeng, J. (2019) You say #MeToo, I say #MiTu: China’s online campaigns against sexual abuse. Dans, B. Fileborn, R. Loney-Howes (dir.), #MeToo and the Politics of Social Change (pp. 71-83), Palgrave … Continue reading. Making it evolve, women in each country appropriated the #MeToo hashtag, to create or maintain a space within which they can denounce failings in the way the criminal justice system manages sexual violence cases, and more generally gender inequality at their level. Possibilities for speaking out are not, however, limitless.  

Acknowledging short-term achievements and their limits

In East Asia, the mobilisation of women under the #MeToo hashtag allowed for improvements to the corpus of legislation which, historically, did not provide many legal remedies to victims of sexual violence. But these changes at the institutional level did not lead to any challenge to the political system. In Japan, sexual harassment is not explicitly forbidden in any legal text^[25]“seku hara” セクハラ. The term itself first appeared in law in 1998 and is still regarded as a relatively “private” matter by the justice system^[26]Dalton, E. (2019) A Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis of Sexual Harassment in the Japanese Political and Media Worlds. Women’s Studies International Forum, 77(102276) … Continue reading. The Japanese legislation still leaves too much room for questioning the credibility of the victims and the measures taken do not tackle sexual harassment as a political, societal, and systemic problem^[27]Vochelet, R. (7 juillet 2020) #Metoo?: How Japanese Legislation and Society Are Failing Sexual Assault Victims, McGuill International … Continue reading. As a result, in society at large, the activist agenda focuses primarily on the issue of rape. Accordingly, one of the few notable changes in Japan post #MeToo is the amendment of the Criminal Code, with an increased sentence for rape from 3 to 5 years^[28]Dalton, E. (2019) A Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis of Sexual Harassment in the Japanese Political and Media Worlds. Women’s Studies International Forum, 77(102276) … Continue reading.  In China, until 2018, the term “sexual harassment” was similarly absent from the legislation. Mobilisation under the #MeToo hashtag led to the promise made in 2018 of revising the Chinese Criminal Code. And in 2020 the Chinese government adopted a law to codify it. This is the only notable change that can be directly attributed to the mobilisation of women’s organisations. In fact, the status quo is preserved, as it remains impossible to accuse male politicians without facing the risk of systematic censorship and repression by the government, by means of arrests or the suspension of feminist activists’ social media accounts. South Korean feminist activists were more successful, with more than 145 new bills (called the “MeToo bills”) proposed to the Assembly. Only 29 were adopted in 2019^[29]Chae, Y. (2019). “Of the More than 145 MeToo Bills Passed by the National Assembly, Only 35 Have Passed and the Content Is Mostly Similar.” Women News, January 29. … Continue reading, some about sexual harassment in the workplace and others about online violence.

Social changes also remain limited. Five years after the start of the #MeToo movement, women and activists face backlash from those who resist any change to existing gender relations. The Chinese government intensified its efforts to counter the feminist activists’ influence and isolate them by collaborating with ultra-nationalist misogynistic social media users to harass them online^[30]Lamensch, M. (2021) #MeToo in Asia: Victories, Defeats and the Case for Digital Activism. Centre for International Governance Innovation. … Continue reading. Women who question gender relations are violently attacked, and, contrary to those of their victims, online abusers’ social media accounts never face censorship^[31]Lamensch, M. (2021) #MeToo in Asia: Victories, Defeats and the Case for Digital Activism. Centre for International Governance Innovation. … Continue reading. The Tangshan scandal – the violent attack of a group of women in a restaurant caught on a video that went viral – sparked national outrage in 2022.  However, this scandal also demonstrates there are still very few possibilities for action beyond temporary online mobilisation^[32]Zhang, H. (2022) The Censorship Machine Erasing China’s Feminist Movement. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-censorship-machine-erasing-chinas-feminist-movement. Indeed, going to the police, the judicial system, or the media to question the patriarchal status quo is doomed to fail as these institutions are under complete control of the government which opposes any challenge to its system^[33]Zhang, H. (2022) The Censorship Machine Erasing China’s Feminist Movement. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-censorship-machine-erasing-chinas-feminist-movement. Stigmatization of feminists also continues in Japan, where sexual violence is not really questioned, and victim-blaming narratives remain prevalent. For example, in 2020, a father accused of raping his 19-year-old daughter was acquitted because, according to the judge, his daughter had the physical capacity to resist him. Even though the fact that she had already been sexually abused when still a minor was not disputed^[34]Grouard, S. (2020) Au Japon, la stigmatisation des féministes. Slate. … Continue reading. In reaction to the progress achieved in South Korea thanks to feminist mobilisations, men accuse women of instrumentalizing accusations of sexual violence to advance their own personal interests. Several victims have even been harassed online^[35]Jung, H. (22 janvier 2022) Opinion: A Vicious Anti-Feminist Backlash Stuns South Korea ». The Globe and Mail, … Continue reading. Lee Jun Seok, a member of the Korean conservative party, instrumentalized this masculine resentment as a political strategy to get elected President in 2022^[36]Jung, H. (2022) South Korean Feminists Brace for a “Long, Hard Winter” Under a Right-Wing Leader. The Naiton (18 mars) https://www.thenation.com/article/world/south-korea-yoon-suk-yeol/. South Korean feminists, therefore, knew they could expect countermeasures from this government^[37]Clément, M. (2023) “Le backlash anti-féministe a été vraiment brutal” : la Corée du Sud fait volte-face sur l’égalité. Les Glorieuses Newletter Impact (23 janvier). … Continue reading. And indeed, that same year, Seo Ji-Hyun, the prosecutor who started the #MeToo movement in South Korea, was sacked and the task force on online sexual crimes she had assembled was dismantled^[38]Huh, J., et Bo-ra L. (17 mai 2022) Prosecutor Seo Ji-hyun Who Started the #MeToo Movement Resigns: Justice Ministry “Trims Away” Before the Appointment of Han Dong-hoon, The Kyunhyang Shinmun. … Continue reading.

Feminist transnational movement and patriarchal national policies

Comparing these three countries allows us to reflect upon the specificities of the #MeToo movement and analyse it as a transnational movement which must adapt to different national contexts. The #MeToo movement does not follow any predetermined course. The media indeed plays an essential role in granting legitimacy to the movement. But the feminist movements in the region also appropriated #MeToo to create spaces in which it is possible to speak out and demand changes to the judicial system. Changes to the legislation are often considered as the starting point for a paradigm shift. However, the contradictions within the official discourse as well as the way #MeToo accusations were received in society and handled by the justice system demonstrate that such changes to the legislation are not sufficient to ensure that women’s testimonies about their daily experiences are heard and lead to durable changes in the society and respect for their rights.

To strengthen sexist and sexual violence prevention, it is necessary to change the paradigm. Indeed, sexist norms produced by a patriarchal system remain the main risk factor for this type of violence^[39]Palm, S. (2022) Learning from Practice: Strengthening a legal and policy environment to prevent violence against women and girls. New York: United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women. … Continue reading. Implementing laws and policies requires to find out how to close the gap between men and women players on the one hand, and the formal and informal systems on the other. And this, to ensure that each progress brought about by transnational feminist movements are not systematically challenged at the local level^[40]Palm, S. (2022) Learning from Practice: Strengthening a legal and policy environment to prevent violence against women and girls. New York: United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women. … Continue reading. Lastly, analysing the strategies and necessary adaptations of the #MeToo movement by women depending on the mediatic and political contexts in their respective countries would enable us to identify lasting solutions to end all discrimination.

To quote this article: Manon Simeon (2023). #MeToo in East Asia: Societal and Political Implications. Gender in Geopolitics Institute. igg-geo.org/?p=13847&lang=en

The statements in this article are the sole responsibility of the author.