Incels Vote Too - The American Conservative
The anti-feminist voters of South Korea have made their voices heard, as the war between the sexes ramps up.
South Korea has elected an incel, or so the headlines go. In a world that has seen both Donald Trump and Eric Zemmour on a presidential ballot, the election of the 61-year-old former prosecutor general is not terribly spicy—except, perhaps, that he campaigned on being an anti-feminist.
Even spicier, perhaps, was that more than half of South Korea said yes to Yoon Suk-yeol’s bid for the presidency—presumably, a large coalition of disgruntled males. By a narrow, 1 percent margin, Yoon defeated the liberal Democratic Party of Korea’s frontrunner Lee Jae-myung by promising to absolve Korea’s Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, among other seemingly radical proposals.
Wrote S. Nathan Park at UnHerd back in February, when Yoon appeared to be gaining a lead: “Warning of the ‘totalitarian tendency’ of feminism and accusing the ruling Democratic Party of fixating on a ‘pro-woman agenda,’ Lee and his supporters have injected a jolt of energy into the South Korean Right.”
The last time conservatives held power in South Korea, it ended poorly for them. Park Geun-hye was the first female president of South Korea, and the first female popularly-elected head of state in East Asia, who also became the first impeached female president and later the first former female president to be convicted of corruption charges of the same. Perhaps it isn’t so surprising that when the party came back into national relevance, it cast its lot behind the opposite sex.
Yoon’s election didn’t fall along the more typical lines of conservative politics such as immigration, law and order, or cutting regulations. But neither is the resurgence of masculinity random, in a country that now has the lowest birth rate in the world after the Vatican City (0.84 births per woman) and a devastating marriage rate to back it up.
The anti-feminist voters of South Korea have made their voices heard, as the war between the sexes ramps up.
South Korea has elected an incel, or so the headlines go. In a world that has seen both Donald Trump and Eric Zemmour on a presidential ballot, the election of the 61-year-old former prosecutor general is not terribly spicy—except, perhaps, that he campaigned on being an anti-feminist.
Even spicier, perhaps, was that more than half of South Korea said yes to Yoon Suk-yeol’s bid for the presidency—presumably, a large coalition of disgruntled males. By a narrow, 1 percent margin, Yoon defeated the liberal Democratic Party of Korea’s frontrunner Lee Jae-myung by promising to absolve Korea’s Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, among other seemingly radical proposals.
Wrote S. Nathan Park at UnHerd back in February, when Yoon appeared to be gaining a lead: “Warning of the ‘totalitarian tendency’ of feminism and accusing the ruling Democratic Party of fixating on a ‘pro-woman agenda,’ Lee and his supporters have injected a jolt of energy into the South Korean Right.”
The last time conservatives held power in South Korea, it ended poorly for them. Park Geun-hye was the first female president of South Korea, and the first female popularly-elected head of state in East Asia, who also became the first impeached female president and later the first former female president to be convicted of corruption charges of the same. Perhaps it isn’t so surprising that when the party came back into national relevance, it cast its lot behind the opposite sex.
Yoon’s election didn’t fall along the more typical lines of conservative politics such as immigration, law and order, or cutting regulations. But neither is the resurgence of masculinity random, in a country that now has the lowest birth rate in the world after the Vatican City (0.84 births per woman) and a devastating marriage rate to back it up.
