You clearly do not know just how common SA/rape is in South Korea. I'm sorry to shatter your rose-colored glasses, but since you believe in free speech, I'm using my right, too. 

A LOT of Korean men (actors, singers, businessmen, etc) are TRASH towards women.

The 2B movement? 2019 Burning Sun Scandal? Lee Juno's (from Seo Taiji and Boys) controversies? That one actor/singer that got away with killing somebody? Fucking Kim Soo-Hyun? (Yeah I'm saying his name, I'm not scared of shit. Come at me, bro!) All of the central figures involved here are MEN! 

There are numerous cases that are never reported. The Korean music industry is twisted enough. You choosing to coddle and fetishize these Korean men will never, EVER change that. Most of them uphold this system. Korea is a very patriarchal and conservative system. And guess who's been suffering as a result? Women.

For far too long, we've seen k-dramas reduce women to 2 archetypes. The naive and "adorable" heroine, or the seductive, jealous, rich villainess. For decades. DECADES! Male characters have always had more complexity than female ones in k-dramas! I can count out loud how many k-dramas I've seen with complex, morally grey, or villainous female protagonists. Spoiler alert: There's not many.

And if there is? It's buried under countless websites or shitposters like you claiming they don't exist and bashing the actresses that play these types of roles. Even if they play the type of heroine that you want. Quiet. Submissive. Perfect. It's misogyny, buddy. And it's bullshit.

Let a male treat the female lead like trash and there's always some excuse, some backstory, some tragedy (waaahhhh! 😭😭), or some type of justification about it from the audience (and the writer- usually.) But let it be reversed? The audience revolts. They go crazy like Prince (or Queen, if you're into them.)

I'm gonna give ya 1 piece of advice: re-evaluate how you view women in k-dramas and how you view associated controversies with men in the Korean entertainment industry. Because the rabbit hole goes a lot deeper than you think.

I'm just one black woman on the Internet who really likes badass female characters in k-dramas. Not here to preach. But when you broaden your knowledge and do some self-reflection regarding your glaringly obvious ignorance, I hope you remember this post, or at least some of my words. I wish you the best in life. True education never ends. Always learn and grow, pal. 😊

 Run_the_world:

Yeah, It's disgusting but It's the reality. A lot of women suffers all over the world because of disgusting men, and Korea is one of those country that doesn't give women the right to actually defend themselves.

Exactly. Their laws on rape (and the way the Korean justice system treats it) is absolutely insane. The SBS drama Return (2018) also discussed this.

 Run_the_world:

And I agree with Tia PERIOD! Thanks Queen!

Hahaha! You are the best! 🥰 Thank you and you're welcome.

 Katara Lee :

Not you being mad at the actors and not the powerful people who globally, hurt mainly women and children. 

 The irony... like, lol, alright.

 ItscalledFreeSpeech:

Look! More rape theme, sexual assault trash coming from South Korea. They are so disgusting for making movies and shows like this and it does NOT stop!!!!  I completely lost all respect for Seo Hyeon Woo.  BYEEE!  

Can you make men any more LESS attractive? Come up with something NEW.
The fake ratings on IMDB, are also disgusting.
Such garbage coming from Disney and South Korea. Shameful. 

I think if you want to watch lightweight unrealistic versions of reality, there are plenty of that about.

SA is so common in society almost most women have suffered from it in some form and have some have had to live with the consequences. Are women not allowed to have their stories dramatised, good and bad, or do they have to suffer in silence?

My opinion is that kdramas are great storytelling and tackle very deep and serious and murky heavy evil subjects and do a good job at it. I will not call it "dark subject" bc I suspect that our black member will instantly be triggered, and for a good reason :) that term was used to gaslight and put down her people for too long. So my disclaimer is that if I use the term "dark" i am using it as LACK OF LIGHT, like being alone in a very very dark night with monsters all around you. So please dont overreact and boogie out.

Imo the only serious flaw with kdramas is sexism - as someone said, women are either DUMB, irrational, stupid, emotional, overreactive, weak, immature, causing problems with their ignorance, needing to be saved, OR villains. There are very few smart active independent strong female characters. WHY? BC THE PLOT IS MADE BY THE STUPID MISTAKES OF THE DUMB WOMAN WHICH THE MAN HAS TO FIX AND TAKE CARE OF HER, LIKE A FATHER FIGURE. The woman cannot even live without the guidance of the man!!! SO kdramas make women look like dumb naive children. Unless the woman is a heavy villain.

And this plot - esp when overdone - makes the drama dull and stupid bc the plot is limited and predictable. AND it makes female actors act in limited stupid ways too - so overall, it is NOT interesting to watch. It is fake. BUT THE AUDIENCE UNDERSTANDS IT AND FINDS IT FUNNY AND WATCHABLE. It is like, it is socially ok to make fun of women and put them down. Why? bc then you can justify taking all resources and rights from women. That is the same old strategy that was used in any slavery, colonization, war, etc. YOU PROCLAIM YOUR OPPONENT "UNWORTHY" "LESSER" "NOT HUMAN" "INCAPABLE" etc AND THEN YOU TAKE OVER THEIR RESOURCES. This is what we routinely do to animals, we enslave them torture them, kill them, abuse them, etc so it is very understandable to any Joe or Jane Shmoe that YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU WANT TO SOMEONE WHO IS NOT FULLY "HUMAN" OR "HIGH STATUS". This is slavery/ colonization/exploitation/ war premise #1. You make them not human and lesser on ANYTHING that is different than you - gender, skin, $, clothes, religion, etc. ANYTHING DIFFERENT IS A GOOD ENOUGH EXCUSE TO EXPLOIT THEM.

Luckily, lately, there are kdramas with strong female characters and excellent actresses.

I guess bc we the audience asked for it?

BUT THE AUDIENCE IS SEXIST, otherwise this would not be happening. I saw it with Our Golden Days. The FL was a spoken up young professional woman, she required ML to talk things through - adn the audience roasted her for being pushy and unlikeable.

So EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS IS BC THE AUDIENCE ACCEPTED IT. The audience treats women badly. So keep that in mind.

Kdramas also have reverse sexism for delulu women :) love triangles where 1 or 2 absolutely great wonderful guys are forever loyal and taking care of ONE FLAWED IGNORANT WOMAN-CHILD :) and comments clearly indicate the reverse sexism, where that female moron can cheat, two time, etc and it is all ok.

SO WOMEN THEMSELVES ARE NOT ANGELS AND ARE EQUALLY BAD AS MEN AS THEY TRY TO HAVE POWER.

So - let us work on what matters, together. We need to hold men AND women accountable to the same standards, and yeah make women truly equal. Women were slaves for thousands of years so this kind of ingrained slavery thinking and treatment of women will NOT disappear overnight.

Women were enslaved as free domestic labor without rights or property because that is how MEN took control of 100% of resources. And the lower eshalon men are slaves too to the elites, but they are more privileged bc they can control and abuse women, who have a "lesser slave" status. The elites rule everyone and bc of the sexism, they are mostly male.

So we the people need to make sure that this kind of slavery disappears. However, we the people are dumb :) and fight with each other and so we have been exploited forever and it will probably never stop :) Until ppl are able to accept someone different as a friend, and work together for what is just instead of what suits their little turf - until ppl get smart and work together, the divide and conquer approach will work and the evil ones will continue to rule the human population on Earth :) People are just soooo easy to manipulate :)

So... get smart, work together, OR suffer forever :)

So ... good luck :)

Hm, I do not remember "watching you" ....??? Seems like we interacted before - but I dont remember it. Maybe if you remind me of what we discussed? Perhaps not :) no need to waste time.

I am confused by your post. You want "morally gray" female roles but you talk about 'They can't be good and strong" as if THAT is what you want.

I honestly do not want morally gray female roles bc I THINK THEY ALREADY ARE. All those weak women are totally morally gray. They bail out, they lie, they cheat, and all out of "being kind and sensitive." To me all those dumbo female roles are really INDIRECT VILLAINS. They cause so much damage.

You said "Almost like... women can't be intelligent or brave without being viewed negatively somehow. I wonder why that is..." - well I am not sure if you are being sarcastic or this is a genuone question? I wrote exactly WHY in my post. I will summarize; bc that women HAVE TO be viewed as dumb and dependent and needing someone to guide their life BC that is the very basis for slavery/colonization/war/opression/any kind of exploitation :) THAT JUSTIFIES TAKING RESOURCE AND POWER FROM THE "LESSER PPL"

I have to get off now, so bye.