Keywords
transgender
intersectionality
feminism
military service
How to Cite
Abstract
This paper presents an intersectional examination of transgender women in South Korea, focusing on the dismissal of the first transgender officer, Hee-soo Byun (who committed suicide later after the dismissal), by the Ministry of National Defense in 2021. Drawing on the principles of Korean feminism and the third-wave feminist emphasis on intersectionality, the study examines the intersecting factors of gender identity, military service, and institutional policies that contribute to the marginalization and mistreatment of transgender individuals. By investigating the multifaceted challenges experienced by transgender women in South Korea, this paper highlights the complex dynamics of discrimination, taking into account the unique cultural and socio-political context of Korean society. This article aims to contribute to the existing body of knowledge on transgender rights, gender equality, and feminist activism in South Korea, providing insights to inform future discussions, policies, and actions aimed at promoting inclusivity and equal opportunities for transgender individuals within the context of military service and beyond.
References
American Psychiatric Association. 2013. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596
Baker, Kellan E. 2017. The Future of Transgender Coverage. The New England Journal of Medicine, 376(19): 1801–1804. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp1702427
Cho, Sumi, Crenshaw, Kimberle Williams, and McCall, Leslie. 2013. Toward a field of intersectionality studies: Theory, applications, and praxis. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 38(4): 785–810. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/669608
Choe, Sang-Hun. 2021. Transgender Woman Expelled from South Korean Army Is Found Dead. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/04/world/asia/south-korea-military-transgender.html. Accessed October 10, 2023.
Choi, Si-young. 2021. Discharged Transgender Soldier Struggles to Make a Return. The Korea Herald. https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20210209000690 . Accessed October 10, 2023.
Choo, Hae Yeon. 2012. The Transnational Journey of Intersectionality. Gender and Society, 26(1): 40–45. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243211426724
Chun, Jennifer Jihye, Lipsitz, George, and Shin, Young. 2013. Intersectionality As a Social Movement Strategy: Asian Immigrant Women Advocates. Signs, 38(4): 917–940. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/669575
Constitution of the Republic of Korea. 1987. Ministry of Government Legislation. https://elaw.klri.re.kr/eng_service/lawView.do?lang=ENG&hseq=1. Accessed October 15, 2023.
Crenshaw, Kimberlé. 1989. Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1989(1): 139–167.
Crenshaw, Kimberlé. 2011. Postscript. In: Framing Intersectionality: Debates on A Multi-Faceted Concept in Gender Studies, Lutz, Helma, Vivar, Maria Teresa Herrera, and Linda Supik (eds.), 221–233. London: Ashgate.
Davis, Kathy. 2020. Who Owns Intersectionality? Some Reflections on Feminist Debates on How Theories Travel. European Journal of Women’s Studies, 27(2): 113–127. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1350506819892659
Elders, M. Joycelyn, Brown, George Richard, Coleman, Eli, Kolditz, Thomas A., and Steinman, Alan M. 2015. Medical Aspects of Transgender Military Service. Armed Forces & Society, 41(2): 199–220. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X14545625
Gallup Korea. 2020. 경제 전망, 성(性)전환 관련 인식 (1월 통합 포함) (Gyeonjae jeonmang, seong jeonhwan gwallyeon insig (1-weol tonghab poham; Economic expectation, and awareness on sexual transgendered individual (including January consolidation). https://www.gallup.co.kr/gallupdb/reportContent.asp?seqNo=1081. Accessed January 16, 2024.
Grabham, Emily, Cooper, Davina, Krishnadas, Jane, and Herman, Didi (eds.). 2009. Intersectionality and Beyond: Law, Power and the Politics of Location. London: Routledge-Cavendish. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203890882
Heywood, Leslie, and Drake, Jennifer. (eds.). 1997. Third Wave Agenda: Being Feminist, Doing Feminism. University of Minnesota Press.
ICD-11 for Mortality and Morbidity Statistics. (2023). WHO ICD-11. https://icd.who.int/browse11/l-m/en#/http://id.who.int/icd/entity/411470068. Accessed November 15, 2023.
Ji, Da-gyum. 2021, October 7. Court Orders Posthumous Reinstatement of Transgender Soldier. The Korea Herald. https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20211007000757. Accessed November 15, 2023.
Jones, Nicola Anne. 2006. The Korean Women’s Movement: From Minjung Feminism to Gender Mainstreaming. In: Gender and the Political Opportunities of Democratization in South Korea, N. A. Jones (ed.), 45–66. Basingstoke, Hampshire, New York: Palgrave Macmillan US. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4039-8461-6_3
Kim, Heisook. 2009. Feminist Philosophy in Korea: Subjectivity of Korean Women. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 34: 247–251. 0977 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/590977
Kim, Jinsook. 2021. The Resurgence and Popularization of Feminism in South Korea: Key Issues and Challenges for Contemporary Feminist Activism. Korea Journal, 61(4): 75–101. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24056/KAJ.2021.08.006
Kim, MiHyun. 2018. New-feminism Flow in South Korea from 2015 to 2017. 이화여자대학교 아시아여성학센터 학술대회자료집 [Ehwa Yeoja Daehakkyo Asia Yeoseonghak senteo haksul daehwi jaryojib; Ewha Womans University Asian Women’s Studies Center Conference Materials], 13th EGEP workshop, 24–27.
Kwon, Junhyup. 2021, March 4. Before Her Sudden Death, She Just Wanted to Live as a Woman and Soldier. Vice World News. https://www.vice.com/en/article/3anm38/south-korea-transgender-soldier-death. Accessed November 15, 2023.
Lee, Hyemin, Park, Jooyoung, Choi, Bokyoung, Yi, Horim, and Kim, Seung-Sup. 2018. Experiences of and Barriers to Transition-Related Healthcare Among Korean Transgender Adults: Focus on Gender Identity Disorder Diagnosis, Hormone Therapy, and Sex Reassignment Surgery. Epidemiology and Health, 40: e2018005. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4178/epih.e2018005
Lee, Jeehye, Ryu, Dong-Hee, and Lee, Su-Jin. 2022. Anonymous View on Transgender Soldiers: Content Analysis of Online News Headlines and Comments in South Korea. BMC Public Health, 22(1): 2085. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-14565-z
McCall, Leslie. 2005. The Complexity of Intersectionality. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 30(3): 1771–1800. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/426800
Military Service Act. 2019. Ministry of Government Legislation. https://elaw.klri.re.kr/eng_service/lawView.do?lang=ENG&hseq=25744. Accessed November 15, 2023.
Mizock, Lauren, and Mueser, Kim T. 2014. Employment, Mental Health, Internalized Stigma, And Coping with Transphobia Among Transgender Individuals. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 1(2): 146–158. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000029
Seo, Jungmin, and Choi, Seoyoung. 2020. Why Korean Feminism? Journal of Asian Sociology, 49(4): 371–398.
Seo, Youngjoo. and Kubota, Ryuko. 2023. Exploring lived experiences of Black female English teachers in South Korea: understanding travelling intersectionality and subjectivities. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 36 (1): 21–38. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2022.2045303
Shim, Young-Hee. 2001. Feminism and the Discourse of Sexuality in Korea: Continuities and Changes. Human Studies, 24(1): 133–148. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010775332420
Song, Jee Eun Regina. 2020. A Double-edged Sword: Gender and Intersectionality of Korean American Ethnic Return Migration, Asian Studies Review, 44 (4): 579–596. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10357823.2020.1790501
Tong, Rosemarie, and Botts, Tina Fernandes. 2017. Feminist Thought: A More Comprehensive Introduction. Fifth edition. New York: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429495243
Wollstonecraft, Mary. 1975. A Vindication of The Rights of Woman: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds, Criticism. First edition. Carol Poston (ed.). New York: W.W. Norton and Company.
Xu, Xiaoge. 1998. Asian Values Revisited: In the Context of Intercultural News Communication. Media Asia, 25(1): 37–41. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01296612.1998.11726548
Yi, Joseph, and Phillips, Joe. 2015. Paths of Integration for Sexual Minorities in Korea. Pacific Affairs, 88(1): 123–134. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5509/2015881123
대한민국 정책브리핑 (Daehanminguk jeonchaek beuriping; Republic of Korea Policy Briefing). 2020, January 16. 일일 정례 브리핑 [Il-il jeongrye beuriping; Policy Briefing]. https://www.korea.kr/briefing/policyBriefingView.do?newsId=156371340. Accessed January 16, 2024.
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Jungman Park, Jianwen LIU
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en
When submitting a paper the author agrees to the following publishing agreement and processing personal data.
PUBLICATION AGREEMENT, COPYRIGHT LICENSE, PERSONAL DATA PROCESSING CONSENT
This is a publication agreement and copyright license (“Agreement”) regarding a written manuscript currently submitted via Pressto Platform
(“Article”) to be published in International Journal of Korean Humanities and Social Sciences (“Journal”).
The parties to this Agreement are:
the Author or Authors of the submitted article (individually, or if more than one author, collectively, “Author”) and International Journal of Korean Humanities and Social Sciences (“Publisher”), address al. Niepodległości 4, 61-874 Poznań, represented by its editor in chief Oh Kyong-Geun.
- 1. LICENSE OF COPYRIGHT
- a) The Author and the Publisher agree that the Author grants a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which is incorporated herein by reference and is further specified at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en copyright license in the Article to the general public.
- b) The Author grants to the Publisher a royalty-free, worldwide nonexclusive license to publish, reproduce, display, distribute, translate and use the Article in any form, either separately or as part of a collective work, including but not limited to a nonexclusive license to publish the Article in an issue of the Journal, copy and distribute individual reprints of the Article, authorize reproduction of the entire Article in another publication, and authorize reproduction and distribution of the Article or an abstract thereof by means of computerized retrieval systems (such as Westlaw, Lexis and SSRN). The Author retains ownership of all rights under copyright in the Article, and all rights not expressly granted in this Agreement.
- c) The Author grants to the Publisher the power to assign, sublicense or otherwise transfer any and all licenses expressly granted to the Publisher under this Agreement.
- d) Republication. The Author agrees to require that the Publisher be given credit as the original publisher in any republication of the Article authorized by the Author. If the Publisher authorizes any other party to republish the Article under the terms of paragraphs 1c and 1 of this Agreement, the Publisher shall require such party to ensure that the Author is credited as the Author.
- 2. EDITING OF THE ARTICLE
- a) The Author agrees that the Publisher may edit the Article as suitable for publication in the Journal. To the extent that the Publisher’s edits amount to copyrightable works of authorship, the Publisher hereby assigns all right, title, and interest in such edits to the Author.
- 3. WARRANTIES
- a) The Author represents and warrants that to the best of the Author’s knowledge the Article does not defame any person, does not invade the privacy of any person, and does not in any other manner infringe upon the rights of any person. The Author agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Publisher against all such claims.
- b) The Author represents and warrants that the Author has full power and authority to enter into this Agreement and to grant the licenses granted in this Agreement.
- c) The Author represents and warrants that the Article furnished to the Publisher has not been published previously. For purposes of this paragraph, making a copy of the Article accessible over the Internet, including, but not limited to, posting the Article to a database accessible over the Internet, does not constitute prior publication so long as the as such copy indicates that the Article is not in final form, such as by designating such copy to be a “draft,” a “working paper,” or “work-in-progress”. The Author agrees to hold harmless the Publisher, its licensees and distributees, from any claim, action, or proceeding alleging facts that constitute a breach of any warranty enumerated in this paragraph.
- 4. TERM
- a) The agreement was concluded for an unspecified time.
- 5. PAYMENT
- a) The Author agrees and acknowledges that the Author will receive no payment from the Publisher for use of the Article or the licenses granted in this Agreement.
- b) The Publisher agrees and acknowledges that the Publisher will not receive any payment from the Author for publication by the Publisher.
- 6. ENTIRE AGREEMENT
- a) This Agreement supersedes any and all other agreements, either oral or in writing, between the Author and the Publisher with respect to the subject of this Agreement. This Agreement contains all of the warranties and agreements between the parties with respect to the Article, and each party acknowledges that no representations, inducements, promises, or agreements have been made by or on behalf of any party except those warranties and agreements embodied in this Agreement.
- b) In all cases not regulated by this Agreement, legal provisions of Polish Copyright Act and Polish Civil Code shall apply.
- c) Any disputes arising from the enforcement of obligations connected with this Agreement shall be resolved by a court competent for the headquarters of the Publisher.
- d) Any amendments or additions to the Agreement must be made in writing and signed by authorised representative of both parties, otherwise being ineffective.
- e) This Agreement is signed electronically and the submission of the article via the PRESSto platform is considered as the conclusion of the Agreement by the Author and the Publisher.
- f) Clause for consent to the processing of personal data - general
- g) The Author shall give his or her consent to the processing of their personal data in accordance with the Act of 10 May 2018 on the protection of personal data and Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of persons physical in connection with the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46 / EC (General Data Protection Regulation) for the purpose and in connection with making publications available on the PRESSto scientific journals platform, guaranteeing the security of services rendered, and improving them.
I HAVE READ AND AGREE FULLY WITH THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT.
The Author The Publisher