"Protect Ansan Athlete"... Archery 'Shortcut' Men and Women 'Feminism' Conflict

Criticism Over Ansan Player's Hairstyle in Some Communities
Netizens React... 'Ansan Protector Relay' Posters Also Appear

Female archery representative An San is shooting an arrow at the Tokyo Olympic women's archery team event held on the 25th at the Yumenoshima Park Archery Field in Japan. / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] "Please protect the athlete from excessive criticism.", "Do not make an athlete apologize when they have done nothing wrong."

Requests to protect gold medalist An San (20, Gwangju Women’s University) are pouring in on the official bulletin board of the Korea Archery Association. This follows some netizens accusing An of "possibly being a feminist" and launching a barrage of criticism. They have gone beyond limits by 'digging up' An’s past statements and actions posted on social networking services (SNS), continuing their defamatory attacks.

On the morning of the 29th, posts appeared on the Korea Archery Association’s bulletin board asking to protect An San from internet malicious comments, such as "Please protect An San," "Please actively protect An San from baseless criticism, hatred, and terrorism," and "Please take strong action and protect the athlete from malicious comments."

In online spaces including SNS, a 'Protect An San Relay' poster was shared mainly among female netizens. The poster features the Korea Archery Association’s phone number and urges people to "demand the association protect An San."

A post urging protection of athlete Ansan from online defamation (left) and the 'Ansan Guardian Relay' poster / Photo by Internet homepage, social networking service capture

Earlier, An San became the first 'double gold medalist' of this tournament by winning gold in the mixed team archery event and the women’s team archery event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

However, the situation rapidly changed after some online communities raised suspicions, asking "Isn’t An San a feminist?"

One netizen claimed, "More than 90% of women from women’s universities with short hair are feminists," adding, "There are very few exceptions. Regardless of political views, I find feminists extremely unpleasant, so I don’t support An San."

Other netizens continued to criticize An’s appearance, saying things like "You can see some ‘escape the corset’ national athletes too," and "These days, women avoid short haircuts to not be labeled feminists."

There were also claims that An San used 'misandrist expressions' on her past Instagram account. The so-called 'misandrist expressions' pointed out by these netizens include internet slang such as "Ungungung, I don’t want to do the assignment," "It’s been like five billion years since I last saw you," and "Eollebeolle." These slang terms are mainly used in some feminist-leaning internet communities, which is why they suspect An San of being a feminist.

Some netizens criticized athlete Ansan's 'short cut' hairstyle. / Photo by Internet Community Capture

Eventually, malicious comments began appearing on An San’s personal Instagram account. Some netizens left comments like "Gold medal feminist," "Crazy feminist," and "Explain the misandry suspicions." On an online community, there was even a suggestion to file a complaint with the Archery Association, arguing that An San should return her gold medals.

Amid this situation, female netizens posted messages defending An San and called for solidarity.

Han Ji-young, a 'body psychologist' who researches psychotherapy through the interaction between the human mind and body, criticized on her Twitter account on the 25th, saying, "Female athletes are being asked absurd questions like 'Why did you cut your hair?' or 'Are you a feminist?' just because they are women," and added, "This is ideological screening based on the hairstyle of female Olympic national athletes."

She also proposed participating in the hashtag campaign 'Women_ShortHair_Campaign' in solidarity with An San. This hashtag has been shared more than 6,000 times on Twitter and other SNS platforms.