The Reason Why Korean Men Are Insecure About “🤏”

As someone deeply concerned about digital sexual crimes, dating violence, and structural discrimination against women in South Korea, I find this situation very unfortunate. These issues require the attention and cooperation of men to be solved. However, some extreme (so called) feminist groups have fueled a victim mentality and backlash among men, effectively burning bridges for cooperation.

Anyone familiar with Korean language will definitely realize that the viral tweet in question was NOT written by a South Korean man and Nor was it even a serious attempt at impersonation. I am not an anti-feminist, nor am I here to defend South Korean men unconditionally. However, I believe the narrative that “South Korean men are angry because they are insecure about their size” is heavily distorted. I want to explain the factual context that many foreigners might miss.

​1. The Meaning of the Symbol

The 🤏 gesture is a symbol specifically associated with Megalia and Womad, which are extremist communities claiming to be feminist in South Korea. Members of these groups have infiltrated various institutions and corporations, using this gesture as a covert “dog whistle” to signal their presence and ideology.

Consequently, South Korean society is highly sensitive to this imagery, and companies actively avoid employees associated with groups that cause such social controversy.

​This isn’t limited to feminist groups. Ilbe, a far-right community of young men, uses a specific hand sign (👌) which is also socially taboo. Celebrities or employees caught using the Ilbe sign have faced severe boycotts and disciplinary actions.

Companies strive to prevent the use of the Ilbe symbol just as they do with the 🤏 symbol. It is about removing hate speech symbols from public/commercial spaces, not just about the shape itself.

1. Why “Megalia/Womad” are Criticized

Megalia and Womad are not just “radical feminists”. The feminism is just their mask and they’ve been involved in serious crimes and issues.

• ​Child Abuse – The “Hoju Gukja” Case (2017): One of the most disturbing incidents involved a Womad member known as ‘Hoju Gukja’ (Areum Lee). Working as an Au Pair in Australia, she deliberately spiked a young Australian boy’s juice with sleeping drugs to sexually molest him while he was unconscious. She filmed the abuse and posted it to Womad, where, shockingly, members cheered her on and sexualized the child instead of reporting the crime. This act led to her immediate arrest by the Australian police and served as undeniable proof that the community acts more like a ring of sexual predators than a feminist rights group. Daily Mail

• ​Transphobia (TERF): Womad and Megalia are extremely hostile toward the LGBTQ community, especially trans women. When a transgender woman tried to enter Sookmyung Women’s University, Megalia/Womad members cyberbullied her and organized a mass protest, forcing her to withdraw. They attacked her simply because they didn’t consider her a “biological female,” causing her severe mental distress. Korea Herald

• ​Mockery of the Deceased: They have habitually mocked war veterans and deceased male workers, calling their corpses ‘meat.’ Many of these victims were not even the young men they claim to oppose, but who sacrificed themselves for their family and the country. This crossed a line that provoked anger across the entire nation, regardless of gender or politics.

• ​Nude Photo Leak (Molka): In a notorious case, a Womad member secretly took a nude photo of a male nude model during an art class and leaked it online. Members mocked his body and sexually harassed him. The model was not even an anti-feminist, just a random ordinary man doing his job. The perpetrator was arrested and sent to prison. This was a clear act of the very digital sexual crime (Molka) they claim to fight against. BBC

The atrocities mentioned above are just a fraction of the controversy.

Are these crimes more serious than crimes committed by men against women? No.

But is it reasonable for companies to prevent groups that engage in such behavior from representing their brand? Yes.

​3. The “Insecurity” Narrative

Megalia and Womad are quite strategic. They frame the backlash against the 🤏 symbol as proof of “incel insecurity about small penises.” This narrative works well on foreigners who lack context, but it doesn’t align with the reality in South Korea.

​It’s similar to the absurd internet myth where some Chinese netizens mock South Koreans by saying, “They are so poor they can’t even afford watermelon”, a rumor that sounds plausible only to those who know absolutely nothing about the reality of the country.

​Most South Korean men aren’t getting angry because they genuinely feel insecure about their size. They are boycotting the symbol as a protest against the hate group actively operating within the brands and media they consume.

Think about it rationally. If you are a man, would you genuinely react with such rage to a 🤏 emoji? Even setting aside the fact that this trope is serious sexual harassment and a long-standing racist stereotype against East Asian men (which is statistically false anyway), the “insecurity” narrative makes zero logical sense.

​The fact that foreigners are seriously discussing this tweet (Clearly written by someone pretending to be a South Korean man and it was not even serious) just highlights the absurdity of this entire situation.

​I have observed these online boycotts for a long time. South Korean men are fighting against the symbol because it represents Megalia/Womad (the hate group), not because they are personally hurt or insecure about their bodies.

​Let’s be real. If men were truly insecure about their size, would they really go around the internet publicizing this symbol and drawing more attention to it? That is simply not how anyone deals with deep-seated physical insecurities.

​4. Conclusion

​The boycott was never about insecurity of Korean men; it is about holding a hate group accountable. Just as a company would fire an employee for flashing a white supremacist sign, South Korean companies are removing symbols linked to groups that celebrate child abuse, transphobia, and sexual crimes.

​If you are a feminist who supports women’s rights, you should be wary of supporting Megalia or Womad. They are essentially the mirror image of the far-right incels they claim to fight. Criticizing misogyny is necessary, but supporting hate groups that commit the very crimes they claim to oppose only damages the credibility of the movement.

I have tried my best to describe the situation as factually and objectively as possible. If there are any inaccuracies in what I’ve written, please let me know.