At the end of July, police chiefs in England and Wales warned the victims of violence perpetrated by men has reached Epidemic Levels and it amounts to a National Emergency. According to the first national analysis of the scale of violence against women and girls (VAWG) by the National Police Chiefs’ Council, at least one in every 20 adults will be a perpetrator of VAWG. Police pointed out this increase was driven by extreme material on the internet such as the case of social media influencer Andrew Tate, a self-proclaimed misogynist. Jess Phillips, the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, said “The scale of violence against women and girls in our country is intolerable and this government will treat it as the national emergency that it is.” After about a month, on Aug. 18, the UK government vowed to assess “the rise of Islamist and far-right extremism” alongside Ideological Trends that have gained traction including extreme misogyny. Even before those orders, the UK has considered misogyny as a form of extremism. One of the representative concerns was Incel Culture, an online movement of mainly young men who describe themselves as Involuntarily Celibate and have the belief that men are entitled to sex but feminism and women’s liberation threatened it.

  The UK is not the only country implementing a national crackdown on misogyny. In May, the Government of Victoria in Australia established the Parliamentary Secretary for Men’s Behavior Change for interventions such as sexual violence, sexual harassment, violence against women, and family violence. Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan said this new secretary “will focus largely on the influence the internet and social media have on boys’ and men’s attitudes towards women and building respectful relationships.” Tim Richardson who serves as inaugural secretary said in a post on X, “The time to act on men’s violence against women is now and it starts with us men and boys,” and “This is not easy work, but it is important, and we can’t afford not to address it and waste a moment.” In advance, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a rapid review into the prevention of domestic violence after calling the problem a National Crisis. He said “We recognize that governments need to act, but we also recognize that this is an issue for the whole of society. Women should not be responsible for ending violence against women.” According to government data, one in four women in Australia has experienced violence by an intimate partner or family member. Moreover, 1 in 5 women in Australia have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15, and 53% of women have experienced sexual harassment.

  In response, the UK and Australia have officially declared misogyny a national emergency and acknowledged the Internet’s role in its escalation. By implementing countermeasures and establishing new public offices, these actions send a decisive message to society: misogyny will be met with strict sanctions and will not be ignored anymore.

  How about Korea? For 12 consecutive years, Korea has ranked last among the 29 countries of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in terms of the working environment for women. The gender income disparity in Korea is stark, with women earning 31.1% less than men—nearly three times the OECD average of 11.9%. Additionally, labor participation rates show a significant gap, with the proportion of women participating in the workforce 17.2 percentage points lower than that of men.

  At the end of Aug, Korean society became aware that approximately 220,000 members had created and shared fake sexual images and videos of women and girls in a single Telegram chatroom. These participants organized their chatrooms into categories such as cousins, mothers, siblings, and acquaintances, deliberately labeling them to inflict sexual humiliation and harassment. Particularly alarming is the targeting of nationwide schools, where classmates, who have easy access, have been exploiting their peers. Some high schools have sparked outrage by failing to strictly punish high-achieving male students for their crimes, instead issuing warnings to female students to be cautious about uploading photos of their faces on social media that could be used for deepfakes. Although the police have announced a seven-month investigation, previous cases involving chatroom participants in similar sexual crimes were met with lukewarm responses and mostly probation.

  Korea’s actions, which starkly contrast with those of the international community, are increasingly unwelcome. On Aug. 28, the British Ambassador to Korea informed the Ministry of Unification that he would not attend an event because only one of the 21 speakers was a woman, a clear violation of gender equality values. This incident highlights the complacency of government departments regarding misogyny.

  This is a pivotal moment for initiating a needed social discourse that can analyze and address the grim reality of Korea, where misogyny has become a daily occurrence. Continued ignorance and silence will only hasten the collapse of a society already struggling under the weight of entrenched misogyny. There is no more time to waste. Korea must acknowledge misogyny now.