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Controversy surrounds an Internet-born neologism for terminally shallow women, "doenjang-nyeo." Doenjang is of course the soy bean paste that is one of the cornerstones of Korean cuisine, and -nyeo is the female suffix. But the true origin of the term, it seems, was not the unoffending paste but in the exclamation "jyaenjang" used to express dissatisfaction and roughly translating as "Damn!" But this was softened to the more palatable culinary reference.
One Netizen's satirical account of a day in the life of a doenjang-nyeo runs as follows. "Gets up at 7:30 a.m. to the sound of the cell phone alarm, even though her first class doesn't start till 10, and heads for the bathroom. To give her hair the Jeon Ji-hyun-look, she refuses to use cheap shampoos... she can't eat breakfast because she¡¯s too busy doing her makeup, so she heads for the Dunkin Donuts in front of her school.
"For diet reasons, she orders a straight Americano -- no sugar, no cream -- but then eats donuts crammed with jam and sugar. Same for lunch. Because the doenjang-nyeo knows how precious she is (just like the L'Oreal commercials, she says to herself, 'Because I'm worth it!') she can never be seen eating with the rest of the students at the cafeteria or the student center. The three just don¡¯t mesh.
¡°The doenjang-nyeo blows in one sitting the amount a regular student spends on food for a week.¡± Some feel the depiction is more than just a send-up: there is rage there too. Women students say that replies to postings on the topic and copying and reprinting are just perpetuating the dispute.
The Chosun Ilbo wanted to know if there is a grain of truth in the account, asking 249 university students, "Are there so-called 'doenjang' men or women at your campus?" Some 37.4 percent admitted there are plenty of both, and a bitter 18 percent said ¡°basically all female students¡± would fit into that category. The emotions some people, specifically men, feel when they encounter these types can sometimes translate into self-torment. Proof is in the emergence of another stereotype, the "Gochujang-nam.¡± Gochujang is the red pepper paste that is also indispensable in every Korean meal, and -nam is the male suffix.
The hapless gochujang-nam clearly exists at the other end of the economic scale from the unattainable doenjang-nyeo. "To save a mere W300 (US$1=W965), he takes the neighborhood bus instead of the city bus. Eating at the school cafeteria is a waste of money, so he heads to the nearest convenience store.¡± A Netizen called Lee Da-hye demands on a website, "There are plenty of guys out there that are wrapped up vanity too. Why are they only attacking the women? I'm concerned that we may now be seeing the emergence of neo-chauvinist thinking."
Ji Mi-ran (22) is a third-year student at Ewha Woman's University. "I have a couple of friends who are obsessed with their looks, but they¡¯re definitely a minority,¡± she says. ¡°These days female university students are sticking to the trends, and it's not healthy to ridicule them in a cruel caricature."
Some feel it is Korean men's "army complex" that is at the heart of the doenjang-nyeo hoo-ha. "While we are struggle through two years in the military, girl students go on backpacking vacations, or study foreign languages,¡± complains Kim Jae-won, who has finished his military service and returned to his studies. ¡°It seems it¡¯s borne out of feeling among men that they are being treated unfairly because women get to enjoy campus life more." In other words, it could be linked to a sense of reverse discrimination after employers started to abolish extra points for male applicants who had served in the military. In our survey, 46.3 percent of male students agreed that reverse discrimination is starting to emerge both on campus and in society as a whole.
Grumblings cover all aspects. "After coming back from the Army, it's hard to get serious about studying again. On top of that, we don't even get bonus points any more," says one respondent. "There is a common room for women in every department of universities, but none for men," complains another. A third sums it up: "Why is 'ladies first' the unquestionable way?" Women's studies scholar Min Ga-young of Hongik University admits, "It¡¯s true that both the doenjang-nyeo and gochoojang-nam exist on campus, but the problem is in extrapolating that all female students are that type and attacking them on that basis." Essentially, the doejang-nyeo debate is not about gender but about economics. "But instead of taking their fight about the burden of military service to the defense or labor ministries, they take it out on the opposite sex," Min adds.
Prof. Kim Jeong-un of Myongji University¡¯s Department of Leisure Management diagnoses the problem as stemming from the realities of youth unemployment and associated stresses. "It¡¯s common for people who are unhappy to construct an imaginary enemy,¡± Kim says. ¡°Once an object has been identified, a consensus starts to crystallize and mass rage, hostility and illogicality are born."
Sung Young-shin, a psychologist at Korea University, says, she is concerned that the doenjang-nyeo controversy will rekindle old views of all women who care about their appearance as dim. "Male and female students in their 20s, who need a more mature perspective on each other, have instead been galvanized along gender lines by this black-and-white logic,¡± she adds. ¡°Perpetuating these misconceptions will be bad for both sides."
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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