Wednesday, May 14, 2008

[The Hankyoreh, May 1 2008] [Column] The Seoul Women’s Film Festival and the politics of the body

Kim Yeong-ok, Research professor, Korea Women’s Institute at Ewha Womans University

Every country has its own unique carnivals. These are events that provide the masses with official channels for pleasure and desire and give unconditional recognition to the open eruption of both. What made the greatest impression on me during the many years I lived in Germany was a carnival event where women would run up to men and cut their neckties off. I don’t know how many men were actually “punished” by having their ties cut away, but the combined fright of having scissors so close to men’s necks and the black humor of giggling while doing it was a real masterpiece. It was nice to see the desire for a culture of gender equality seen as a collective desire that should be released socially, and it was refreshing to see castration anxiety pulled from the knotty theory of psychoanalysis and demonstrated with laughter and play.

There is a similar festival that takes place in Korea - the Seoul Women’s Film Festival, and it happens in April. ...

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