Anti-Gender Politics, Economic Insecurity and Right-Wing Populism: The Rise of Modern Sexism among Young Men in South Korea

The 2022 presidential election in Korea saw a huge swing of young men toward the conservative candidate Yoon Suk-yeol, which was decisive for his electoral victory. This unprecedented electoral volatility created a gendered division among young voters, who had been a solid progressive voting block supporting the center-left party. The article shows how the conservatives’ anti-feminist campaign drove a wedge between young men and women, and it investigates the sources of modern sexism that allowed the successful mobilization of young men. In doing so, it points to the socio-economic foundations of anti-gender politics: economic insecurity caught up with traditional familism and marital norms produced toxic anxiety among young men as leading a “normal life” of marriage and family is deemed beyond their reach. This anxiety made them vulnerable to the right-wing populism that was at the heart of the conservatives’ anti-feminist campaign.