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Is Ateez San backing An San? South Korean Olympic gold medalist archer targeted over short hair

While many South Korean men are targetting 3-time Olympic gold champion An San over her short hair, Ateez's San reportedly decided to show his support

An San is a South Korean athlete who took part in the archery events at Tokyo Olympics. She won gold medals in all three events that she participated in. She is the first woman to have won three gold medals in archery in the same Olympics. However, several South Korean meninists have been targeting her online.

Known to be a patriarchal country, South Korea still has a long way to go in terms of women’s rights. Several male online communities have frequently attacked female personalities for being feminists since it supposedly interferes with men’s rights and gender equality. They've also labeled feminism as a form of misandry. The last target was comedienne JaeJae of ‘MMTG’ who is known for her androgynous looks. She came under fire for allegedly making a finger gesture associated with radical feminism. However, in An San's case, she does seem to have some supporters like Ateez's San.

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Why is An San targeted?

Many South Korean men reportedly demanded that An San’s Olympics medals be taken back from her. The incident that sparked this outrage was an innocent comment on the athlete’s hair. When asked why her hair was short, An San said it was comfortable. In no time, several online male communities stated that this was a sign of feminism and started slamming the archer.

Along with that, once they found out that she is from a girls' college, is a fan of the unapologetic K-pop girl group Mamamoo and wears a badge that commemorates the Sewol ferry accident, they dubbed An San a radical feminist. They also claimed that she used man-hating slangs. They were further angered by her defiance as she refused to apologize and called out those who insulted her.

Ateez's San steps up

Amid all the cyberbullying, the archer is also getting backed by a lot of people including the younger generation of men. Many personalities are supporting her by posting photos of short hair. In fact, a lot of Knetizens feel that the K-pop idol San of Ateez is her latest defender. Since he had been diagnosed with Covid-19, the internet had not seen him for a while. However, after making full recovery, he came back online on July 30 while sporting short black hair, which was a departure from his relatively longer purple hair. And many believe that he has done this to show solidarity with An San.

While the hair is not enough evidence, his words on the UNIVERSE app have added weight to his supposed intent. One Atiny explained why Korean Twitter was trending San in the first place. They tweeted, “San used the same word that an san (did and) is being attacked by misogynists it looks like he is using his platform to speak up about this issue. that's why they said (san helping ansan) so take this as you would like BUT I AM IN LOVE WITH CHOI SAN.”

Well, it looks like An San also has Mamamoo’s Hwasa by her side. A Moomoo shared a recording of Hwasa cheering An San on Twitter, “Hwasa was asked what is her favorite olympic game and she said an san. she really loves her, this is adorable. an san told everyone to subscribe to hwasa's official youtube channel during her olympic games and now hwasa said this.”

'SK doesn't view feminism the same way we do'

Atinys and other netizens were proud as they came on Twitter to support San and An San. One user explained why San was going viral in the first place, “It's related to this gold medalist athlete. It seems like it's a very sensitive topic. So if he really did refer to this instance... He's f***king brave.” Another user explained why this was a big deal, “Saying we're hyping men up for the bare minimum but y'all need to understand sk doesnt view feminism the same way we do. to them feminism = men-hating=/= equality. idols received backlash just for showing indirect support to feminism eg irene reading a feminist book in the past.”

Another user pointed out that San used the same phrase that An San had used which got her in hot water in the first place, “Choi San is the most kind-hearted and amazing person in fact. Most importantly : "Having short hair is really comfortable. Honestly, the hairstyle that I showed you today, is just one of billions of different hairstyles." One tweeted, “Are you proud of choi san from ateez? Yes Yes Yes.”

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.