Idaenam (Korean: 이대남;Hanja: 二代男),[1] abbreviated fromIsipdaenamsung (20대 남성;二十代男性;lit. man in his twenties), is a term used in South Korea to refer to men in their 20s. The term first emerged in the late 2010s to refer to men who have voting rights but recently it is often used to men with negative tendencies towardfeminism.[2] Its political and social antonym isIdaenyo (이대녀;二代女), abbreviated fromIsipdaeyosung (20대 여성;二十代女性;lit. woman in her twenties).[3][4]
At the end of 2018, the termIdaenam began to emerge after a poll rating theMoon Jae-In administration's first-year plunged. In particular, media began to pay attention to the large gender gap in a poll of 20s. Moon Jae In's approval rating among Korean men in their 20s fell below 30%. The figure is the lowest among all age groups, including the elderly with strong conservative tendencies. On the other hand, the approval rating of President Moon among women in their 20s was 63.5%, the highest among men and women by age group.[5]
In Han Gui Young's analysis examining the phenomenon ofIdaenam, men in their 20s were the most conservative in subjective ideological orientation and evaluation of presidential performance.[6] The use of the wordIdaenam exploded as the proportion ofOh Se-hoon's votes among men in their 20s exceeded 70% during the Seoul mayoral election of the 2021 by-elections.
Idaenam have a negative tendency toward feminism. They have been compared to "Angry Young Men" inSusan Faludi's 1991 bookBacklash.[7] Idaenams are strongly opposed tomisandry ('남성혐오' or '남혐').[8]
In 2021, a survey byNational Human Rights Commission of Korea found that 70 percent of men in their twenties opposedaffirmative action for women.[9] ManyIdaenam believe that the gender quotas are discriminatory.[10] In addition, according to statistics from 2021, men in their twenties and thirties ("Idaenam") are less receptive toLGBT rights than men in their 40s and 50s ("386 Generation male"), but more than men above the age of sixty.[11]
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TheIdaenam phenomenon often leads topolitical conservatism orpopulism (Including bothleft andright sides). TheJoongAng Ilbo, a South Koreancentre-right publication, reported thatLee Jun-seok, the then leader of thePeople Power Party, usesanti-feminist investigations to win the votes ofIdaenam.[12]
South Korea'sliberalMoon Jae-in government implemented a more feminist policy than the previous conservative government, and men in their 20s had severe antipathy against it.[13]Yoon Suk-yeol of right-wing conservativePeople Power Party andLee Jae-myung of liberalDemocratic Party of Korea, who were the main candidates for the2022 South Korean presidential election, took a negative attitude toward feminism to win the votes ofIdaenam.[3]
Centrist conservative-liberalPeople Party'sAhn Cheol Soo criticized Yoon and Lee for promotingmisogyny to pander to sexistIdaenam.[14] In particular, South Korean right-wingers and social conservatives are trying to makeIdaenam their main supporters by actively attacking feminism.[13][15][16]
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