A Critical Study of Identity Politics Based on the Category ‘Biological Woman' in the Digital Era: How Young Korean Women Became Transgender Exclusive Radical Feminists*

This paper aims to offer a critical analysis of the identity politics of recent Korean radical feminism that is based on the category “biological woman.” For these purposes, it will provide a critical analysis of the Korean urban imaginary and show why Korean radical feminists had to choose such transgender-exclusive identity politics based on biological sex in the digital era. In addition to neoliberal competition, fear of disintegration caused by image exploitation led them to transgender exclusive radical feminism. They desire to become subjects in the biological dichotomy by excluding abjects from their spaces. Finally, this paper argues that Korean feminists must turn to a politics of recognition in accordance with the status model. This deconstructive approach to the politics of recognition gives us the possibility of guaranteeing the equal parity of women without the trap of exclusion or reification.