The third Anti-Miss Korea Festival, a cultural gala for women activists, will be opening on May 19 at Jeongdong A&C. Based on this year's theme of "Beyond Job Boundaries," the festival plans to display a wide variety of jobs regardless of gender, age and looks, thereby creating hope for women who are proudly doing their part in their respective work places.

 

Feminist Hip Hop Community I Will aims to eliminate aspects in Hip Hop that disparage women
Feminist Hip Hop Community 'I Will' aims to eliminate aspects in Hip Hop that disparage women
The Anti-Miss Korea Festival started out in 1999, condemning the gamut of beauty pageants that judge women on looks alone. The Festival has shown the world the genuine meaning of beauty and the diverse forms it can take on. The result of a fresh attempt to combine feminism and culture, the Anti-Miss Korea Festival won the hearts of women all over the country and became a festive celebration for women, indeed an alternative beauty contest as its name suggests.

The congratulatory performance scheduled for the third Anti-Miss Korea Festival will feature the Chungbuk Alliance of Disabled Women, the winner of the second Anti-Miss Korea crown, the singing group Heady Mamas, and Chung Mi Jo, singer and Pure Arts professor at SuwonUniversity. Other programs set to delight audiences include a body-painting show by make-up artist Yoon Ye Ryong and a mono-drama by a professional woman driver.

 A documentary depicting the history of working women entitled <Fly, Women, Fly!> will be screened at the Festival. The audience will enjoy a refreshing kind of fun and beauty through the creative performance put up by 15 teams showing the exciting worlds of different professions. A host of programs are lined up to give the audience food for thought regarding our concept of jobs - a martial arts show by the Policewomen's commando unit, a fashion show by Lee Dae Hak (a man who wears women's clothes), a satirical play by the Citizens' Alliance for the Abolishment of the Hoju System, a satirical musical by the Young Play Actors' Group entitled <Sister Act>, a performance by disabled housewife Ye Ok Ju entitled <Away with the Chaff>...

 

Disabled housewife Ye Ok Ju, proud of her healthy mind inside her twisted body
Disabled housewife Ye Ok Ju, proud of her healthy mind inside her twisted body
Lee Song Ro, who is studying to become a male nurse, will be participating in the Festival with a performance entitled <Men WannabeNurses Too>. Lee is planning to change the Nightingale Oath to suit his own style, mocking the gender-based prejudice that people have regarding jobs.

Feminist Hip Hop Community 'I Will' will be using dance to show the heartache of women dancers. Pepper, a member of 'I Will,' expresses her happiness in being part of the Festival, saying, "Unlike other contests, there's no rivalry in Anti-Miss Korea and everybody mingles and has a good time."

This year's Anti-Miss Korea Festival, like its predecessors, will be televised live. Participants say they will not stop at blocking the broadcasting of Miss Korea; they dream of the day they can discover the marks of patriarchal oppression branded on their bodies and fling them away.

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