“It is not a strength that is couched in mainstream sports where there’s so many barriers and such difficulties entering into that realm,” he said. “Here the focus on strength through a wide variety of abilities and comportments allows us to really see a near possibility. We can almost imagine ourselves in there.”
The women on the show also powerfully challenge the stereotype that Asian women can be weak and hyperfeminine, the experts say. Like their male counterparts, the women are leaders in sports from bodybuilding to wrestling. And they aren’t shy about showing off their toned arms and broad shoulders. The show, in part, Thangaraj said, “completely dismantles” the limited notion of Asian and Asian American womanhood.
Rachael Joo, an associate professor of American studies at Middlebury College, whose research focuses on sporting media and South Korean and Korean American communities, underscored that the show still has a sexism problem. While it claims to search for the perfect physique, “regardless of gender, age and race,” the women on the show are eliminated early, already dwindling in numbers by the third episode. The rules may be equal, Joo said, but they aren’t equitable.
Some of the contestants also display unchecked sexism, Joo said. Many of the male competitors regard their female peers as weaker links, unable to see them as formidable opponents. And in some of the co-ed deathmatches, male contestants received backlash for how they appeared to behave against their female competitors.
Netflix did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment
Joo said it coincides with a heightened attitude against gender equality in South Korea.
Critics say the anti-feminist movement in the country has gained steam in recent years, particularly under President Yoon Suk Yeol, who in October announced his intention to abolish the country’s Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.
“That … to me was so indicative of this rising anti-female…
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