It has expanded rapidly thanks in part to its online popularity, reporting more than $200m in net sales over the 12 months to March, with plans of being offered in Sephora stores in the US and UK this year.
These men consider themselves victims of "reverse discrimination", saying they feel marginalised by policies that favour young women. One that is often cited is the mandatory 18 months they must spend in the military, which they believe puts them at a severe disadvantage compared to women.They label as "man haters" those women who call themselves feminists. And they have been at the heart of a fierce online backlash against calls for greater gender equality.
These groups have long existed, mostly out of the public eye. But over the years they moved closer to the mainstream as their traction online grew, especially under Yoon.It was them that Yoon appealed to in his campaign pledges, vowing to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, saying it focused too much on women's rights.And he consistently denied systemic gender inequality existed in South Korea, which ranks near the bottom on the issue among developed countries.
But his message hit home. A survey by a local newspaper the year before he was elected had found that 79% of young men in their 20s felt "seriously discriminated against" because of their gender."In the last presidential election, gender conflict was mobilised by Yoon's party," says Kim Eun-ju, director of the Center for Korean Women and Politics. "They actively strengthened the anti-feminist tendencies of some young men in their 20s."
During Yoon's term, she says, government departments or publicly-funded organisations with the word "women" in their title largely disappeared or dropped the reference altogether.
The impact has been polarising. It alienated young women who saw this as a rollback of hard-won rights, even as it fuelled the backlash against feminism."It wasn't always easy to be a teen, it certainly wasn't easy to be a neurodivergent, LGBT teen, back at the turn of the century. Let's make it better. Things like Doctor Who are so valuable for that."
Bill Potts, the first openly-gay companion played by, has been regularly cited as a key moment in the diversity of the show.
Erica Moore, a Doctor Who fan who spent many years in Cardiff but now lives in Boston, USA, said there were other characters and relationships which stood out as encapsulating the show's widespread appeal."The Madame Vastra and Jenny relationship, it's inter-species and queer, so that was really nice to see. They're set in Victorian England together, again that's kind of [showing] queer people have always existed," they said.