I mean, what can you expect from a revenge fantasy story masquerading as a romance. Even if it's "problematic" the whole point seems to just have been to punish Minho, a stand-in for stereotypical misogynists in Korea and have everyone get off scot-free. I would never call it a "female empowerment" story, but as people were discussing. Different values for different cultures. I don't think anybody here thinks that this is a perfect story and that the patriarchy has been destroyed just because Minho was raped a few times. Just pointing out that this is just a sex fantasy aimed for people to watch horrible stuff happen to this dickhead and feel no guilt over it. I would personally love to see a BDSM story where..you know. consent actually exists...but I've conceded that it's probably not as deep as everyone makes it out to be. just my two cents.
Definitely! this is not an exemplary thesis on feminism but it can't be helped in terms of the content, a lead female domme, for a lot of people to expect some cues for it regarding the real world. I would still say that it could've been better written. Lilith 2 for example, is also a lesbian bdsm manhua but unlike sb, it actually worked to show the MC's struggle regarding her job and love life along with depicting the smut very well. What else, yes, I was just responding to someone who said that this manhua was a result of misogyny in Korean and though the author tried to show Duna as this revolutionary work oriented woman, it could've been done better since author ended up reinforcing most of those sexist stereotypes instead of breaking them. Thankyou for your comment!
Thank you! Readers have been hinting about the sexism in this manhwa for a while, but your posts really sets out how the manhwa enforces a lot of toxic sexist tropes, to both men and women. The author had a great opportunity to break the mold.... but alas, same old.
People be saying that Minho is targeted because of prevalent misogyny in Korea but don't realise that SB is misogynistic to the t. Haesol views Duna like an objective he has to achieve and overlooks her personal shortcomings to treat her like a prize he has finally won, everytime she tried to break up with him over genuine concerns of her, he just ignored her feelings to imply this kind of "I don't care, you're amazing" which isn't healthy, it means he doesn't see her as a equal partner/human being with imperfections.
Secondly, Wookyung is the paramount of misogyny but never got punished for it. He saw Duna and immediately interacted with her with the objective to coerce her into submission by initially playing along with her dominant acts. He is the picture of toxic masculinity, using his "rich man" resources and strength to crush, rape and assault people for his own pleasure. Just because he isn't shown assaulting a woman doesn't mean he isn't misogynistic. He still views every sub as a piece of flesh for his own gratification, be it Duna or Minho.
Thirdly, I'm sorry to say but, Minho was the exception, in the end he himself admitted that he saw her as above him but was insecure because as he wasn't the perfect "manly" man who is popular, sorted, well-liked, easygoing, confident, rich, sexually open and "succesful" in terms of his writing (like Cha- as if these traits have anything to do with a "man").
Lastly, both the author and Duna themselves peddle such sexist views about men vs women such as 1) women shouldn't know how to cook or clean when those are important survival skills 2) women can't be strong while being sensitive, control their sexual impulses, place value on consented pleasure and aftercare while keeping past unresolved feelings of anger out of casual sex 3) women's lives have to eventually be dominated by the love given to her by a man otherwise she cannot "heal" or "become a better person" 4) Women don't know what they want from relationships and will overspill serious and casual into each other while not being able to communicate properly 5) Minho is teased for being poor, having a small penis, erectile dysfunction, performing poorly during sex (hyper sexist male issues that men are pressurised for) 6) In that fight scene between Haesol and Minho, Haesol provoked him by saying that his penis is small and therefore he cannot please Duna which is so stupid because Duna herself has been obsessed with him for years regardless of his "incapacities". 7) If Haesol is the antithesis of a "manly" man then why is he shown to be territorial over Duna with a man she herself allowed to live with her, while asserting he has a big dick and satisfies her more 8) author herself places such importance on big dick=confident man, small dick=insecure man that it's funny 9) Every "woman rapes man" scene in this manhua relies on the very sexist assumption that the woman would never go to jail simply because the man would be too ashamed to report that he has been raped by someone from the "fairer sex" or even acknowledge the fact he can be raped as men are socially conditioned to "invite" sex and be open to every opportunity of it, even if it's rape.
This is... disgusting. I rest my case I guess, nothing can justify rape in this manhua, reverse misogyny is still sexism, women gotta do better. If women do the same things men do to women when in a position of power then we're all trash. Period.