South Korean Fashion Item Goes Viral As “Incel-Proof” After Triggering Male-Driven Forum

Aside from being “incel-proof,” the item is said to be quite convenient, too.

The term “Y-Zone,” at least for most women in South Korea, refers to the crotch area—and, at least in the Korean fashion world, it has long been a zone to make as discrete as possible.

While the American camel toe has become somewhat more acceptable and even trending, putting one’s Y-Zone to the wind remains a general wardrobe no-no in Korea.

That said, a fashion item helping Korean women hide their Y-Zones has gone viral…

…not for how clever or convenient it is, but for how pressed it has made a certain male population.

A viral tweet with over 2.4M views shared screenshots of comments from a male-driven online forum, shunning the “Y-Zone Safety Shorts.”

A fashion item for women that is being slammed by the male-driven forums.

— @sweettiesweet/X

The comments, most of them vulgar and misogynistic, have sparked discussion across female-driven online forums—where the shorts have then become dubbed “incel-proof.”

• “Behead whoever developed this.”
• “F*ck.”
• “Hmm…”
• “Came up with another dumbf*ck item… Who made this, the person who came up with rash guards?”
• “IDK. When I was in school, the girls didn’t care for safety shorts because they were uncomfortable and inconvenient. Will women really wear these?”
• “Ugh. Another f*cked up creation.”
• “But why would you want to get rid of [the Y-Zone]?”
• “This company is out to wipe out all sex appeal. Haha.”
• “This is not fair to us, for real.”
• “Don’t make sh*t like this.”
• “I wonder if it’ll be comfortable to wear. That will make or break this item.”
• “Just… don’t wear skirts if y’all are going to take it this far.”
• “The end of an era…”

A theqoo post saw hundreds of comments, some even pointing out how comfortable the shorts are regardless of what the men think.

• “I like these not only for blocking the unwanted gaze, but also for preventing the skirt from blowing in between my legs. You know how uncomfortable that is.”
• “Looks convenient, actually. It’ll stop the skirt from blowing in between the legs.”
• “I don’t really wear skirts, but whenever I do, the whole Y-Zone thing did bother me…”
• “I don’t really wear dresses, but I wear these safety shorts when I do. There should be plenty on sale online. It’s disgusting that some men don’t like these shorts because they cover up Y-Zones. Crazy.”
• “This looks like it would help a lot. I don’t really wear skirts or dresses, because I’m on the bigger side. But yeah. I had no idea incels were into looking at Y-Zones.”
• “They have these at DAISO! If you see one, grab one.”
• “Haha. Perfect timing since I was looking to buy some new safety shorts.”
• “Are they really asking why this was invented? We wear it because we’re disgusted by your gaze! Leave our bodies alone, thanks.”
• “My friend and I were just talking about how annoying it is whenever we wear long skirts. When we saw the tweet, we were like, ‘This is it!’ I’m going to buy one and recommend it to my other friends, too.”
• “I’ve been wearing these since last year. They help a lot with keeping the skirt untangled from my legs. It’s great.”

There is a lot to unpack when it comes to Y-Zone or cameltoe shame. As a 2010 DAZED Magazine piece noted, “the internalized misogyny of the 00s fashion press, which had its beady eyes trained on vulva-having people’s crotches, seems to have set the scene for the hyper-surveillance of women and non-binary people’s bodies throughout.”

Without adequate education about vulvas from outside the world of pornography (where, ICYMI, camel toe is already a booming fetish category in its own right) it’s unlikely that the taboo around camel toe will ever really dissipate. That’s one of the many reasons why it’s so important sexual education in schools stays current and incorporates a range of identities and relationships, so that, with each generation, outdated notions become less ingrained.

— Megan Wallace, DAZED