"Thanks to the support and solidarity of citizens and fellow teachers, we have been able to publicly discuss feminist education in our schools for the first time."

Choi Hyeon-hui (35), an elementary school teacher in Songpa-gu, Seoul who was reported to authorities by a conservative parents' group after calling for the need to teach feminism in a media interview, shared her thoughts with the Kyunghyang Shinmun for the first time since the controversy.

During an interview at the Kyunghyang Shinmun office on October 26, Choi said, "I hope that the Ministry of Education and the Office of Education will take this opportunity to expand the department overseeing gender equality with a proper awareness of gender."

She said, "The school and my fellow teachers tried to solve this problem together." She further said, "Citizens who supported us also sent a petition to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education demanding that the office 'protect Ms. Priming Water (Choi's nickname),' and thanks to them the office of education did not treat this problem as one concerning an individual teacher."

At the end of July, in an interview with DotFace, an online video site, Choi asked, "Why can't girls have a playground?" and argued, "Feminism is about human rights." This led some people to dig up and post her personal information online. Choi requested sick leave last August. People supporting Choi joined in an online hashtag movement by posting the hashtag, "#We_Need_Feminist_Teachers" on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Women’s rights groups supporting feminist education also established a coalition.

Choi said, "We must continue to ask why girls choose to leave the playground. Some people say girls don't go out because 'they are afraid of getting a tan,' or 'because they hate sweating.' Then we need to ask, 'Why do girls in our society have to worry about things like that?'"

Choi said she had posted similar concerns on her blog when she gave birth to her son five years ago. In the post, she basically wrote, "My child will be living in a world with severe sexual discrimination. If he were a daughter, we could contemplate the issue, study and grow together. But a son might not accept this as his problem. How can I raise him properly?" Some citizens online condemned Choi as "a mother who hates her son." Choi said, "It was very painful and difficult to hear that I hated my precious child. It made me very skeptical about whether a reasonable debate or persuasion was possible in this society."

Last month, one parent organization reported Choi to the authorities for alleged child abuse claiming "She showed the children a video of a march during the Queer Festival."

Choi said, "At school, hate words or expressions like 'You're gay, aren't you?' and 'You're an aeja (a newly coined Korean word, a degrading word referring to the disabled), aren't you?' are common." She explained, "I showed the children a video of citizens including LGBTs (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) and the disabled happily marching, singing and dancing in Gwanghwamun Square to let the children, who don't hesitate to use such hateful expressions, learn for themselves." She then asked the question, "These people are human too, just like us, aren't they?"

Choi said, "Some argue that teaching feminism and the rights of sexual minorities is premature for the children and that we should let them learn naturally later on. But what does it mean to learn naturally? Naturally, through the hateful contents posted by male BJs on YouTube or through pornography?" She added, "I think allowing children to be exposed to such hateful content without providing them with standards or a perspective to judge for themselves is neglecting the obligation of a teacher."

Choi said, "Schools simply teach students abstract propositions such as 'Men and women are equal,' and 'People with disabilities have the same rights as those without them,' but they fail to mention how such equality is violated in real life. If children grow up repeatedly experiencing the contradiction in the gap between universal propositions and actual life, they become adults who fail to recognize the sexual discrimination or infringement of human rights that occur daily right before their eyes." She further elaborated, "Since I belong to a social community, what I say, do and think can be linked to great violence or threat to the survival of some classes or the socially vulnerable. Helping children be aware of that link, that is feminist education."

As for a media report that Choi reprimanded a boy saying, "Those who stand out and don't listen are all boys," Choi fiercely denied the report. She said, "I am aware that boys lack the experience of emotional communication compared to girls, so I try to be more sensitive and gentle when communicating with the boys."

At Choi's school, there was a teachers' group called the Feminism Book Club, but the club voluntarily disbanded after the controversy. Choi referred to the incident and said, "The school was too intimidated, and I think they decided to disband the group in order to concentrate on the students. Even without the form of a club, the teachers can continue to discuss feminism in their daily conversations and teachers' meetings."

Choi said, "I plan to return to school as soon as I get better. Instead of an environment where the individual teachers all struggle alone in the schools, I hope the content and formality of gender equality education can be established in a more progressive and safe education system."