IN CONVERSATION WITH AUTHOR AND ACTIVIST, MINA HA

(Translated from OV)

Mina, tell us a bit about yourself!

“I’m Mina, a writer based in both Seoul and Berlin. I wrote ‘Crazy, Freaky, Arrogant and Brilliant Women’ and ‘Dive, Anyway’ in South Korea. Currently, I’m working on a book on the history of science through the eyes of women with a postcolonial perspective. I was also an activist in the ‘Femindangdang’, the feminist artivist group founded in 2016 following the so-called ‘feminist reboot’ in South Korea.”

How did you get to where you are today and what are you currently working on?

“I don’t think I made the choices I made in the past while imagining the person I am today.

As a child, no one around me read books and I never dared to dream that I would become a writer because to me, books were great things and the writers who wrote them were people I could never dream of. I grew up never having travelled abroad, so I could not imagine that I would have a second home abroad. It’s just that from a young age, I was constantly excited to learn about the world and about myself.

Even now, I don’t think about the future so much as I think about doing the best I can with what I’m given every day. I try to create a stable routine and keep my body and mind healthy.

These stable routines help me feel proud of myself without pursuing big accomplishments and lead me to make wise decisions when it matters with a clear mind.”

What helps you find courage the most? Tell us how you encourage and support yourself during tough times or situations?

“Reading books and writing. Writing helps me to process whatever is going on in my life on my terms, because the world doesn’t always go my way, but I don’t always go the way the world wants me to either.

Writing allows me to be in complete control of my own story, and I love that I can take the moments that make me feel small and insignificant and turn them into experiences that make me grow. As long as I’m writing, I know that no matter what happens, I can bounce back.

Reading books connects me to great minds, even in my loneliest moments. I think of the surviving books as precious love letters to us, and I’m often surprised to realize how cheap and easy it is to learn from the mistakes of those who came before us and to learn the most valuable lessons from the legacy they left behind.

Getting to know the books and lives of women writers, in particular, has helped shape my own life.”

What values do you consider most important for yourself to make positive change?

“You have to have a safe zone first. Having a financial base, and having colleagues who respect you and with whom you can conspire for a better life. Not many women are given this safe zone to begin with. Securing yourself is a priority before anything else. No one can survive alone for a long time in any area. To come up with creative ideas is very hard unless the minimum level of livelihood is secured. It’s not easy, but it’s also not impossible.

Keep trying, don’t give up just because you’re at a disadvantage, and be generous to each other, be open-minded and giving first, and build a supportive circle of colleagues. If you find it difficult to establish yourself within the institution, you can also try different things outside the institution.

You have to figure out a way to make a steady income based on a bunch of creative ideas. you can make bolder decisions once you’re in a safe zone.”

As a senior who has carved out a creative life and is making her own way, what advice would you give to women who are just starting out?

“Don’t try to be perfect. As long as we are women, and especially as a feminist, we are never going to please people perfectly no matter what we do. We need to accept that.

We are judged for wearing makeup, for not wearing makeup, for meeting men, for not meeting men, for loving our femininity, for hating our femininity,

We will be criticized for being socially engaged, for not being socially engaged, for being ambitious, for not being ambitious.

That’s the way society oppresses women, to keep them stuck in a rut, to keep them from going anywhere. We are going to hear this harsh criticism not only from men, but from women, and from feminists as well.

Don’t get caught up in the double oppression of women. There’s the oppression that’s put on us by a patriarchal society, and then there’s the oppression of being a woman/feminist.

But a woman who is the author of her own life, a woman who wants to live her own life, is not trapped by any language, and that in itself is very political. Don’t be tamed by anyone.

If you try to be perfect, you’ll never get anything done. Instead of trying to please people, I hope you listen to your inner voice and try to live and act in a more authentic way.”

Mina wears Dante in Yellow Quartz.

You can find more info on Mina’s first book “Crazy, Freak, Arrogant, and Brilliant Women” here and follow her next steps on her Instagram account.

FOR YOUR BALANCED LIFE