This article is an ethnographic study of the “baby stroller brigades” (BSB) that
represents one of the many Internet-based communities that attracted public
attention in Korea during the candlelight protest of 2008. In this article, we
raise several heuristic questions. First, why and how did the BSB produce such
sensationalist public attention? Second, who led the BSB and who were the
active members in the BSB? Third, what were the specific strategies and types
of political mobilizations the BSB engaged in during the candlelight protest?
Finally, what are the BSB members doing now? In answering these questions,
this article argues that the sociocultural ideas about married middle-aged
women, called ajumma, in Korean society are closely associated with the huge
debates on the BSB members’ activities despite their relatively minor role in
the protest. Despite the limitation, most BSB members expanded their political
view to include larger social issues. However, their efforts are continuously
confined within the sociocultural constraints that they have as ajumma.