Synopsis:
In episode 9, Hong-il patrol division found that Detective Yi Juyeong was directly involved into an illegal gambling, Also, Hong-il patrol division received the reports about the sexual violence cases and a family violence case. Han Jeong-o and Yum Sangsu arrested the culprit of the sexual violence before it was happened, but the woman who was a victim of the sexual violence did not want to reveal the truth to anyone. In episode 10, the Hong-il patrol division was reported a missing child, but in fact, the child because of hatred of her adoptive parents. In addition, in this episode, O Yongchon’s father removed her wife’s respiratory equipment to let her die.
Discussion:
For the discussion, I will focus on the events from episode 9 which clearly shows about the the violation of the female victims’s rights that is a big issue in South Korea now. Generally, the most victims of sexual violence and family violence are women because they have less physical power than men, and this main reason can lead to violation of women’s rights. I believe that all people should be equal and enjoy their life under the rights.
In the drama, “Live”, I can find the ignorance of women’s rights easily through the victimization of the sexual and family violence. South Korea has different actual number of report of victimization and the official number of report because the victims do not want to reveal and to solve themselves if it happens in family (Choe and Gim, 23). For example, In episode 9, female victims of family violence do not want to report their victimization to police officer because of her children, so she continuously endures her husband’s violence. I think her rights of enjoying life positively is mainly violated.
Also, when Hong-ill patrol division arrested a culprit of sexual violence, the female victim firstly says that she does not want his fiance to know about her victimization because he will not like her and may break the engagement. This is ignorance of women’s rights as well because not revealingthe truth can affect the victims’ future life negatively. Also, some people may have a prejudice towards the victims, which make them feel shame, even though it is not their fault.
Recently, a Korean celebrity, Gu Hara, was involved a scandal. Her boyfriend threatened her and did porno revenge with sending their sexual video to the reporter. Due to the this video, she begged him for not sending it, but the video was spread online. The spreading the private video without the agreement violated Gu Hara’s rights. In addition, as I expected, due to the sexual video, Gu Hara was blamed and suffered more, even though the video was shot together. Also, Gu Hara may not have a chance to sing and shoot a drama for long time because of people’s negative perception towards her. I think this is the typical example of violation women’s rights in South Korea, and this issue made me think of the women’s rights again.
In conclusion, although many Korean women tried to change through “#metoo” movement, the drama “Live” clearly reflects the Korean society thatthe women are still suffered and violated their rights more by sexual revelation.
Based on my discussion, I want to ask you to think about some questions.
- Consider Canadian women’s rights. How do you compare Canadian and Korean women’s rights? and which country’s woman’s rights are more protected?
- Although I discussed women’s rights and emphasized violation of women’s rights, there should be violation of men’s rights. Compare how the men’s rights is different with the women’s, and how can men’s rights be violated. Also, why are the women’s rights emphasized more?
Bibliography:
Choe, Inseop and Gim, seong-eon. “Seongpongnyeoguisiltaewa wonine gwanhan yeongu [Sexual Violence in Korea, 1996].” Hangukyeongsajeongchaegyeonguwon [The Korean Researcher of a Criminal Policy]: 97(1997): 19-316.
So Youn, thank you for this post!
Although I have not lived in South Korea for an extended period of time, I find the differences in respect towards women quite noticeable between Canada and South Korea. Certainly, female rights are compromised in both countries – as is common among the rest of the world. However, in South Korea, I found that women were much more directly disrespected than in Canadian society. In Canada, violence and disrespect is often much more subtle. It takes a certain level of awareness to identify the disrespect and to see the ways in which it is used against women in Canada. Comparatively, in South Korea, from lack of eye contact to blunt sexist language used daily, the disrespect towards women is much more identifiable. South Korean women are certainly more affected in their careers than Canadian women, due to lack of rights and overall sexist beliefs. Although this is not a direct indicator of women’s rights, it certainly highlights the ways in which women are viewed. This view of women also affects the rights they receive. Overall, I think the rights of women in Canada are greater, in comparison to South Korea, though still relatively low in both countries. (Word Count: 204)
I belive that the men’s rights in Korea are starting to become violated by the women’s rights and the actions that women in Korea are executing. One reason could be because of how the Korean society back in the day was dominated by men’s rights and power. I personally believe that many women are trying to bring women’s rights over the men’s rights due to how it was back in the day. One other reason for portraying men’s rights becoming violated by women’s rights is how the law in current Korean society is favoring women. For example, because of the rise in sexual violations and the rate of women getting murdered Korea has made many public facilities have women designated area. There are parking spaces available for women only, women only seats for subway trains or even one whole section in the subway for women only. The sensitivity of crime and law has risen as well. For example, in the subway if a men accidentally touches women due to losing balance or trying to squeeze through the people to get out, if the women feels that the men had sexual intension the men will likely get arrested and be interrogated by the police. Many women suggests that this system is protecting the women and it is equal rights. However, many men and some women do not think this is equal rights. They think of this as women domination in power or women being over sensitive.
Hi 소연, This essay is fairly well done on the surface, but as I started to think about it, you don’t go much past the surface. So, you have Gu Hara’s case. We’ve talked about defamation in class on two occasions and this would be a great place to mention defamation. Or a place to go into some depth on expectations for women vs. men in Korean society (even while revealing the recording was wrong, the ex-boyfriend ‘looks better’ in people’s eyes than Hara– you have included this point but why is it this way? Some deeper analysis of such points would improve the essay a lot. You talk about sexual violence and state that the victim wants to keep it a secret. We’ve talked about shame in class as a key issue in Korean society. Why not bring in a discussion of a concept like this to explain why she wouldn’t seek revenge on the rapist? In general you have very good introductions of important issues and then you move on. It’s like if you had a pie and some ice cream in front of you, but you just took a piece of the crust and put it on your plate and then walked away, as if you didn’t want any filling or ice cream.
Your in-text citation should be edited to include the YEAR of the publication. Speaking of the year, it is quite old. This research is from before you were born, even if it was published in 1996, the data would be from 1995 or probably before. That’s too old to use to talk about an issue like this (also, your translation of the title of the article and journal’s name could be improved). I think that we’ve talked in class about these topics and course readings have addressed these issues, please check out those readings again and revise your essay to include reference to more relevant readings.
Dear all,
Please encourage your groupmates to respond, because this does not constitute a discussion.
I find the second question problematic, and 명규’s response doubly so. The question itself was uncritical of all the ways that women have been disempowered as individuals. The response, even more so, reveals an inability to see the reasons why these measures are put in place, identifying only restriction and exclusivity where enshrinement of rights and legal protections are (generally) the motive. Even if I don’t respond to the specific views, I should more so be distressed by the ways that they ignore what we have been discussing in class. Please increase your efforts to engage with the ideas in future, and do your best to respond to them on a platform like this – it’s a rare opportunity.
Just a postscript – while I am not saying “men’s rights violations in Korea” (to use a blanket term) is not one that you CANNOT argue – our discussions in class about the specific outlines of the gender equality movement in Korea would be a much better foundation than personal experiences that are easy to misremember and/or misinterpret.
I do not think it’s a matter of women’s right or men’s right that are being violated, but just human rights that are being violated. In today’s society, it is the case that women are not being treated equally which develop into a violation of human right and equality. However when it comes to the male side, it’s not the problem of rights that are the issue but the expectations and ideologies of men. They are socially expected to make sacrifice for the reason that men are portrayed and expected to be brave and sacrificial for society. As equality is being taken more seriously than ever before, many wrongs have been corrected and I think we are on the right path, but just not moving fast enough.