Synopsis
Episode 11 starts off with a very refreshing and a “serves you right” moment when the underage teens get justified for their crimes. However, as the story unfolds, we, as the viewers, get to realize that the actions of Man-Yeong were a reflection of his past and the absence of loving parents. While Man-Yeong’s case has ended, we get introduced to another new problem of a serial rapist. Ironically, the victims refuse for a proper investigation due to the fear of being targeted again but in episode 12, we get to see the past of Jeong-O which ultimately allowed her to convince the victim to continue for a proper investigation.
Discussion
Like all societies, victimization of women are prevalent around the world. As mentioned in class, victimization of women gave thrust to the Korean feminist movement and it did not take long for the #MeToo movement to gain momentum. 2018 was perhaps one of the most significant year where feminist activity experienced its pinnacle and gained widespread media coverage in Korea. However, it is always the case that when these movements rise to battle injustice inequality, there are those who take advantage of the situation.
During May of 2018, the case of Youtuber Yang Ye Won has gained an incredible amount of support and coverage for her courage to speak up and tell the public about her victimization. However, it was not so long when the case was backlashed by a series of evidence that went against her claims. While she claims that she was sexually abused by the photo studio that she was freelancing for, evidence of exchanged text messages showed that it was Yang that wanted more session and that she was the one who dictated when to work and had the choice of working or not. According to an article from Metro, she claimed that she was a victim of a sex crime and was told that it would be a normal photo-shoot (Hicap, 2018). While her YouTube video explaining the situation stated that there was a total of five sessions, evidenced showed that even after five sessions, she was the one to schedule more sessions, totaling 13. The case is still ongoing and yet to unfold as the most recent trial was on the 24th.
Although we do not know whether or not she took advantage of the feminist movement to gain support or fame, current evidence showed that her side of the story did not match what she claimed. This sort of ambiguous case significantly hinders the movement towards equality, especially in the Korean culture. Korean culture is extremely divided when it comes to gender roles. The cultural norms and duties of a women and men are strictly divided and guided by traditional principles. In the 21st century, the Korean society has evolved to adapt to a women oriented or inclusive workforce since the significance of the export based economy flourished during the Park Chung Hee era, where women played a major role in the labour market. However, feminist movements in Korea are different than those of the Western culture and by different, I mean privilege. Korea is one of the few countries that still have mandatory military service, however, the irony is that only men have to serve in the military for two years while the same regulation does not apply to its counterpart. In addition, there are multiple spaces, even a whole floor dedicated to a “women’s only” parking . When the two genders want equality, these gender concepts that points to the “only” privilege or disadvantage must disappear and in my opinion, that day will not be in the near future.
Questions:
- Do you think that some accommodations and regulations that are allowed only for certain gender deteriorates the sense of equality?
- In North America, there is an active men’s rights group called the Men’s Rights Association or the MRA. However, their protests and rallies are always belittled by both men and women. Why do you think this is the case?
(Little side note for question 2, MRA fights for men’s equality, focused on equal treatment. One of their issues address the difference in crime. There are cases where both the man and the woman committed the same crime but the man was given a higher sentence compared to the woman. In addition, Erin Pizzey, the founder of the first women’s domestic violence shelter in the world and current men’s rights activist, believes that domestic violence had nothing to do with what power men had or are assumed to have over women. Pizzey stated from an interview with A Voice for Men that both men and women in interpersonal relationships can be violent. While there were approximately 2000 women’s help center for domestic violence in the United States in 2016, there was only one that dedicated its service for men since most women’s center refused to help men)
Bibliography
Hicap, J. (2018, May 28). YouTube star claiming she was sexually assaulted gets online abuse. Retrieved from https://metro.co.uk/2018/05/28/youtube-star-claiming-she-was-sexually-assaulted-and-forced-to-do-nude-photoshoots-gets-online-abuse-over-conflicting-statements-7582789/
What an interesting news story, thank you for sharing!
While both men and women face abuse, the numbers are drastically different. 1 out of every 6 women faces sexual assault, which is nearly double the number of men (1 out of 10). These are both still very high numbers, and both groups deserve safety and rights when it comes to these issues. However, the MRA fights for men’s rights as a whole, rather than justice for male sexual assault victims. The rights of men are notoriously more prevalent than women’s rights, and most women’s rights groups seek justice for male assault victims as well. I believe this is the reason behind the belittling of the MRA protests – as the MRA are fighting for rights that they already have. Like you said above, it has been found that violence and assault have nothing to do with the rights men have over women. In my opinion, this violence stems from an institutional level, where women are not believed and protected by large organizations (such as the police). As individuals, men have far more rights than women, and hence the MRA protests seem ironic as there are very few more rights men have to gain over women. (Word Count: 205)
Hi 영준,
There are always cases like this YouTuber, but for every one case like this, there are hundreds of men who have gotten away with very serious crimes. Who have never even been accused of the crimes. It is the job of police and the courts to make sure that false accusations do not stick, but it is the job of SOCIETY to create a world in which men and women can live equally. So, what is the solution? The solution is to focus not on the exception (this YouTuber) but on the norm (sexism in society). When people who are obsessed with minor celebrities like Yang Yewon blow up stories like hers, then an entire movement is hurt by the actions of one young, stupid, immature girl.
MRA are people, in general, in every country, who are afraid of losing their traditional position of advantage (such as the huge advantage in earnings that men have in Korea), who are threatened by women asking for equal rights. A real man is not so easily shaken by women asking for equality.
Do women sometimes take advantage of a disparity between men and women, such as expecting men to pay for dates? Do women benefit from not going to the military? Yes. But despite these benefits women are in a much worse position in society now. So, raise women up, and at the same time correct the problems (like women’s parking areas, or not both paying for dates, or requiring only men go to the military). When women earn what men earn, when fathers take care of laundry, shopping, and childcare like mothers do, and when women stop getting their ass grabbed on crowded subway cars THEN its time to take care of the inequalities that impact men.
None of this is to deny that men can also be abused, or that toxic masculinity doesn’t negatively impact men as well.
p.s. if you don’t use a real academic source your grade for this blog essay will suffer. Please revise it to include something more than a news link. Also, news link or not, follow Chicago in your bibliography.
In Korea, men should serve military for 2 year mandatorily, and I think it deteriorates the men’s equality because for 2 years, men cannot enjoy their life and should obey the orders. Due to serving military without their will, Korean government compensates in extra credits when men get a job. However, I do not think that it is not fair because although the government gives the extra credits to men, many men struggles to get a job. Also, while they serve military for two years, they have less chance to build a career for their future than women because women can graduate college or university earlier, so they have more time for preparing to get a job than men and can get certificate more. Thus, when both men and women get a job, they cannot be on same line, and it may lead to deteriorate the men’s equality.
I think the reason why it is belittled is that men receive equal treatment with women in crime. As MRA addressed, the men usually get higher sentence than men. However, I think the reason that they get higher sentence is most men physically have more power than women, so if men do not control their power, they may cause more serious harm to women than women assault men. Therefore, in my opinion, MRA should amend the equal treatment about crime when they do protests or rallies to be respected by both men and women.
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I think the regulations that are for certain gender is one of the main issues that deteriorates the sense of gender equality. For example, as I previously stated in the previous comment about how there are many facilities that are for women only. In any mall, movie theater and etc. there are way more women only parking spaces than spaces for pregnant women and for disability people. To many females, they are stating that this is for their safety from crime and has nothing to do with gender inequality. However, many men and some women are stating that this is clearly portraying gender inequality. People are suggesting that, if there are parking spaces just for women, make parking space for men as well. In Korea, there is a facility for women and the name is Sun Flower centre. It is for women and children who have been involved in rape, violence and many other crimes who need place for protection. Of course most women are usually the victims when these crimes happen, but it could also happen to men as well. However, since the Sun Flower centre is for women and children only men cannot enter nor there are similar centres that are for men. I think that nowadays society in Korea is shifting towards for women and what I mean by is that many regulations and facilities are for young women’s convenience and not for elderly or men. Many men are stating on SNS or to their peers that Korea is a nice place for women to live and hell for men.
As Young Jun said, the ‘Me too’ movement grew rapidly in Korea. The movement has certainly changed the perspectives of the sexual harassment or assaults that women have faced. But I believe that some of the ‘Me too’ movement found out to be false where the women took the advantage of being a woman, thinking that people would believe her that she is the victim. On the social media, I once saw a story about a man who got accused of sexual harassment with a woman who he met in the club. They were in a consensual sexual relation, but she wanted a harsh sexual relationship where she kept saying the word, ‘sorry.’ Then a few days later, she had contacted him and said that she has recorded the voices of them in sexual relation and she wanted money in order not to accuse him as the rapist. In Korea, I believe that the ‘Me too’ movement has directed the people to a wrong direction; because of some of the women who take advantages, the actual victims of the sexual harassment or assaults are ignored or do not speak out. In order to change such incident, I think people should listen to both sides, not believing one side and ignore the other.
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Dear all,
I think that Bomi has made a very level-headed point. Listen to the stories of both sides. Try to understand their perspective. Because here both sides are with their qualms – “Men have this!” “Women have this!” We need to recognize that AS A WHOLE, normatively, the ways that society has acted on women disadvantages them in almost all the key arenas – income, job competitiveness, social rights, etc. Yes, there are cases where women take advantage of this to extort money. The world is not so clear-cut that you expect someone who’s desperate not to do something irresponsible that hurts the cause of everyone they’re affiliated with. But taking such an event and blowing it up as an excuse to continue denying ALL women rights, is irresponsible. Those of you who persist in saying that women-only this and that is a signal of injustice against men – please try to look at the issues a little more deeply and understand that there is no black-and-white right answer for EVERYONE.