Real names of 16 perpetrators released in 2000
Full-scale discussion of’victim-centeredism’
“The’organizational protection theory’ to conceal abuse is broken”
Heejeong Ahn and Wonsoon Park
Just being alert… Repeated’male’ gender violence
At a press conference held in early 2018, a participant is holding a white rose, a symbol of the Me Too campaign, a sexual violence accusation movement. By Baek So-ah, staff reporter [email protected]
The history of public debate about sexual violence incidents in progressive camps is not short. Whenever an incident occurred, a difficult time of public debate and brief reflection was repeated. The’Me Too movement’ that has taken place in society since 2017 and the public debate of’power-type sex crimes’ by former Chungnam governor Ahn Hee-jung and former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon seemed to be a decisive turning point to end reflection without reflection. “I will do my best as the party’s representative to prevent this from happening again” (Jung-mi Lee, the Justice Party representative at the time of the’second offense of the officials’ discipline in February 2018). The light faded. Women scholars said, “Even if a man is active with a progressive cause, it can be exploited at any time as long as the superiority of the gender power of men is maintained.” The issue of sexual violence within the progressive camp first became widespread when the ‘100-member committee to eradicate sexual violence in the movement society’ (100-members) began its activities. The 100 people, organized in July 2000, revealed the real names of 16 perpetrators of sexual violence within the labor movement, civic groups, and student movements. The’victim-centredism’ that the sexual violence case should be reconstructed based on the victim’s experience also began to be discussed in earnest. Nevertheless, incidents of sexual violence within the progressive camp did not end. In 2008, an incident occurred in which the KCTU official tried to rape a member of the KTU. At that time, the KCTU and KTU attempted to cover up the case, and officially apologized to the victims in 2018, 10 years after the incident. In February 2020, an incident occurred in which a Green Party official sexually assaulted Shin Ji-ye, chairman of the Green Party co-operation committee (currently, the Korean Women’s Political Network). The official was sentenced to three years and six months in prison on the 22nd. Along with public debate about sexual violence, there have also been raised concerns about patriarchal behavior in the progressive camp. In a book published in 2008, Hee-kyung Jeon, a female scholar, exposed the patriarchal culture and conservatism within the progressive camp through the voices of women activists who were active in the 1990s and 2000s. Women activists confessed their experience that “the cup washing was mainly done by women” and “given women to live as activists.” Han Jin-hee Cho, a researcher on women’s studies, sees repeated sexual violence and sexual harassment incidents as a structural problem in the progressive camp. “It shows that our society is a society with gender inequality, and a movement society is no special exception here.” Even men who are active with a progressive cause can exploit it at any time as long as the superiority of the gender power of’male’ is maintained. However, the so-called’organizational security theory’, which conceals the case of sexual violence by the progressive camp, began to collapse. In the past, the logic that sexual violence incidents should not be known outside to protect the’organizations’ operating for the’representation’ from the’enemy’ was predominant, but recently, concealing the sexual violence incidents has resulted in the collapse of the cause and the organization itself. It is starting to take place. Researcher Jo Han said, “When a victim of sexual violence speaks out, we need to look at how society and organizations receive it, and whether the method is advancing.” On the 25th, the Justice Party publicized the fact of the sexual harassment of CEO Kim Jong-cheol and said, “The perpetrator will be treated seriously at the highest level the party can do with the principle of zero tolerance. In the future, in case of secondary damages such as victim responsibility theory and perpetrator sympathy, anyone will be strictly responsible and disciplined.” And the politics’ positive acceptance of this is a sign that some qualitative change is taking place. By Lim Jae-woo, staff reporter [email protected]