An urgent discussion session was held in February 27th.

 

It was about the #MeToo movement. The discussion session aimed to reaffirm the significance of the #MeToo movement and collect the voices of women arguing for the violence-less and gender equal society.

 

Even though victims have long tried to speak out their experiences, sexual violence has never been reduced nor stopped. However, in 2018, many women in the art communities, the religious societies, the academia, the legal professional communities, the public institutions, and the private companies are simultaneously revealing sexual violence and sexual harassments they have endured or fought against within their own communities.

 

In dealing with sexual violence incidents, women have witnessed various unjust realities within the communities. Sometimes perpetrators never get punished. Victims become a target of perpetrators’ counteraccusation of defamation or false accusation, which easily ends up stigmatizing the victims as gold-diggers. Press reports and public opinion dismiss sexual violence incidents as private and never hear women’s voices as an issue of gender power structure. Re-victimization prevails under the name of protecting community against the enemy who plots to destroy the community.

 

What should we do under these circumstances? The discussion session delved into this main question. Korean Women Workers Association presided a panel, titled “‘URGENT’ Open Up the Square,” and shared statistical information on working women’s reality which we had acquired through Equality Hotline.

 

Many journalists and participants were crowding the venue and we could feel strong desire and strong will to change the society under the banner of #MeToo.

 

 

 

 

Panelists Lee Nayoung, Kwon-Kim Hyunyoung, Shin Heejoo, Oh Sunghwa, Kim Myungsook, Song Ranhee respectively gave a talk.

 

 

 

Lee Nayoung (Professor, Department of Sociology, Chung-ang University)

“The experience of being a victim gives an important impetus to the reconstruction of self—we do not self-identify as a powerless victim anymore. Rather, we stand up and fight for the righteous change of the unjust institutions.”  

 

 

 

Kwon-Kim Hyunyoung (Feminist Theorist/Activist)

“I feel so proud of the recent wave of women’s voices such as the victims of the sexual violence incident in Hanssem cooperation and within the Prosecution Service. They share their experiences of sexual violence in detail and courageously speak up for the social change. It is a huge advance from the time when the speaking itself was a goal. Now, women know that it is not our fault and that the perpetrators and the society are the ones deserve blame. I believe things can actually change. Thank all of you so much and I will be with you.”

“We need, first, legal revision including punitive compensation for damage, second, the change of social norm, and third, the rejection of charging responsibility on victims.”

 

 

Shin Heejoo (Film director, Women’s Association of Arts and Culture)

“I propose the establishment of a task force in the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism. The recently-disclosed incidents feature the celebrities with huge cultural power in the respective field as perpetrators. Also, the sexual violence was possible under the connivance and even cooperation of the cultural communities. Thorough investigation is mandatory and actual change in policy and institution should follow.”

 

 

 

 

Oh Sunghwa (Creator, Artists’ Action Against Sexual Violence)

 

Kim Myungsook (Korean Women Workers Association, Labor Policy Director)

“Even though the number of petition submitted in the Ministry of Employment and Labor increases year by year, the level of punishment has been brought down. Sexual violence in the workplace cannot be uprooted because of the labor investigators’ lack of gender equal consciousness. According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the number of petition about sexual violence at work increased from 249 in 2012 to 556 in 2016. In contrast, the number of workplaces the Ministry of Employment and Labor inspected decreased from 1,132 to 535 during the same period. The number of workplaces caught in the inspection also decreased from 480 to 177.”

“Defamation law is easily abused to threat the victim and conceal the incident. Offence of defamation regarding the facts with hostility should not be applied to sexual violence case at work.”

 

 

 

Song Ranhee (Secretary-General, Korean Women’s Hotline)

“Victims have once again suffered from the manual of defamation and counteraccusation, and now we see the recent wave rising. We should ask why victims cannot but speak anonymously. We should think about how victims have been treated in this society. There is ridiculous understanding of the recent #MeToo movement as a political conspiracy. They should read this historical change. Upcoming local election should be anti-perpetrators of sexual violence. We should declare the advent of a new world. We cannot go back. The world has changed by us, and will do.”

 

After the panel discussion, comments from the floor pointed out the necessity of transformation in law, institution, and community culture. We will continue #WithYou, pursuing a safe and equal world for women. Thank you.

 

proceeding : http://kwwnet.org/?page_id=4517&mod=document&uid=454

Posted by KWWA
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