First Edition June 2020
“Delaying justice
is injustice.�
Editors’ Note Angelina Lee Y11 Noro Feminism has been a sensitive issue since its origination -- as all revolutionary ideas are -- and is still widely unpopular in conservative communities. Yet, there is nothing more foolish than dismissing the entire idea just because a very small part of the belief seems problematic -- and by that, I mean the ‘Radicals’ represented by 메갈 or 워마드 in Korea, who true feminists do not even consider to be a part of feminism. So if your first reaction to this feminism magazine was a frown of disgust, you should really think about whether that emotion of yours has enough justification to be aimed at every feminist. Born from a conservative Korean family, I couldn’t help but realise what a sexist society we are living in. As my father was the precious “eldest son of the head family”, my mother was accused of bearing one daughter who couldn’t even carry on the family name. Every traditional holiday (명절), all female members of the kith and kin -- including those in a double income family -- had to work in the kitchen while the men hardly ever stepped outside the living room since their arrival. I was harshly told off when I pointed out the problem at the age of 6. All my life, I was told that my beauty will always be valued higher than my intelligence, that I should grow into a ‘feminine lady’ whose reaction to most words should be nods and smiles, and that I should never, ever disobey my father and grandfather -- while nothing was mentioned regarding my subservience to my mother or grandmother. Being a feminist in Korea is not easy at all. Without even trying to listen to my claim, many people make me a ‘man-hater’ as soon as the word ‘feminism’ comes out of my mouth. Even though Korea has been ranked 108th out of 153 countries in the 2020 Global Gender Gap Index, not many Koreans realise the severity of the gender inequality, thereby portraying Korean feminists as chronic complainers who want females to take over everything. Despite that, I do not hesitate to call myself a feminist nor am I going to give up the publication of this magazine for which I expect a lot of denunciation. Because, to quote Marie Shear, feminism is the ‘radical notion’ that women are people
4
Editors’ Note Sunny Baek Y11 Mulchat
It is my joy to present to you the first issue of La Musawah. We chose the title La Musawah, which means equality in Arabic because women’s rights are least protected in the Middle East and we hoped this title might serve as a reminder that no one is equal until everyone is equal. I don’t remember the exact moment when I first decided to label myself a feminist. From very early childhood, I was taught that everyone is equal and I firmly believed the world shared my views. I remember being horrified to learn about female genital mutilation and various other social customs that prevented 49.6% of the human race from enjoying the same level of happiness and dignity as the remaining 50.4%. Since then, it seemed only natural that I fight for gender equality. My passion for feminism stems from an innate belief that everyone is equal and should be treated as such regardless of gender, race, religion or sexual orientation. Unlike many concerns, feminism is not the belief that women are superior nor do women hate men. It is my deepest regret that feminism has such a poor reputation in South Korea and I strongly hope that La Musawah can contribute towards erasing false perceptions people have about feminism. La Musawah will work to tell the stories of the oppressed and the voiceless. We seek to empower young girls and spread equality. May there come a day when our mission is complete. Viva la revolution!
5
Introducing Our Team Editors: Angelina Lee N11 Sunny Baek M11 Writers: Angelina Lee N11 Sunny Baek M11 Jaywon Yoon M11 Una Ahn M10 Stella Han N9 Shona Park N9 Sophia Park J8 Illustrators: Sujung Woo S11 Ez Kim S11 Stella Han N9
Table of Contents 04 Editor’s Note 06 Introducing Our Team 08 Find Your Country 09 Current Affairs 10 The Nth Room 12 The Arrest of Harvey Weinstein and the Significance of the #MeToo Movement
14 For Anyone With Hands 15 Discrimination in Arts
16 Book Review: The Bell Jar 18 The Tale of Misogyny 22 Dua Lipa’s Boys Will Be Boys 24 Sexism in K-POP
28 Yes, You Are Wrong 29 Opinion
30 Korea’s Gender Gap: 108th or 10th? 32 Laws, No More Than a Cobweb
36 Male Feminists 37 Kid’s Menu
38 Will Her Outfit Be a Dealbreaker for Him? 42 Crossword
Find Your Country
The Global Gender Gap Index 2020
Source: weforum.org
Current Affairs • The Nth Room • The Arrest of Harvey Weinstein and the History of the #MeToo Movement
The Nth Room Sunny Baek Y11 Mulchat The story of a giant online pedophilial ring and its members who blackmailed young girls into becoming sex slaves
What are the Nth Rooms? The Nth Rooms are a series of chat rooms on the Telegram where people who run the chatrooms post pornographic videos of young girls and users pay the administrators to be allowed into the rooms. Such content on the Nth Rooms was either forcefully filmed or filmed by the girls themselves under threat.
So how did they work? Obviously, these administrators had to have some sort of advantage over these girls. So they collected personal information about their victims and blackmailed them with it. Some administrators (eg. 박사) did this by deceiving the victims that their accounts were hacked and that they could offer help whereas some (eg. 갓갓) did this by introducing the girls to a “part time job”. One of the members was a public servant who helped collect the personal information with an access to the government’s database. Such information was used to blackmail the girls into filming themselves performing dehumanising and gross sexual acts. One of the victims was forced to put live caterpillars into her vagina while another had to simulate having sex with her younger brother.
The Nth Rooms were first brought into the spotlight by two journalism students researching for a news topic. Since then, a women’s rights group infiltrated these chat rooms and has found more than eighty chat rooms and 260,000 users in these illegal chat rooms. This is particularly shocking as considering that Korea has 51,470,000 citizens, 260,000 users would suggest that 1 in 200 Korean citizens were in the Nth Rooms. Now it must be taken into account that one person could have been in multiple chat rooms and therefore the total number may be smaller than 260,000. However some argue that 260,000 was the number of people in the chatrooms discovered and that there could have been more chat rooms that were simply not discovered yet. Also, friends could have shared an account together as prices for entry to these rooms were expensive, ranging from 150,000 won to 800,000 won. The sheer scale of this online pedophilial ring has led many people to question why it took so long for this to be given serious attention by the police force. In addition, there is a lot of frustration as to whether participants in this crime will be punished accordingly. As this type of digital sexual abuse is a completely new type of crime, there are no
specific laws that dictate how participants should be punished and to what degree. Punishments are decided upon in comparison to other similar crimes and lawmakers must evaluate whether digital sexual abuse is as traumatic and damaging to the victim as other types of sexual abuse such as rape. It is worth noting that although digital sexual abuse could leave lasting psychological damage to the victims and affect the victim’s chances at a normal life severely, it was not carried out physically by an offender. This might mean the criminals get a light sentence. Additionally, the stigma that follows victims of sexual abuse means that victims are hesitant to step forward to give their testimony of what happened in fear of being shunned by family and friends. This means that there is likely to be many more victims of the Nth Room who suffer in silence and perpetrators who will be able to get away with a lighter sentence. This unprecedented type of crime that comes with the digital age has left the legal system with a blank. Let us hope that the future holds promise of stronger laws and more protection for our youth.
11
The Arrest of Harvey Weinstein and the Significance of the #MeToo Movement Stella Han Y9 Noro Who is Harvey Weinstein? Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein is a former film producer and a convicted sex offender. He won an Academy Award for producing Shakespeare in Love and seven Tony Awards for plays and musicals including The Producers, Billy Elliot the Musical, and August: Osage County. Ironically, as a famous public figure, he has fired the starting pistol for the MeToo movement to go around the world. What is he accused of? Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault, on Feburery 24th 2020. Since October 2017, dozens of women have come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct including rape against Weinstein. Weinstein was found guilty of committing a first-degree criminal sexual act against a production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006 and of the third-degree rape of an aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013.
12
How was he convicted? Allegations against Weinstein began to emerge in October 2017, when the New York Times first reported incidents dating back decades. In October 2017, following sexual abuse allegations, Weinstein was dismissed from his company and expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Weinstein issued an apology acknowledging he had “caused a lot of pain�, but disputed the charges against him. As dozens of more accusations emerged, Weinstein was sacked by the board of his company and banished from Hollywood. A criminal investigation was launched in New York in late 2017, but Weinstein was not charged until May 2018 when he turned himself into police. During his trial, he was accused of forcing oral sex in 2006, rape in 2013. However, he was only prosecuted in 2020. Six women took the witness stand in the rape trial
of Harvey Weinstein to offer descriptive accounts of how he had assaulted them in the last 30 years. Two women were main witnesses of the case, their accusations representing the main five charges against Weinstein, of which two were rape cases, one of forcible oral sex and two of predatory sexual assault. The actress Annabella Sciorra, as the third witness, gave a testimony on the predatory sexual assault charge. Although Weinstein denied all charges, Weinstein’s trial is significant as the women stood up to voice out and to stand up for themselves, which wasn’t common in countless cases of sexual assault due to social taboo and criticism. Why did it take so long? The investigations of sex crimes are often unsuccessful and statistics show that only 46% of rapes occuring in the United States are being reported to the police and only 9% of those reported, result in prosecution. In the case of Harvey Weinstein, many aspiring actresses were unable to speak out for themselves, due to the suspect’s social status, in fear that speaking out would hinder their career. Even when women choose to speak out and start the prosecution, sex crimes are often hard to prove. Yet, it is crucial for women to know that their voices
have power and that it will be listened to. Because Sexual abuse is aninherently private act , it is wholly reliant on the victim’s testimony. The origin of the #MeToo movement In 2006, Activist Tarana Burke founds the nonprofit organization Just Be Inc., to serve survivors of sexual harassment and abuse. Burke called her nonprofit’s movement “Me Too.” The phrase has been reignited as the slogan of the anti-sexual harassment movement. In many cases of sexual assaults, we tried to find the victim and go on about why they were harassed, what they did which got them harassed, without realising that we should have been talking about what the perpetrator did was inhumane and wrong. With the MeToo movement countless convicts were brought to the table and we were able to see that sexual harassment often happened in relationships with power imbalance. This made it very hard for the victim to speak up. The #MeToo movement was significant as it created an environment where women could start reclaiming rights over their own autonomy and demand for closures.
Discrimination In Arts • Book Review: The Bell Jar • The Tale of Misogyny • Dua Lipa- Boys Will Be Boys • Sexism in K-Pop
Book Review: The Bell Jar Sophia Park Y8 Jeoji
The novel The Bell Jar by Sylvia Path is about a woman called Esther Greenwood, who suffers a mental illness. Through Esther’s experience, Sylvia Path explores the idea of feminism.
16
The first message is stereotypes are broken in this story. Many see females as a fragile, calm and elegant gender. But, the book claims it is just a misconception. Both genders are capable of doing the same things. It isn’t like one gender to be destined to do one particular job. However, history displays the females as the weaker gender, enforcing passive attitudes on modern women. The passive attitudes make females think that they are only doing certain things that won’t cause a lot of trouble. This makes others think that females should always keep in place, and not go to any other places where they are not settled. The second message is that a woman should also be able to search for her own identity. Esther goes to find out who she really is -- a process that everyone goes through in their lives. But in the setting of the
novel, it isn’t appreciated for women to find her identity. The society’s definition of a “successful woman” was a great housewife who follows the rules of the household, and nothing more. Despite the strong feminist message in the story, there are some parts that are not appropriate. Some argue that this book only discusses white feminism, refusing to classify The Bell Jar as a feminist book. White feminism is a branch of feminism that only regards the comfort and safety of white or uppermiddle-class women, sometimes at the expense of women of colour or of the lower class. Like this, throughout the story, when Esther is looking through her reflection, she tends to compare with other races. I think The Bell Jar is a fine book to learn about the key concepts of feminism. However, women need to support each other, not take one down. To support each other, I believe is the concept left out in this novel.
17
The Tale of Misogyny Una Ahn Y10 Mulchat Misogyny: ingrained prejudice against women
Once upon a time, there was a girl who had personal problems, like family issues, or happening to be the target of a murder. Then there was a hero who appeared out of nowhere and kissed her. Unbelievably enough, his kiss solved all of the girl’s problems. The girl is saved and they live happily ever after. Oh, a familiar story? Yes, you just heard the summary of the “Tale of misogyny” by Disney. Or you might have heard it by its other name, “Disney princesses”. Our childhoods were built upon Disney movies and characters. Their movies are overwhelmingly great. Of course, there are movies from Disney that warm our hearts. But even Disney has produced movies that may not be suitable for children; they carry quite shocking statements which could lead to discrimination and prejudice towards women. Let’s take a look at these characters. They come from different regions and have different skin colors. But there
18
is one thing that connects them all. The similarity between these princesses is that they all carry horrifying misogynistic messages. Let’s look at them one by one. Ariel the little mermaid gives up her tail, her voice and her life with her family for a prince she’s just met for the first time. The same prince ends up saving her life and they live happily ever after. Belle falls in love with a monster who kidnapped her father and held her hostage. Cinderella gets chosen by Prince Charming solely based on her looks, which is what gets her out of her toxic family. Jasmine is a victim in a male dominated society where she is forced to marry a prince. Snow White is saved from a poisonous apple choking her by a prince who kisses her because... she was beautiful. Sleeping beauty is saved from her curse by a prince who kisses her. (Sidenote - Sleeping beauty(1991) was the first film in which Disney hired a female animator.) These characters tell us that we all need a charming
prince who will save us from ‘danger’ and that we will be saved if we are pretty and succeed in making them fall in love with us. So they all fall in love with a man. Can you name a character from above who doesn’t kiss her prince? They all kiss and date men, which helps them get away with danger or their problems. All of their stories are about waiting for a prince who will rescue them which makes them a codependent person. There is not a single movie about a prince who sleeps, waiting for a princess to rescue him, or a prince who is in risk of getting murdered. These movies are all about putting women in danger so that so-called “princes” can save them from it. What makes these problems worse is that Disney’s main audience is children. The children will grow up watching to be taught by the movies from a young age that certain genders have to act certain ways, not for themselves but
19
for others. So after making all these misogynistic movies, some people started to realize that maybe these movies shouldn’t be shown to children. In 2012, Disney made Princess Merida, a headstrong and independent character who is not afraid to solve her own problems. Princess Merida was the first Disney princess not to end up with a love interest. In 2013, for the first time ever in the 90 years of their existence, they finally released the movie Frozen, the first Disney film about two independent female characters who have solid identities of their own. Also, Aladdin, the biggest Disney movie of 2019, was also about an independent female character who solves the problem she is facing by herself. It is also interesting to note that Jasmine, not Aladdin, ends up as Sultan. Disney’s tale of misogyny is not yet finished, but it is coming to an end. After all, we don’t need Prince Charming.
20
Princess Jasmine in Disney’s new Aladdin movie is no longer a damsel in distress. Directly standing up against her malevolent (and sexist) uncle, she eventually becomes the sultan of Agrabah herself. Her song Speechless, which harshly criticises the society’s tendency to silence women, is recognised by many as one of the best Disney songs. - Editors -
Dua Lipa’s Boys Will Be Boys Sunny Baek Y11 Mulchat
Boys will be boys is the final track on Dua Lipa’s newest album Future Nostalgia(2020). In her song Dua Lipa points out the double standard society has for girls versus boys over an easy light melody. Dua Lipa starts with ‘it’s second nature to walk home before the sun goes down’, grabbing her audience’s attention with a line many would be able to sympathise with. She points out ‘we smile away to ease the tension so it don’t go south,’ highlighting how girls frequently feel like they have to smile even though they feel uncomfortable because they feel pressure to act like clueless bimbos who aren’t ‘overly sensitive’. This also reminds her audience of the many times men have jokingly said, ‘It’s so dark here with all of these guys; we need girls to brighten up the atmosphere’, or ‘you’re prettiest when you smile’ as if girls are mere decoration, not human beings with cognitive thinking or emotions.
The chorus ‘boys will be boys/but girls will be women’ contrasts how even grown men are often excused from immature or rude behavior as ‘boys will be boys’ whereas girls are treated as young women and held to a higher standard from a much younger age. Girls are sexualised and catcalled at. They are told that they must be more mature than boys who are their own age. They must have better handwriting, be better organised, be better dressed. After all, they’re girls, not boys. They receive harsher attention for what boys would have been easily excused for with the phrase ‘boys will be boys’. Some may say that this song overly focuses on the plights of young girls when young boys face discrimination too. However, Lipa’s message throughout this song is not that girls have it harder than boys. Her statement is that there is a clear double standard in the way society treats its youngsters and that this must be changed. She tackles the rather sensitive topics of societal double standards and sexual harassment with the ease of a master chef flipping a pancake. It seems like we have a new anthem.
23
Sexism in K-POP Angelina Lee Y11 Noro
1.
2PM 10점 만점에 10점 (Ten out of Ten) Korean lyrics (lyrics by Hitman Bang): 뒷모습이 너무 사람을 괴롭게 해 착한 나를 자꾸 나쁜 맘을 먹게 해
Translation: Her back silhouette makes me so distressed It makes (good) me want to do bad things
To begin with, labelling a woman’s body with a score is a despicable example of objectifying women. In the lyrics, the boy speaking does not know her, yet he is so “in love” with her that he constantly blurts out his evaluation of her body. The real problem lies in the lines translated above. The boy speaking claims that she is actually responsible for “making” him (originally good-hearted) want to do bad things, because she is the one with the beautiful back. This simple line links to the widely controversial issue of whether or not the victim of a sex crime is responsible for the crime happening. It has been common for people to criticise victims for wearing short skirts, revealing too much skin, and even having a beautiful back. But according to a research conducted in 2007 with 272 perpetrators of sex crimes, attractiveness of a victim’s appearance scored the lowest of all possible factors that might contribute to the crime. After all, you cannot devour someone else’s loaf of bread without permission and then blame the baker afterwards for making it look so delicious.
24
2.
지코 (Zico) Boys and Girls Korean lyrics (lyrics by Zico): 아름다운 여자는 대접 받아야 해
Translation: A beautiful woman should be treated well
It is natural for people to have a favourable impression of people who are physically attractive, regardless of their gender. Yet, in all forms of art, it is undeniably easier to find an example of a girl being commented on her beauty -- like this one -- than a boy in such circumstance. It is as if the media are taking the lead in solidifying the unwritten rule of ‘appearance’ being the first criteria when assessing a woman. Of course, individuals may have their own solid opinions about how a beautiful woman should be received. But we should remember that saying so could very easily be misinterpreted as saying that women who do not fit societal beauty standards do not deserve to be treated well.
3.
AOA 짧은 치마 (Miniskirt) Korean lyrics (lyrics by Brave Brothers, Chakun): 난 아직도 쓸만한데 너는 왜 날 헌 신 짝 보듯이 해
Translation: I am still fit for use So why do you look at me like a wornout shoe
This song is about a girl who thinks her boyfriend does not recognise her value and attractiveness; therefore she decides to dress herself in a miniskirt, black stockings, and heels. The basic idea of a girl having to enhance her worth as a girlfriend by dressing in sexually revealing clothes is highly degrading, which links to the issue of women being viewed as sexual objects and not as individuals. The lyrics translated above fortify this notion, as she compares herself to a “worn-out shoe”, and keeps appealing to her boyfriend that she is still “fit for use”.
25
4. 효민 (Hyomin) Nice Body Korean lyrics (lyrics by Brave Brothers): 여자라면 누구나 노출을 원해요 (중략) 사랑할 거야 더 보여줄 거야 (중략) 내 몸맨 nice nice body (중략) 남자라면 한 번쯤 야한 생각을 해요 그게 나였으면 좋겠어 그랬으면 좋겠어
Translation: Any girl would want to reveal her skin …-... I will love more, I will show more [of myself] …-... My body’s a nice nice body …-... Any body has erotic thoughts once in a while I want it to be [about] me, I want it.
I couldn’t believe that Brave Brothers even made Hyomin sing this song. With the singer dancing with a tape measure as a prop for all stage performances, this song is about a girl who has a “nice body”. The song starts with a line that makes a presumptuous assumption that “any girl would want to reveal her skin”. Having successfully endured the opening, I had to stop the music when I heard the line “I will be in love, I will show more [of myself]”. The two sentences, side to side and repeating the same melody, suggest that the idea of being in love (i.e. being in a relationship) is parallel to the girl showing more of herself, as if the girl revealing more body parts is essential in making her loved. The second verse starts with a statement about “any boy”. If you think this is an assumption as unsubstantiated as the one before and believe that you can provide a counterexample, feel free to contact us. But that’s not what I want to talk about. The fact that the girl secretly wishes that those erotic thoughts be about her, opposed to what she says about it, reminds me of the presumptuous phrase: “No means yes”, which is used in order to justify coercive actions on women such as but not limited to sex crimes. It may feel like a big jump to go from “erotic thoughts” to sex crimes, but these lines certainly show how this male lyricist thinks that a woman dresses in short skirts because she wishes to make herself the target of unknown boys’ erotic thoughts, and this is outrageous.
26
“
Apart from some Middle East countries, gender equality has been achieved.
Only 6 countries give women equal legal work rights as men. The World Bank’s recent Women, Buisiness and the Law report measured gender discrimination in 187 countries. It found that only Belgium, Denmark, France, Latvia, Luxembourg and Sweden scored full marks on eight indicators - from receiving a pension to freedom of movement - influencing economic decisions women make during their careers. A typical economy only gives women three-quarters the rights of men in the measured areas.
Gender pay gap in South Korea in 2018, by occupation (in million South Korean won) Managers Professionals and associate professionals Clerical support workers
Service workers Sales workers Skilled agricultural forestry workers Craft and related trades workers Plant and machine operators, and assembles
Elementary occupations Sources: Statistics Korea: MODEL (South Korea) @ Statistics 2019 Additional Information: South Korea: MODEL (South Korea); 2018
Opinion • Korea’s Gender Gap: 108th or 10th? • Laws, No More than a Cobweb
Korea’s Gender Gap: 108th or 10th? Sunny Baek Y11 Mulchat
Whenever there is debate on the status of Korean women, there are two pieces of evidence that never fail to appear: the Gender Gap Index and the Gender Inequality Index. Something that has been causing a significant number of controversy is the fact that women’s rights in Korea ranks 108th in the world according to the World Economic Forum(Gender Gap Index, 2020) and 10th according to the United Nations Development Programme(Gender Inequality Index, 2018*). Surely that means that one of them is fake? Unbelievably enough, both of these indicators are accurate assessors of the status of women in Korea. The problem arises because these two indexes measure completely different things. The Gender Gap Index (WEF) measures women’s position in politics and in the workforce
32
relative to the men in their respective countries. As the Korean female workforce earns 63% of what Korean men earn and women make up only 17% of the National Assembly, it makes sense that Korea ranks 108th in the Gender Gap Index. On the other hand, the Gender Inequality Index measures women’s health and education through absolute evaluation without taking into account how healthy or well educated men in their respective countries are. As proven through the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, South Korea has extensive healthcare infrastructure that provides for much of its citizens’ needs and the expected lifespan for Koreans is 82.6 years. Additionally, due to the heavy focus Koreans place upon education, the mean years of schooling Koreans go through is 12.2 years, which is slightly higher than the OECD average
of 12.0 years and our literacy rate is one of the world’s highest. So it does make sense that Korea ranked 10th according to the Gender Inequality Index as we do have a stable healthcare system and a rigorous education system in place. However, we must remember that the GII is an absolute measure that does not take into account women’s position in relation to men. Maybe if the Gender Inequality Index took into account women’s healthcare and education compared to men’s healthcare and education, Korea’s rank would be different. In other words, South Korean women are provided with good healthcare and education, yet their position in the national society remains painfully subordinate. We must continue to investigate the reason for this and address the issues of gender inequality in sociopolitics in order to break Korea’s glass ceiling.
33
Laws, No More Than a Cobweb Shona Park Y9 Noro
The recent incident of the Nth room provoked the questioning of South Korea’s degree of punishment on sex crimes. Many young girls and boys nowadays are preyed upon by anonymous sex criminals and the situation has worsened to the point where victims have attempted to take their own life. However, these incidents are kept covered in an intoxicating bubble that silences the situation and prevents it from being revealed to the public. Laws made with the purpose of preserving freedom and moral agency might as well be acting as a barrier for innocent children from reaching out for help. Looking back at incidents of sexual violence in South Korea over the years, we can easily identify cases where offenders of horrid sex crimes were given unreasonably light sentences. One of the outrageous incidents that flipped South Korea upside down was in 2008 when 56-year-old Cho Doo-Soon was given the sentence of mere 12 years in prison for kidnapping, battering, choking, torturing, and raping an 8-year-old girl. The victim of the crime suffered a Thirddegree Disability. Her trauma was not limited to physical damages; she has mentally agonized. Cho, an unemployed 56 years man at the time, had initially been sentenced to life in prison, only to successfully cut down the duration of his
34
sentence at his second trial using the remarkable excuse of his drunkenness. (South Korean law considers insobriety as the same state of mind as a mental illness, which can be a factor of commutation of punishment.) The public watching the trial was agonized by the short sentence and many claimed that being sober or not, alcohol can never be a legal defense or any type of excuse for a sexual crime. Taking a brief look at the laws implanted by the other nations, on the matter of sexual crimes, we can see that it is very well restricted. If we look at the punishment on child sexual abuse crimes committed in other countries, we can see that punishments are given with the sensible weight that effectively deters citizens from carrying out the crimes. Even though U.S. laws differ from state to state, the least amount of sentence sex offenders receive is 25 years. Some states go so far as to even allow chemical castration of sex offenders. Through plebiscite, Switzerland legalized deporting sex offenders for eternity from society, hence taking away their human rights and privilege of belonging to a nation. China uses the death penalty on these criminals without any defense for sex offenders who committed any sort of sexual crime to people aged below 14. But what about South
Korea? The illogical method of decrease in sentences through the legal defense of alcohol and appellate trials never help to solve these situations but rather worsen them. Enforcement on these big crimes may not seem particularly relatable to our everyday lives on this island of Jeju. However, it is not as distant a subject matter as it looks. There was a very recent incident of a teacher from a school of GEC (not to be specified) being accused of sexually harassing 4 students against their will. Although the initial sentence was 5 years in prison, it led to a trial on an appeal case resulting in a discharge after 9 months. Laws. They exist in order to protect the rights and liberty of citizens, building a better foundation for society. Yet, they are not proven to be particularly helpful nor effective in these dreadful occasions. Instead, they are acting as barriers to the victims, ostracizing those who are in desperate need as laws never help but instead humiliate them. Imposing harsher punishments on sexual crimes is what our society needs to work on as a community so that we can prevent further crimes from happening.
35
Crossword Sunny Baek Y11 Mulchat
38
Across 2. The right to vote in political decisions 3. The idea that all human beings deserve equal rights regardless of their gender 8. A system of society or government in which the father or eldest male is head of the family and descent is traced through the male line 9. When the belief in women’s inferiority becomes part of one’s own worldview and self-concept 11. Something that forces you to relive a trauma 12. An individualistic form of feminist theory, which focuses on women’s ability to maintain their equality through their own actions and choices Down 1. The understanding of how women’s overlapping identities -- including race, class, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation and disability status -- impact the way they experience oppression and discrimination 4. A perspective within feminism that calls for a radical reordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts 5. The advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes 6. The idea that some people in society are advantaged over others 7. To manipulate (someone) by psychological means into questioning their own sanity 10. Dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women
39
Will her outfit be a dealbreaker for him? Jaywon Yoon Y11 Mulchat
Today is the day! I’m finally buying new summer clothes with Emily! “Mom! Where is Emily?” “She might be outside with Tom. Go and check if they are still on a date.” “I will!” I quickly ran to the playground. Phew... Just how much time I spent looking for them... Breathing roughly, I found Tom and Emily together on the bench of the playground. “What? You can’t say that to me!” A sharp sound caught my ears. They were fighting. I reached out slowly to the backside of the playground. Then I heard Emily talking angrily. “I love dressing up the way that suits me and you have no say in what I wear!” “Why can’t you understand? Your outfit is too skimpy. Other people will keep looking at you and I hate my girlfriend to be watched like that.”
40
“DO YOU KNOW THAT THIS IS A FORM OF DATING ABUSE?!” Emily seemed to be angry but also disappointed in her boyfriend. “..WHAT?? Did you see that man next door just now? He gave you a weird glance while we were walking together.” “This is making me very upset. If that man giving me a look is the problem, then you should be angry at him. I don’t get why you are angry at me.” Then there was silence. I slowly reached out and shouted: “Emily! We have to go now!” When she saw me, she came running to me and gave a tight hug. Carefully, I asked, “Are you okay?” “..I’m fine.” “ What was all that screaming about?”
41
Trying to calm herself down, she said, “He really has to understand that what I wear is solely mwwy decision. He keeps wanting to control that -- that’s a form of dating abuse.” After a while, we arrived at the outlet and did some shopping. After we bought all of our clothes, she asked me “Do you also think my clothes are too… skimpy?” “Not at all! I like your style and nobody has the right to stop you from wearing what you like.” Then she gave me a nice smile and said, “That’s my boy.”
42
Thank you for showing an interest in our magazine. Any questions or opinions, feel free to contact : herstorynlcsj@gmail.com We appreciate your feedback.
43
START THE CHANGE Remember that feminism is about gender equality and NOT about female chauvinism (female superiority). Recognise that gender equality has NOT been achieved in any of the countries on Earth. Do not be afraid to stand up and declare feminist just because you want to be in the ‘majority’. First Edition June 2020
