Revenge Pornography: [noun] sexually suggestive images of someone, typically a former romantic partner, that are posted online or otherwise shared without the person’s consent. (dictionary.com)
Recently, a former member of a girl group in Korea was revealed that she is embroiled with an assault case. At first, people leveled an accusation at her, saying she is the culprit. This is due to her ex-boyfriend’s false statement. He claimed, “The assault was one-sided by her.” He further explained, “If she was bruised, it was only due to the physical contact made as I tried to calm her down when she was hitting and scratching me.” Since she remained silent, the public opinion leaned in favor of the ex-boyfriend’s false statement. However, it was later reported that she had been being threatened by her ex with the revenge pornography. Since she is a celebrity, she wanted to keep it secret.
What made her make such a decision? First of all, being a celebrity implies that she is a widely known figure. If revenge pornography had been released and shared in public, her life as a woman would be destroyed. She would handle all the sexual harassment all by herself. The main problem is that the law does not heavily punish culprits. For now, the punishment regarding revenge pornography is stated as the following regulation. The criminals will be either sentenced at most three years or fined up to five million won if the video is taken with consent. Out of all the penalties, the ratio of monetary penalty accounts for 60 to 70 percent. Some people pointed out that the penalty is too light. Hence, the government has proposed “Digital Sex Crime Damage Prevention Comprehensive Measure.” According to the measure when the video is shared without consent, then there will be the only imprisonment for punishment. What criminals deserve is not a minor fine, but a proper punishment.
In 2018, ranging from individuals to public figures, all walks of life took part to speak out their experience of suffering the violation of human rights. Since then, human rights awareness has been shifted. In a similar manner, it could be a time to have stronger regulation for digital sex crime criminals. The truth of assault is unknown since the investigation is still ongoing. However, there are still a lot of people who are suffering from such videos. There is a desperate need for better regulation in our society.