In South Korea, there is a massive problem with molka (secret filming with a sexual nature). People hide the cameras in all sorts of places, including showerheads, public toilets, anywhere you could imagine.
In 2009, all pornography websites were banned and the distribution of pornographic content is punishable by either a fine or a prison sentence. Even though it is not illegal for an individual to download, watch or store pornographic content, these laws make it very difficult for anyone to find it. This is one of the main reasons people resort to using molka as they feel it satisfies their needs.
This is such a horrible situation as it can really affect so many peoples lives.
‘South Korea: woman reportedly kills herself after being secretly filmed by doctor’ (Taylor, J., 2019)
This woman found out that she was being secretly filmed by her doctor in a hospital change room, which resulted in her having trauma and natures after the incident.
Sadly, it is now very common for people, women especially, as they constantly feel as if they are being watched due to this ‘voyeurism epidemic’ (Taylor, J. 2019)
‘There were 32,000 cases of sexual violence reported to police in 2017, compared to 16,000 in 2008, according to data from the National Police Agency.’ (Jeong, S., 2019)
‘Of the 16,201 people arrested between 2012 and 2017 for making illegal recordings, 98% were men; 84% of the 26,000 recorded victims over that period were women.’ (McCurry J, 2018)
After watching Stacey Dooley’s documentary, it was made quite apparent that most women try to stay away from men due to fears of being assaulted, this is so sad and seems like it can only make the molka situation worse as the men do not feel as if their needs are satisfied. Not only this, but from what I gathered from the documentary, those who have been found guilty of this crime, do not necessarily think they have done any wrong.
They have dedicated teams to find hidden molka in South Korea now due to how large of problem it is.
At the end of the documentary, there were some stats that really shocked me.
‘Scotland made Upskirting illegal in 2010, England and Wales made upskirting illegal in 2019, Upskirting is not yet a specific offence in Northern Ireland.’
‘Upskirting is the act of taking a sexually intrusive photograph up someone's skirt without their permission.’ (O’Malley, K. 2019)
This must be such a horrible thing to live with, knowing how big the crime rates are in this area and how anything these people do could ruin their lives and I can imagine it makes them so scared to live a normal life where to do not feel as if anything could be held against them or anything similar.
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