7 in 10 female filmmakers experienced sexual harassment: survey

Women in Film Korea released a survey on sexual misconduct in the film industry, Monday. Gettyimagesbank

By Lee Gyu-lee

More than seven out of 10 women working in the film industry have experienced at least one instance of sexual harassment, a recent survey from Women in Film Korea showed Monday.

According to the report, based on a series of surveys on 834 filmmakers and interviews from 41 people working in related fields, about 74.5 percent of women answered they have experienced some sort of sexual harassment or assault. The percentage of men who also answered yes was about 37.9 percent.

Of the misconducts reported, verbal harassment had the highest percentage at 43.8 percent. Verbal harassment included sexually explicit comments about one's appearance, provocative jokes and innuendo. The second-highest was forced drinking at 13.7 percent. Others included unwanted physical contact and forced dates.

Respondents who reported sexual harassment said they have been harassed by men in 81.7 percent of cases, compared to 9 percent caused by women and 4.3 percent who have experienced harassment by both. Male offenders took a much higher percentage for both female and male victims ― 88.7 percent for women and 58.7 percent for men.

The overall percentage of respondents who answered they experienced misconduct stood at 58.3 percent, which increased from that of the 2017 report ― 46.1 percent.

Sociology professor Lee Na-young at Chung-Ang University, who led the survey, explained that this reflects people's willingness to bring sexual assault issues to the surface.

“It does not necessarily mean that more people were victimized (in four years), but rather, more people came to be aware that what they have experienced was sexual assault since the #MeToo movement,” the professor said during an online press conference for the organization's third anniversary, Monday. “This shows that more people are willing to address sex-related crimes now.”

When the survey asked how the victims responded to the misconduct, 51 percent answered they kept it to themselves. About 39.3 percent said they talked to friends or co-workers but still did not take any action.

About 12 percent settled the issues on their own, personally asking for an apology, and 10 percent reached out to production or film organizations for help. Only 0.3 percent made complaints with the police or other outside organizations.

“There are a lot of cases where the victims come to our center after struggling on their own, and learn how they want to resolve issues with our help,” said Lee Ha-kyung, a counselor at the organization. “The discussion on how we should handle these cases itself is very needed in the film industry.”