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Recently, reports that a teenage entertainer had been sexually assaulted drew widespread media attention. At around 2 a.m., the head of her agency allegedly assaulted her in his car while saying, “Let’s go to a motel together tonight.” He denied the allegation, saying, “Nothing like that ever happened.” On the 13th, he was charged with sexual assault without being detained.
The teenage entertainer reportedly suffered severe stress over the incident and recently attempted suicide. As she wrote on her personal website, must another female entertainer die before this ends?
The case inevitably brings to mind the late Jang Ja-yeon. Jang reportedly endured persistent pressure from her agency head to provide sexual favors, as well as physical abuse. Unable to bear it any longer, she left a note describing her suffering before taking her own life. Yet despite her efforts to expose the abuse, prosecutors did not indict the influential figures accused of demanding sexual favors from her. The agency head, a man surnamed Kim, received a one-year prison sentence suspended for two years.
Sexual Violence Against So-Called ‘Sexy Women’
The teenage entertainer recently gained attention after winning an award in a “Good Glamour” contest. She also became known for provocative remarks on a cable program, including “Your teens are the best time to take your clothes off” and “It’s disgusting to see older models posing for bikini photo shoots.”
Although she said the agency had told her what to say and that the remarks were not her own, they spread rapidly through the media. The publicity helped establish her image as a sexually open “Good Glamour” model. But that image also became a burden, leading to a dispute with her agency over what was true.
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The controversy surrounding her recalls Uee (Kim Yu-jin) of After School, who became famous for her so-called “honey thighs.” Being described in those terms helped propel Uee to stardom by turning her body into an object of attention. But on a variety show, she recounted how a male fan touched her thigh as she came offstage, leaving her upset.
Uee’s account of the assault received far less attention than the “honey thighs” label, but it is revealing. Female entertainers may gain popularity through sexualized portrayals, yet those same portrayals can leave them vulnerable to sexual violence.
It is disturbing to see female entertainers who became popular under labels such as “Good Glamour” and “honey thighs” later speak of experiencing sexual violence.
Uee has recently gained popularity through her “cool woman” image in a soju advertisement. The problem is that some men interpret that image as sexual availability. Too many still wrongly assume that a woman seen as “sexy” must be sexually open, and that sexual contact without her consent therefore cannot be assault.
That assumption is false, and it bears repeating. Sexual violence against women labeled “sexy” can also reinforce a vicious cycle of conservative sexual standards that pressure women to be “modest.”
Adults Who Treat Teenagers as Sexual Objects
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As concern about sexual violence against children has grown, the country has stepped up efforts to protect them. Sales of personal safety products have surged, and more parents meet their children on the way home. Yet teenage entertainers on television seem to fall outside this concern.
Amid the boom in girl groups, teenage performers are made up to look like adults and presented as more sexually provocative than adults. Behind their glamorous on-screen appearances, however, are exhausting schedules, scrutiny of their private lives and a lack of sufficient time for education.
Reports of agency heads exploiting teenagers’ lack of power to commit sexual violence or pressure them into nude shoots are nothing new. Yet little seems to have changed. Shouldn’t adults look beyond teenage entertainers’ glamorous appearances on TV and pay attention to their real lives behind the stage?
Recently, I read an interview in which the stars of
