When it comes to sexual harassment, many people tend to restrain themselves from calling for help, and people are reluctant to let others know that they have experienced it because people are afraid of others’ eyes. Is this a good way to solve the problem? Lee Eun-eui, who wrote two books regarding sexual harassment and the labor problem of women in Korea, now works as a lawyer. She gave us some advice on how to deal with the situation.-Ed.

I was very ordinary when I was young

  Some people say that I must have had a special childhood, but actually I was just an ordinary child and student. I was also the youngest of the family, and I lived inside a bubble. Speaking of my school days, I was an introvert from when I was in elementary school to high school. When I applied for some universities after graduating from high school, I failed to enter the university that I really wanted to enter, so I had to look for another university. Since I wasn’t confident if I could restart my high school studies, I just decided to enter Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and specialized in Portuguese language, as my test score dictated. After entering the university, I couldn’t concentrate on my studies because it wasn’t what I wanted to study. In order to avoid getting low grades in my major, I made up my mind to minor in law, which was when I encountered for the first time. While I was studying both majors, one of my professors suggested by chance that I go abroad for training, and I accepted the proposal willingly. During the training period, I learned about how to stand on my own two feet, which marked a turning point in my life. I used to seek only safe things before going abroad, but I realized that I like challenging things and I found myself enjoying doing those things throughout the training period. Fortunately, I finished the training safely, and as soon as I graduated from university, I got to enter the company named Samsung.

‘Live in Samsung’ and ‘It is Okay to be Sensitive’

  The first book is about my story from when I entered Samsung to when I resigned. While I worked for the company, sometimes, I was treated unfairly compared to men, but I could endure the discrimination as long as I tried to keep calm. However, once I experienced sexual harassment from my superior, I couldn’t continue working with him, so at first, I tried to get some help from others. However, the people around me just ignored it and overlooked the situation. Therefore, I decided to accuse the man of sexual harassment. Since then, the company changed their attitude and tried to dissuade me from accusing him because it could give the company a bad reputation, but I didn’t stop and carried on the fight. Finally, I won the case and left the company. As a result of it, I started to write a book based on my own experience. Speaking of the other book, an editor working for a publishing company visited me in person and suggested that I write the book and publish it. At that time, I hesitated to accept the proposal because I didn’t know what to write about. As soon as the editor noticed me looking confused, she suggested writing about my present story as a lawyer, and I took her proposal. Even though I became a lawyer, I still lacked experience, so I had to wait until I went through many cases so that I could write the book in more detail.

Express your thoughts and feelings!

  In Korea, many people are suffering from sexual harassment, so I’d like to tell them how to prevent it. First of all, I would strongly advise against enduring it because it is very important to express your thoughts and feelings about the situation.  For example, let’s say that there is a woman who has gotten sexually harassed for a long time by a man. If she doesn’t let him know how she feels about his behavior, he will think that it is okay to treat her the way he has treated her. Therefore, she has to express how she feels, otherwise, he won’t stop doing it and his behavior will get worse than before. It doesn’t only apply to a woman; it can also happen to a man. But above all, in order to express your feelings well, you’d better know about yourself first.

Get counseling and report it to the police!

  If you get sexually harassed, it would be best to go to a counselor for advice and call the police as soon as possible. I strongly recommend that other people around the person who was sexually harassed not give useless advice on it but encourage her or him to meet an expert in the field. Otherwise, her or his condition will get worse and they can lose the golden time to prove the accident.

Don’t record private videos!

  Unlike the past, many young couples are very open about love, and sometimes they record video footage of sex. The problem is that the video footage can be posted on the internet by someone, and it can spread rapidly. Then, the couples will be so mentally damaged. Since I became a lawyer, I have dealt with those kinds of cases a lot, but even when I catch a suspect who uploaded a video and the suspect is punished for doing it, the damage to the couples won’t disappear easily and will last for a long time. So if you did record any sexual video footage with your partner, erase it from your phone immediately, and try not to do it again.

By Lee Seong-ho
shl36@cbnu.ac.kr
By Kim Soo-min
sm36@cbnu.ac.kr