A court in South Korea has acquitted a woman convicted six decades ago for biting off part of a man’s tongue during an alleged sexual assault, after she challenged the ruling, inspired by the country’s #MeToo movement.
Choi Mal-ja was 19 in 1964 when she was attacked by a 21-year-old man in the southern town of Gimhae. He pinned her to the ground and repeatedly forced his tongue into her mouth, at one point blocking her nose to stop her from breathing, according to court records.
Choi managed to break free by biting off 1.5cm of his tongue.
In one of South Korea’s most contentious rulings on sexual violence, the aggressor received only six months in prison, suspended for two years, for trespassing and intimidation – but not attempted rape.
Choi, now 79, was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm and handed a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for two years. That decision was overturned on Wednesday by the Busan district court which ruled her actions constituted “justifiable self-defence” under South Korean law.
These misogynistic movements are filled with incels. Just casting them as misunderstood and cast-off from society is horribly inaccurate. This political division is large and climbing:
Rampant femicide and violence against women is huge and growing to epidemic levels. The fact that there is forced conscription for men is another avenue of misogyny in a way men are also harmed, forced conscription serves as a way for men to collectively have a shared millitarized experience and separate them from the rest of society. It also harms men, yes, but is ultimately a part of the way society is increasingly divided, and is used as justification for violence against women.