In the past week, the "N House Incident" shocked South Korea, and related reports were translated into English, Chinese, and Japanese, and they became popular on Twitter and Weibo. Room N is the codename for multiple porn chat rooms on the social software Telegram. It was first established by a high school student nicknamed "godgod" in June 2018. In February 2019, "godgod" handed over room management permissions to " "Watchman", then taken over by "Doctor." "Ph.D." steals women's personal information by publishing phishing links, posing as police officers, posting paid part-time information, etc., and subsequently coerced them to provide extremely cruel and humane sexual exploitation photos and videos; at the same time, he entered the chat room Set thresholds for paying and submitting illegal obscene photos / videos taken by yourself. The higher the payment limit, the larger the scale of content published in the chat room.
According to Korean media reports, 74 women are currently known to be victims, including 16 underage women, and the youngest is only 11 years old. "House N" has more than 260,000 paying members. According to virtual currency transactions, it includes professors, entertainers, sports stars, well-known startup CEOs and other well-known personalities. On March 25, Zhao Zhubin, the "Dr." operator behind "House N", was escorted by the Seoul police to the prosecutor. The 25-year-old male student with outstanding grades and enthusiastic participation in public welfare activities was the first sex crime in South Korea. Criminal suspects who were publicly displayed.
"Doctor" Zhao Zhubin (middle)
South Koreans have called for the statutory maximum sentence for Zhao Zhubin, and also called for the disclosure of the identity of 260,000 paying members. In a country with a population of more than 50 million, the number of 260,000 means that about one in every 100 men has ever watched the above-mentioned obscene content. There is also an "acquaintance abuse room" in "room N". Members send photos of their friends, sisters, wives and other acquaintances to the group, and the managers synthesize nude photos for everyone to enjoy. This has made women both angry and disturbed. The number of signatures of “request for disclosure of the true identity and appearance of all members of Telegram N ’s room” set a record for the history of Korean petitions.
The "House N" incident detonated the condemnation of public opinion, and many men who participated in the "House N" felt uneasy or even "aggrieved". Some paid members said that they were "paying a fee to watch legitimate adult content". Compared with those "lecherous women who uploaded their own body videos," the biggest victim was clearly himself. Men who made similar comments lightly forgot that entering chat rooms was not just a matter of paying. They also had to upload obscene images that they had, that is, they were also accomplices.
We must identify who was the victim of the "House N" incident
In fact, it is not uncommon for male perpetrators to claim to be wronged. In 2018, Trump-nominated Supreme Court Justice Cavano was charged with sexual assault. "This is the hardest time in history to be a man," Trump said at a small press conference. "You are likely to be charged for something you haven't done at all, and then your life is over." "The Daily Show" host and talk show actor Trevor Noah pointed out that the essence of Trump's remarks is the shift of the focus of the victim, and it covers the real victims. Injuries and demands for justice, the inclusion of socially disadvantaged groups to resolve social injustices:
"I personally believe that one of Trump's most powerful wrists is that he knows how to manipulate victims. He knows how to convince the people who are least likely to be victims that he is a victim of anti-sexual harassment. The real victim is a man. This wrist is very powerful. You must know that at the moment he said these words, many men would resonate and be affected by this seditious speech ... His tone sounded as if all men were being Accused, but they created the feeling that everyone would suffer. "
The statement of "male grievance" also makes us see again the absurd and solid "male league" hidden under social events. The public account "Sir Movie" states that none of the 260,000 paying members have chosen to make it public or attempt to report, and due to the access mechanism for uploading new obscene images, chat room members have shared criminal evidence, and all participants have An alliance was formed on this basis. "House N" is actually a derivative of many previously closed pornographic websites. The resurgence of illegal pornographic content on the Internet has allowed men to rationalize their guilt. As a netizen who had previously been active on a pornographic website said: "On this website, women are rarely seen as adults. Because they will not be caught. When you stay there for a long time, your guilt will naturally disappear. Although these behaviors will be scolded on general websites, they are completely the opposite here and will be treated as heroes. "
"The Beijing News · Book Review Weekly" published "South Korea's" House N incident ", why did 260,000 viewers become" collusion "? ", Analyzes the patriarchal social foundation formed by the" Male League ". The article quotes the view of the American jurist Katherine McKinnon that under the traditional patriarchal system, sex is the most core factor for women's repression, exploitation and intimidation. On the one hand, women are exchanged as commodities between men (societies) and men. On the other hand, men suppress their subjectivity through the dual opposition of "saint / slut" to women, and protect the personal and collective interests of men from infringement. As for men, they gain honor through "sex" or sexual performance, and self-proven masculinity.
The article believes that the significant feature of the incident is that as an online organization that can join as long as it recognizes the logic of pornographic consumption and sexual exploitation, these online chat rooms virtually wipe out all other identities of men in real life-husbands, fathers , Brothers, friends, colleagues-and only retained the "male" identity, which makes these organizations "purer" and more "unified" than ordinary "brotherhood." This is why 260,000 people participated but no one reported it. Within the organization, what promotes the formation of alliances between men and deepens their common interests is the constant otherification of women, making sexual exploitation of women a lubricant for alliances. It's worth noting that this is just the most extreme show of male alliances online; in real life, this "solidarity" also exists widely, such as the "boys club" that uses yellow paragraphs to drive women out of the workplace.
"Men's League" in the workplace is not uncommon
The imperfect legal system is an important reason why this oppressive gender power structure is maintained and cyber crimes against women are constantly repeating themselves. The "Knight Island" article states that the penalties for cyber-sex crimes are light in current Korean law. Article 11 of the "Youth Sex Protection Law" stipulates that those who hold material for sexual exploitation of minors shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than one year or a fine of not more than 20 million won (approximately 115,000 yuan); "Sexual Violence Criminal Penalties and Related Exception Laws" Article 14 stipulates that the act of secretly capturing and disseminating the privacy of others will be punished by a term of imprisonment of less than 5 years; if the other party's consent is obtained when photographing, only the photography content is distributed or sold without authorization, a term of imprisonment of less than 3 years or 5 million won (approximately 29,000 yuan) fine. South Korea's "Jingxiang News" quoted South Korean MP MP Cangyuan's analysis as saying that although Zhao Zhubin's crime is very bad, according to current Korean law, he can only be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years. South Korean prosecutors demanded a three-year and six-month prison sentence for the second-generation operator "Watchman" of "House N." The sneak shot website "Soranet" even has the main criminal not arrested.
It is also worth noting the renewed allegations of "sedition against sex" in public opinion detonated by the "House N incident". Those who hold this view believe that women face excessive panic and overcorrection when faced with gender crimes involving only a few people, and have wronged most "good men." What we need to call here is that both men and women should give up gender-opposed thinking, but they should treat all social injustices equally and cut off from all acts that violate laws and public order and good customs, instead of watching indifferently.
Fortunately, some men have begun to reflect on the unreasonable privileges that men enjoy in the structure of gender power. The public account "Hall No. 3 Ticket Checking Staff" published the article "Male Perspective on Room N Incident". The author pointed out that the reason why "House N Incident" transcended national borders also caused a fierce public opinion reflection in the Chinese Internet because of East Asia The female group is facing the same dilemma, and the "House N" is a qualitative outbreak of long-term injustice and stigma against women. Men need to have a premise to deal with their sexual desires, that is, their pleasure and satisfaction cannot be based on women's pain. All participants in Room N ignore this and treat women as the desire to be gazed. object. He believes that in a normal and healthy sexual relationship, men should treat women as someone who exists as themselves; restrain their prostitution and offense; and no longer just let women be careful or shut up in the face of sexual crimes. Women work together to resist crime and offenders; most importantly, women are given the right to make their own decisions.