Elderly Sexual Assault Crimes Are Fiction? The Man Defining Victimhood in the Movie '69 Years Old' [Kim Ga-yeon's Twisted Perspective]

Film '69 Years Old' Addressing Sexual Violence Against Elderly Women Released on the 20th
Some Men Claim "Victim in Her 60s? Delusional"... Malicious Criticism and Rating Attacks
Experts Say "Sexual Desire and Intentional Sexual Crime Are Different... Misunderstanding the Essence of Sexual Violence"

A still image from the movie "69 Years Old," which tells the story of a 69-year-old woman named Hyojeong (played by Yesujeong) who was sexually assaulted by a 29-year-old male assistant. Photo by Naver Movie

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ga-yeon] The film '69 Years Old,' which tells the story of a woman in her 60s who was sexually assaulted by a male nursing assistant in his 20s, is facing strong backlash from some men. They argue that a woman in her 60s cannot be a victim of sexual assault and continue to criticize the film by disparaging its female audience as 'kkolfemi' (a derogatory term mocking feminists). As the controversy spreads, female viewers have come forward to support and defend the film.

Audiences have raised their voices against such claims, stating that these criticisms stem from prejudice against victims, specifically blaming the victim. They also pointed out that the controversy itself reveals the social prejudices the film aims to criticize.

The film '69 Years Old,' which was released on the 20th, is suffering from malicious criticism by male netizens. Through online communities and portal site comments, they have poured out criticisms such as "It's a novel," and "'Kkolfemi' suffer from delusions," and have engaged in so-called 'rating terrorism' by giving the film one-star ratings without watching it. Due to this, on the second day after its release, the film's rating on Naver Movie was recorded in the 2-point range.

According to the Korea Film Council's integrated ticket sales system on the 24th, the film '69 Years Old' attracted 4,770 viewers by the fourth day after its release, the 23rd. However, the number of ratings registered on Naver Movie by that day was 6,757, about 2,000 more than the actual number of viewers. Notably, only four ratings were from actual viewers.

Summarizing the situation, most netizens who left ratings claiming to have watched the film actually did not watch it and gave low scores. Following this, support from female viewers helped the film's user rating recover to 8.67 as of around 10 a.m. on the 24th. However, there remains a significant gap by gender, with male ratings at 3.03 and female ratings at 9.88.

A still image from the movie "69 Years Old," which tells the story of a 69-year-old woman named Hyojeong (played by Yesujeong) who was sexually assaulted by a 29-year-old male assistant. Photo by Naver Movie

The reason for such backlash is that the perpetrator of sexual violence in the film is a young man, while the victim is an elderly woman. Comments such as "Which young man would... assault a grandmother," "A fabricated male-hate story," and "Who would feel sexual desire for a 69-year-old woman?" collectively argue that elderly women cannot be victims of sexual violence because they lack sexual attractiveness.

However, contrary to the social prejudice that 'elderly women cannot be targets of sexual violence,' sexual violence crimes against women aged 60 and over have been increasing every year.

According to the National Police Agency crime statistics, last year there were 152 cases of rape, 14 cases of quasi-rape, 503 cases of forced molestation, and 23 cases of other sexual assault or forced molestation where the victims were women aged 60 or older, totaling 692 cases.

In 2018, the number of crimes where women aged 60 or older were victims was recorded as 160 cases of rape, 26 cases of quasi-rape, 462 cases of forced molestation, and 20 cases of other sexual assault or forced molestation, totaling 668 cases. In 2017, the numbers were 131, 12, 461, and 14 cases respectively, totaling 618 cases.

As a result, some men's claims are being criticized as another form of secondary victimization. The concept of 'victimhood,' which previously defined victims by their appearance, sexual attractiveness, or attitude, is now being used to define victims by their age in this case.

Kang Mo (23), a university student who watched the film at a film festival before its official release, said, "The film depicts situations similar to the current ones. The arrest warrant for the perpetrator is dismissed because the victim's old age is seen as implausible," adding, "It's upsetting that such things happen even in a film that aims to expose these issues."

He stated, "I believe sexual violence is an act of violence using sex as a means," and added, "Just as a victim's appearance or age should not be a reason to justify violence, conversely, these should not be grounds to deny the truth by saying the violence did not happen."

A still image from the movie "69 Years Old," depicting the story of a 69-year-old woman named Hyojeong (played by Yesujeong), who was sexually assaulted by a 29-year-old male assistant. The photo shows the accusation document written by Hyojeong in the film. Photo by Naver Movie

Experts point out that sexual violence can occur regardless of the victim's age, and that the backlash stems from a misunderstanding of the nature of sexual violence.

Attorney Lee Eun-ui (Lee Eun-ui Law Office) told Asia Economy on the 24th, "There is a saying about sexual harassment crimes: 'It's not that one harasses because they want to, but because they can,' and workplace bullying is also about someone who can bully doing so. Someone who cannot bully others will not even think about it, even if the environment allows it. Sexual violence is the same," she emphasized.

Attorney Lee explained, "Generally, the sexual desire and intentional urge to commit sexual crimes that a mentally healthy person has toward others may not be the same. The desire for sexual crimes can include sadistic psychology or perverse desires such as crimes against children."

Meanwhile, director Lim Seon-ae, who directed this film, stated at the film press and distribution preview held on the 11th at Megabox Seongsu in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, "I happened to read a column about crimes against elderly women in 2013, and started writing the screenplay seriously from 2016."

Director Lim said, "I thought it was evil to see that our society separates the elderly and women and views them as asexual beings, making them targets of perpetrators," adding, "I wanted to talk about social prejudices against the elderly and human dignity."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.