The Number One Location for Adolescent Sexual Violence Victimization is 'Online'

2020 Youth Media Use and Harmful Environment Survey Results
44% Experienced Sexual Violence Online
Top Violence Location: Classroom, Second: Online

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] While school violence decreased due to COVID-19, online violence victimization more than doubled. Sexual violence against adolescents was also most prevalent 'online.' In particular, the rate of online sexual violence victimization among female adolescents exceeded 50%.

On the 23rd, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family released the results of the '2020 Youth Media Usage and Harmful Environment Survey,' conducted on 14,536 youths from 4th grade elementary school to 3rd grade high school nationwide. The survey was conducted by the Korea Youth Policy Institute and Korea Research from July to October last year.

The survey results showed that one in three elementary school students used adult videos. The usage rate of adult content among youths was 37.4%, down from 39.4% in 2018, but among elementary students, it increased from 19.6% to 33.8% during the same period. The main channels for accessing adult videos were portals (23.9%) and live broadcasts/videos (17.3%).

Among youths, 5.9% reported experiencing violence in the past year, down from 8.5% two years ago. The rates for verbal violence (4.1%), physical violence (1.6%), bullying (1.3%), threats of violence (1.1%), and online violence (1.1%) were the same.

The proportion of youths who experienced online violence also doubled. The locations of violence victimization were ▲inside the classroom 31.4%, ▲cyberspace 26.7%, and ▲school areas outside the classroom 14.5%. While school violence victimization has steadily decreased, the rate of online violence experience increased from 10.7% in 2018 to 26.7%.

The percentage of youths who experienced sexual violence was 1.8%, down from 2.8% in the previous survey. The most common type of victimization was 'being sexually humiliated or harassed through words, gestures, or body language' at 0.9%, followed by 'stalking or sexual harassment on internet chat apps' at 0.6%. The victimization rate among female youths (2.5%) was higher than that of male youths (1.2%).

The most common location where youths experienced sexual humiliation, attempted sexual contact, stalking, or other sexual violence was 'online' (44.7%), followed by school (32.5%), and neighborhood places such as vacant lots or playgrounds (10.7%). The rate of online sexual violence victimization was 19.8% for male youths and 58.4% for female youths. In the 2018 survey, the rates were 8.3% for males and 24.2% for females, more than doubling since then.

Perpetrators of sexual violence were ▲people attending the same school (47.4%), ▲strangers (33.3%), ▲people newly met online (9.9%), and ▲people living in the same neighborhood (9.1%). The proportion of male youths reporting sexual violence by strangers increased from 4.3% in 2018 to 23.3%, and for female youths, it rose from 16.1% to 38.8%.

Among sexual violence victims, 65.3% disclosed the incident to someone nearby. The recipients were family (62.4%), friends or seniors/juniors (44.6%), teachers (28.1%), support institutions such as reporting or counseling centers (8.2%), and police (5.6%). The most common reason for not reporting was 'thinking it would be useless' (32.3%), followed by 'thinking it was not a serious matter' (25.5%) and 'fear of retaliation' (13.3%).

Based on these survey results, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family plans to allocate 1.3 billion KRW in this year's supplementary budget to operate 200 members of the 'Youth Harmful Media Monitoring Team.' By 2023, they aim to establish the 'Integrated Support Information System for At-Risk Youth' for early detection, information sharing, and rapid service linkage for at-risk youths. They will strengthen pre-monitoring of child and adolescent sexual exploitation materials through the Digital Sexual Crime Victim Support Center and develop 15 types of digital sexual crime prevention education content.

The Ministry explained, "We will reflect the survey results in the 4th Comprehensive Youth Protection Plan to be prepared this year and create a social environment where youths can grow up healthily."

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