30% of Sexual Harassment Victims Show Passive Response Due to Fear of Secondary Harm

Human Rights Commission Public Awareness Survey
Sexual Harassment 'Misconceptions' Persist
Fair Punishment and Prevention of Secondary Harm Remain Challenges

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] A survey revealed that 3 out of 10 sexual harassment victims respond passively due to concerns about secondary damage. It was pointed out that fair punishment of perpetrators and prevention of secondary damage are necessary to prevent sexual harassment.

The National Human Rights Commission announced the results of the "Public Awareness Survey on Sexual Harassment" on the 6th. The survey was conducted by the "Happy Work Research Institute" targeting 10,212 male and female elementary, middle, and high school students, university students, and office workers nationwide.

When asked about experiences of sexual harassment in the past three years, 23.6% answered that they had experienced it about 1 to 2 times per year. By gender, the rate was higher among women (41.6%) than men (12.4%), and by age, victims were more common in their 20s (41.4%) and 30s (35.1%).

Regarding how to respond to sexual harassment situations, "demanding to stop with an unpleasant expression or behavior" was the most common at 73.8% (multiple responses), but 31.6% said they "pretended not to know or quietly avoided the situation." The main reason for not responding actively was "fear of retaliation or disadvantage," accounting for 60.4%. In particular, 65.9% of all respondents had experienced or witnessed secondary damage related to sexual harassment.

Misconceptions such as blaming the victim for not expressing refusal or misunderstanding it as a sign of friendliness still persist. Especially, when measuring "misunderstandings and prejudices" about sexual harassment on a 6-point scale (the higher the number, the greater the misconception), men in their 60s (3.10 points) and teenage males (3.07 points) significantly exceeded the overall average (2.36 points). Respondents identified the most urgent tasks to improve sexual harassment prevention (multiple responses) as "fair punishment of perpetrators (62.5%)" and "prevention of secondary damage (55.5%)." The Human Rights Commission stated, "Based on the survey results, we plan to seek measures to improve public awareness of sexual harassment considering age, gender, and other factors."

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