"I'm going to try it for the first time, do you have any reviews?"
"I looked at the list (a list of foreign men that members pass around) and it was the kid's dad."
"Is your penis big?"
"Seongnam Pilot ○○○ Knowing Desi (Member Who Uses Dating App)?"
"I'm African and I'm not good at (sex). The size was just like that."
The country's largest women-only community with 844,000 members has been embroiled in a controversy over the "women's version of the Nth room."
The 'Nth Room Incident', which broke out in February 2019, refers to a case of digital sex crimes in which illegal pornography was created, traded, and distributed through a group chat room opened on Telegram. The victim was a woman and the perpetrator was a man. In the women's community, similar information is circulating, with only the genders of the victims and perpetrators reversed.
Community members were sharing detailed information about men they had met on dating apps that matched them with foreign men in the café, so-called "reviews."
Among them were minors. They post real photos of various foreign men and exchange information by obscenely mentioning the other person's appearance and genitals, such as "I have to do ○○", "I see ○○", and "I have seen this ○○○".
The so-called "U.S. Army Men Big Data Tank Count" list they shared in the café contained three pages of detailed information about U.S. soldiers. One member who seems to have taken the lead in making the list said, "I'm going to make it like an encyclopedia." There was also a "list of foreign men who use dating apps" shared among community members.
Attorney Kim Seung-hwan of GB Law Firm said, "Their actions may constitute a violation of the Information and Communications Network Act in that they are defamatory, and unauthorized disclosure of personal information may be punishable if it is done continuously or repeatedly under the Stalking Punishment Act."
According to the current law, a person who publicly discloses facts through an information and communication network for the purpose of slandering a person and defames another person shall be punished with imprisonment for not more than three years or a fine of not more than 30 million won, and a person who defames a person with false facts shall be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than seven years, suspension of qualification (occupational group) for not more than 10 years, or a fine of not more than 50 million won. A person who commits the crime of stalking shall be sentenced to up to three years in prison or fined not more than 30 million won.
Recently, the community took the lead in opposing the 2024 KXF The Fashion Festival, saying that it was an event that sexualized women. They called KXF a "prostitution expo" and joined a petition asking the local government to stop the event where KXF was scheduled to be held. Externally, while criticizing the sexual commodification of women, they point out that degrading men as sexual objects among themselves is not a double standard.
Community members opposed the KXF, saying, "It means not to do it in Korea at all. "Understand", "It's disgusting to look for other places", "I'm tired of it", "I'm suspicious why you can't do that", and "Dirty things". KXF, which features Japanese adult video (AV) actors, was eventually canceled after being "rejected by local governments and women's groups."
The sexual harassment approach of female community members towards foreigners also poses a risk of racism. In this community, foreign men are often referred to as objects of depersonalized sexual desire and consumption.
Koo Jeong-woo, a professor of sociology at Sungkyunkwan University, said, "There is a stereotype that men are the perpetrators and women are the victims of the so-called 'Nth room,' but this is an example that shows that women can be perpetrators at any time." He added, "Whether you are a man or a woman, you need to look at yourself to make sure that you are not participating in these sexual crimes."
