United we litigate, divided we legislate: Divergent feminist mobilization in South Korean statutory rape law reform

• In Event: Sexual Violence

Abstract

Scholars have examined how legal mobilization unifies or divides social movement organizations, largely treating it as a singular process. Yet, social movement organizations united in litigation may diverge in legislative reform. Drawing on the case of South Korea’s statutory rape law, I show how different organizational identities rooted in serving distinct victim populations remained implicit during collaborative litigation. When a legislative opening emerged from changing political opportunities, some organizations advanced age-based protections while others resisted, interpreting age-raising as undermining transformative reforms of rape law. The findings demonstrate that legal institutions mediate how organizational identity shapes responses to political opportunities: litigation enables bracketing differences, while legislation exposes divergent interpretations of vulnerability and agency. This paper contributes to an understanding of how feminist organizing navigates the tension between incremental legal gains and transformative change in the politics of sexual violence.

Author

• Joohyun Park, Yonsei University