Netizens Enraged After Korean Stepfather Is Broadcast Harassing His Stepdaughter
Content Warning
A recent broadcast of Oh Eun Young’s Report: Marriage Hell is gaining attention for its controversial report of a new family. The family consists of a mother-daughter pair and a new stepfather.
The problem is that the new stepfather was not respecting the child’s boundaries. Although not shown on screen, the mother explained that he also seemed to have temper issues. When her daughter would make small mistakes, such as accidentally stepping on his glasses, he would curse at her and throw the glasses. The mother eventually reported her husband to the authorities for child abuse.
The show broadcasted a scene of the trio playing after dinner. The stepfather tried to interact with his stepdaughter to make up for being strict with her at dinner.
Though the caption said the stepfather is “tickling” the stepdaughter, viewers believed his hand to have been placed over the stepdaughter’s chest in a non-tickling manner.
The daughter is seen to be visibly uncomfortable as she complains to her mother and asks her to help with pulling away.
The clip went on to show the stepdaughter repeatedly telling the stepfather “No” and “Stop.” At one point, the stepdaughter actively refers to the stepfather as “uncle” rather than “dad.”
I don’t want this, uncle!
— Stepdaughter
Many netizens were appalled that he did “ddongcheem” with her, when she was already seven years old. “Ddongcheem” is a game that kids play mostly amongst themselves, using a finger to poke each other between the butt. Netizens were uncomfortable to see a grown man attempt that on a young girl.
Everyone was outraged at how he justified his actions as affection for the daughter.
- “Ah, I shouldn’t have seen the post. I feel so uncomfortable. It’s a problem in itself that they aired this. And I don’t know why Oh Eun Young labeled this child abuse when it’s pedophilic sexual harassment.”
- “No but I really don’t get it… Why do men want to squeeze the bodies of young girls like that? I really…really don’t get it…”
- “Ah, what will that baby do?”
- “They said [the mom] reported him, though.”
Following the online backlash, the clips from the episode containing the interaction have been deleted from MBC’s YouTube channel.
The problem between the family is more complicated than let on. While the father seems to want to genuinely get close to the child, the child views his jokes as “harassment.” She even left him out of a family drawing for that reason. On the other hand, the stepfather is seen crying when the daughter refutes a store salesgirl who called him her father.
Will the family ever solve their problems?
