Law & Society Review· 2026Q1
United we litigate, divided we legislate: divergent feminist legal mobilization in South Korean statutory rape law reform
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- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Feminist organizations in South Korea, unified in litigation over statutory rape law, diverged during legislative reform, with some advocating for age-based protections and others resisting, prioritizing a consent-based definition.
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Key points
- Feminist organizations in South Korea collaborated on litigation regarding statutory rape law.
- During legislative reform, these organizations diverged based on implicit ideological differences and victim population commitments.
- Some advocated for age-based protections, while others resisted, prioritizing a consent-based definition of rape.
- Litigation can mask organizational differences, while legislative openings expose them.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
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 organizational identities rooted in distinct ideological orientations and commitments to different 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 toward a consent-based definition of rape. The findings demonstrate that legal institutions mediate how organizational identity shapes responses to political opportunities: litigation enables bracketing differences, while legislation exposes divergent interpretations. This paper contributes to an understanding of how legal mobilization and movement factions are structured and operate.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Law & Society Review, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Law
LawSocial Sciences