Korean Women Extremely Provocatively have sex before marriage; Korea has one of the largest prostitution industries in the world;
As they say, first impressions last, and my own first introduction to Korean sexual politics came with a bang when the scandal over the Baek Ji-young (백지영) sex tape erupted in late-2000. The way she was treated by the Korean media was hypocritical and shocking, and confirmed what I’d learned at university: Korea was a deeply patriarchal and sexually-conservative society.
Or at least, as the “Korean Gender Guy,”™ that’s what I’d like to pretend informed my first year in Korea. The truth is, I barely noticed at the time, being rather more concerned with getting into my Korean girlfriend’s pants. But they also say that the best way to learn a new culture is to sleep with the locals, and what I learned about sexual politicsthat way was no less important for being so base: the books were simply wrong about how prudish Koreans were. I’ve been poking fun at the huge gap between image and reality ever since.
But with a nod of appreciation to the advice of this regular commenter, it’s high time to move on from that Korean simplistic conception of the subject.
Just like it is misguided to think of, say, all American voters as mere “conservatives” or “liberals,” the reality is that Korean society is both profoundly sexually-liberal in some instances and sexually-conservative in others. For instance: most Koreans have sex before marriage; Korea has one of the largest prostitution industries in the world; Korean teenagers increasingly dance extremely provocatively on television; Korean women are increasinglyobjectified in advertisements; and, overall, censorship of sexual content in movies is rapidly easing.
( Source: RaySoda )
And yet that combination by no means implies that Korean men and women are equally able to express and enjoy their sexuality in 2009, let alone that, like almost a decade ago, a female celebrity secretly filmed while having sex with her boyfriend wouldn’t again be ostracized by the Korean media. Indeed, one can argue that to describe Korean society as simply “sexual-conservative” is merely to gloss over its profound double-standards.
One such double-standard is the need for sexually-active women to appear inexperienced and virginal to their partners, and in that vein, this survey of condom use and sexual activity in Korea – probably the most comprehensive of its kind – found that a majority of them did so to the extent that they regarded contraception as entirely men’s responsibility, as I discussed last December. Either they didn’t provide it themselves, they didn’t insist on their partners using condoms, and/or they would even feign complete ignorance of all contraceptive methods.
Again, that’s to be expected from a “sexually-conservative” society. But bear in mind the fact that love hotels are ubiquitous here, and – as that survey demonstrates – are well used. So while this particular double-standard is hardly confined to Korea, it is particularly severe in its effects on Korean women.
In light of that, the fact that rates of oral contraceptive pill usage are extremely low in Korea (3%) shouldn’t have been a surprise to me when I learned it from this recent Korean blog post, which I’ve translated below. But while I was certainly aware of the scare-tactics used – for various reasons – by Japanese medical authorities to dissuade women from using the pill there for instance, and which meant that it was only legalized as late as 1999 (see here,here and here), in hindsight perhaps I was too optimistic about Korean women’s reaction to similar tactics used herein January. So I was taken aback:
SOME RELIABLE STATISTICS ON PREMARITAL SEX IN SOUTH KOREA (FOR A CHANGE)
( Source )
For now though, let’s move onto the results of the survey (and for a more sociological discussion of the subject, seehere and here). While it is possibly a little dated (the data-gathering was conducted in 2003), given its rigorous methodology and so on then I’d give much more credence to its results than, say, headline-grabbing ones in newspapers like this vacuous one from today (but still, thanks to ROK Drop for it, and see here for Robert Neff’s take on it at The Marmot’s Hole) or this one conducted by a television station last year. It also happens to be very short and readable, and so if you’ve read this far into the post then I highly recommend spending an extra ten minutes reading it for yourself, although I will do my best to present and analyze the most important results here. To start then:
- 27% of men 7.8% of women had sex before the age of 18
- “Contrary to the reported Korean situation, there are no significant gender differences in the rate of premarital sex and age at first intercourse compared to that in many other liberal, developed societies.”
- “Compared to other [developed] societies, although there are fewer sexually experienced youths under 18 in Korea, there has nevertheless been an increase in premarital sex and a substantial lowering of the age at first sexual intercourse….the rate for females has risen more rapidly than that for males.”
Already you’ll notice potential issues of over and under-reporting by men and women respectively throughout the survey, although in Korea in particular there is likely to be much more to the disparities than mere inflated egos and pretenses of feminine virtue as we’ll soon see. As for those figures for teenage sex specifically, they are clearly reason in themselves for Koreans to have a big rethink about just how effective their policy of sticking their heads in the sand has been so far: not only are they increasingly comparable to those for Westerners over time, odds are that Westerners at least will have received more than the handful of hours in front of a fifteen year-old video that counts for sex education in Korea (for students lucky enough to be living in Seoul that is). They also wouldn’t have to contend with pharmacists refusing to sell them condoms or any other other contraceptives either, nor internet portal sites refusing to allow them to conduct a mere internet search for information about how to use and buy condoms without presenting proof (via their national id number) that they’re over 18.
For an excellent discussion of public attitudes to teenage sexuality in the 1990s that provide a backdrop to those results, I highly recommend reading this post at Gusts of Popular Feeling, and it’s clear that little has changed over a decade later. Moreover, it’s just a thought, but in the almost complete absence of any information or adults talking to them about sex, then I invite readers to speculate about just whom exactly might be providing Korean teenage girls especially with most of their sexual role models instead:
.
( Source )
- In December 2005, there had been 3,829 cumulative reported cases of HIV/AIDS, of which males accounted for 90.7%. Of the new HIV infections among Korean women in 2004, all were attributed to heterosexual contact.
By August this year, the total had risen to 5717, with almost exactly the same proportions of men to women. The survey notes that with such relatively low numbers, if women “were able to ensure that their partners use condoms consistently and properly, [then] HIV/AIDS would be prevented effectively.” They’re not, as we shall see, but on the positive side it should be noted that the majority of Koreans no longer see HIV/AIDS as a mere foreign, gay disease that doesn’t affect them.
- According to previous research, mostly conducted in the five years before this survey, “the percentage of consistent condom use among young people as well as in the general population was relatively lower than in other countries. It was found that only 18.6% of never married, sexually active young people aged 18-29 used condoms consistently…[and]…the reported condom use at first sexual intercourse was 18.7% for men and 13.4% for women. The reported condom use of high school students was much lower at 10%.”
Personally, I’m surprised that that last figure was even as high as 10%, given that vending machines in public toilets and from older friends would be about the only place high school students would obtain them. But of greater note already, albeit not a hugely significant statistical difference in this particular case, is the I think counter-intuitive finding (to Westerners) that more men than women reported using condoms the first time they had sex. Indeed, this disparity continued afterwards:
- “More men (17.3%) than women (13.6%) reported having consistent condom use with a steady partner…for other partner types, consistent condom use was less reported by women than by men. For experience with condoms, more men than women reported having used condoms.”
Why? Partially it is because Korean men are much more sexually active (or would promiscuous be a better word?):
- 50.4% of the single 19-30 year-old subjects reported having had sexual intercourse, but this disguises huge differences between men and women (67.3% and 30% respectively).
- “Men reported a higher proportion of sexual experiences with two or more multiple partners during the previous 12 months than women did (57.2% vs 41.0%).”
- “Single men were four times more likely to be [sexually] experienced than women.”
- “According to a recent study, the median age at first sexual intercourse for Korean men (21.0 years) was three years lower than that for Korean women, even though men marry, on average, later than women do….This difference may be interpreted as an indication that young men have sex with prostitutes or older experienced women. About 13% of young men age 20-29 reported that their sexual partners were prostitutes.”
And this in turn led to them being much more confident and knowledgeable about using them than Korean women:
( Source )
- “Men were more likely to agree somewhat or completely that condoms protected against HIV and other STDs.”
- “Compared with women…men reported a higher level of self-efficacy in condom use when they were drunken.”
But this is of course only half the story, and somewhat of a chicken before the…er…egg one at that. For if you haven’t guessed already, the survey concludes that:
…these gender differences in sexual initiation and experience can be explained by strong, gender-based, double standards and values in the traditional culture. Single women in Korea are still expected to be passive and virgins at marriage. Although Korean women’s level of education and participation in the labor force has rapidly risen (albeit the latter still at the lowest levels in the OECD – James), the imposed attitudes on their expected social roles have not dramatically changed yet. Korean society still places emphasis on women’s virginity at marriage and women are supposed to be initiated into sex by their husbands.
And thus:
Premarital sex may be a more serious concern to women because of their vulnerability….young sexually experienced females reported that they had been pressured by their boyfriends or other men to have sex as a proof of their love and been forced not to use a condom at first intercourse.
Which makes Durex’s depiction on the right of its…er…penetration of the Korean market in August this year (source) not a particularly accurate reflection of current Korean sexual mores, and unfortunately the women in it are less likely to be supposed role models as chosen simply because every public event in Korea requires scantily-clad females known as “narrator models.” More seriously though, the survey clears up a great deal of almost instinctive confusion I and I think many readers would have had recently over newspaper headlines such as “Women Inactive in Preventing Unwanted Pregnancy,” and “Korean Women Say Birth Control is Men’s Responsibility“, although I must confess that I never expected to be so, well…true, especially as my female Korean friends have all stated that they have to contend with Korean men often refusing to wear condoms, which unfortunately probably says much more about my choice of Korean female friends than it does of Korean men and women as a whole.But I’m not merely covering all my bases when I say that it’s not all doom and gloom for Korean men and (especially) women, for I have seen teenage sex education centers, for instance, pop up around Busan since I first moved here, and, just like so many other Korean issues on which Koreans only appear to be unanimous and monolithic in their opinions to non-Korean speakers, the notion that contraception is solely a man’s responsibility is hardly a universally accepted and uncontested notion amongst young Koreans especially, as this blog post (for one) demonstrates (again, let me know if you’d like a translation). Moreover, and to put this post and myself to bed, while I may occasionally sound like a broken record when I point out this next (but someone has to), I think I’ve more than adequately demonstrated that increasingly sexual images of women in commercials and advertisements in recent years can and are having an effect on these double-standards also. Combined with knowledge that the English-language media and books on Korea especially tend to have a considerable lag behind trends in Korea then, it’s going to be very interesting to see the results of any similar survey in the future. Watch this space.
( Korean women taking responsibility for contraception…only in the movies? Source )
Male/female sexual disparity, widens with age
It's not good news for women: Men are more likely than women to be sexually active, enjoy sex and be interested in sex as they grow older and this disparity increases with age
Mutual satisfaction during lovemaking - true fulfillment for both partners - really matters, especially in long-term love relationships. But because of the way our bodies "interface" during straightforward intercourse, women are often left unsatisfied. Throughout history, one-sided sex has been the norm - male contentment and female frustration. Even today, with our improved understanding of sexual anatomy, many couples are still in the same fix. Marshall's carefully researched and superbly written book tells what a few fortunate lovers have discovered - and almost never talk about. "The Great Sex Secret" gives a detailed, straightforward description of three approaches that reliably deliver mutual satisfaction. This book is a perfect conversation-starter for couples who want to find their way to sexual happiness but are having difficulty talking about the details.
Korean massage parlors are a common presence in most major U.S. cities – so much that those in the know refer to them with the acronym of KMPs. It is also widely known that these venues offer more than a massage – they function essentially as brothels, where South Korean women work as prostitutes controlled by a wide-reaching, shadowy and highly profitable network of traffickers and pimps.
Korean Massage Parlors Thrive on Women’s Struggle to Survive
By Kari Lydersen
Infoshop News
February 29, 2008
Infoshop News
February 29, 2008
Korean massage parlors are a common presence in most major U.S. cities – so much that those in the know refer to them with the acronym of KMPs. It is also widely known that these venues offer more than a massage – they function essentially as brothels, where South Korean women work as prostitutes controlled by a wide-reaching, shadowy and highly profitable network of traffickers and pimps.
Anti-trafficking, women’s rights and immigrants rights advocates are increasingly focusing on this segment of trafficking and sexual exploitation in the United States. The Polaris Project has focused extensively on Korean massage parlors and trafficking of Korean women in California. In Chicago, a coalition of immigrants’ rights, anti-domestic violence and ethnic groups are in the early stages of developing an outreach and advocacy structure for Korean women caught up in these situations.
Trafficking for sex work, domestic work and other types of labor is a poisonous manifestation of the increasingly global economy, where people in impoverished countries – especially women – fall prey to traffickers’ false promises of a better life in another country or are even literally sold into slavery by family members or kidnappers. The U.S. government estimates that about 17,500 foreigners are trafficked into the U.S. annually, though some NGOs put the number much higher. Sex trafficking is considered to make up about 80 percent of cases, with trafficking for domestic, agricultural, food service and other types of labor making up the rest.
In general the pipeline of trafficked people flows from the most impoverished countries to wealthier ones within a region; for example from El Salvador to Mexico; or Romania to the Czech Republic; or Nepal to India. Then, either after going through those pipelines or directly from their points of origin, people are trafficked across continents to the wealthiest destinations: the U.S., Israel and parts of Western Europe.
South Korea ranks third as the point of origin for trafficking cases in the U.S., according to the National Immigrant Justice Center, behind Mexico and China and ahead of the Philippines and Thailand. Though exact numbers are impossible to come by, it is estimated at least 10,000 Korean women are doing sex work in the U.S.
In 2006 the U.S. Attorney General’s office reported almost a quarter of sex trafficking into the U.S. was from South Korea, with Thailand, Peru, Mexico and El Salvador also comprising the top five points of origin.
But South Korea is something of an anomaly because it is a relatively well-off country and populace compared to other major sex trafficking points of origin.
At a presentation at Northwestern University in February, Polaris Project co-coordinator Kaitlyn Lim attributed this to a web of factors, including Americans’ demand for “exotic” Asian women and a long-standing, highly organized network of Korean traffickers.
These networks usually operate with impunity from local law enforcement on a daily basis, interrupted by a number of high-profile federal sting operations around the country in recent years. The networks’ highly lucrative and organized nature were laid bare in the 2005 “Operation Gilded Cage” sting in California, where 11 Bay Area brothels and brothels in southern California were raided, more than 100 trafficked women held for questioning, 29 indictments handed down and more than $2 million seized. The ring was allegedly run by a Korean man who lived in Beverly Hills working with a network of taxi drivers and smugglers.
A similar sting on the East Coast in August 2006 resulted in 31 arrests for trafficking and related charges after 18 businesses were raided and almost 100 women questioned. There investigators were told women were forced to service 15 or more clients per night in Baltimore, Washington D.C., New York, New Haven and Philadelphia establishments.
Lim said Korean massage parlors – which are widely advertised in local papers and on the internet – draw a largely non-Asian clientele, while Korean men frequent separate but also ubiquitous brothels called “salons,” usually in private residences advertised by word of mouth. She noted that many Korean women in sex work in the U.S. may earn a substantial amount of money, with some women reporting $2,500 to $10,000 or more in earnings per month. Many of these women don’t identify as having been trafficked or held against their will.
Nonetheless, many of them do meet definitions of trafficking, which is basically defined as the use of fraud, coercion or force to recruit, transport and hold people for the purposes of work different than that which they had agreed to.
Like trafficked victims worldwide, many Korean women were told they were heading for jobs as waitresses, bartenders or house-cleaners. Others reported being recruited for sex work, but deceived as to the type and amount of services they would be forced to provide. Also like trafficked victims worldwide, Korean women in sex (and also domestic work) situations are typically held in severe debt bondage, owing exorbitant debts to recruiters and transporters which keep mounting nearly as quickly as they can earn money.
“People incur debts of $10,000 to$20,000 for ‘flights’ from Asia,” said Kavitha Sreeharsha, staff attorney for the Washington DC-based group Legal Momentum. “So they are in debt bondage. And the psychological coercion is much more impactful than barbed wire. There is the paralyzing fear, and the cultural norms. And even in exploitative situations, someone may be making good money which is hard to leave for a minimum wage job.”
In Korean massage parlors, Lim explained, women are typically charged a myriad of fees for room, board and personal necessities -- including a “rice fee” to the brothel manager; fines for violating strict and arbitrary house policies; and tips to the brothel manager for giving her customers. They also must pay the cab drivers who bring clients and charge about $100 an hour. Women are regularly transported between different massage parlors by these cab drivers, making it impossible for them to get a sense of their surroundings and form bonds with the outside world.
Though women interviewed by the Polaris Project and other organizations may not report being held in captivity, they also report rarely going outside the brothel, fearing retribution if they do, and often not knowing where they are located – signs of de facto captivity.
Lim said the cost of an actual massage at these parlors – perhaps $60 – goes completely to the business, and women make money solely through tips, which come mostly from expected commercial sex. If women refuse sex with a customer, she said, they may be given “bad” customers who are known to be violent or demanding extreme sex acts.
Massage parlor owners or others involved in these networks are also likely to hold women’s identification documents, supposedly for safekeeping or as collateral for unpaid debts. This also leads women to feel they cannot leave or seek help from authorities.
Under the 2000 Trafficking Victims Protection Act, trafficked people are eligible for “T visas” for temporary residency which could lead to permanent residency. “U visas” are also possible to help undocumented immigrant women flee domestic violence.
But Korean women working in massage parlors and underground brothels are highly isolated by factors including language, feelings of fear or obligation in regards to their debts and the way they are moved around frequently and constantly monitored by brothel managers.
Korean American advocates note that as with trafficking networks from Latin America, tight-knit and tight-lipped ethnic communities which are nearly impossible for outsiders to penetrate keep them sealed off from law enforcement and advocacy groups.
Meanwhile South Korea itself continues to be a major sex tourism destination. The Korean government has cracked down on sex work there to some extent, diminishing the highly visible red light districts and passing the Sex Trade Prevention Act of 2004 which frees women from debts to pimps and shifts the state’s focus to offering women services rather than arresting them.
But on national and international levels, as long as there is demand there is sure to be supply. And with an accelerating global economy that feeds on human bodies as well as goods and raw materials, trafficking is likely to remain a lucrative and devastating industry for years to come.
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