(no subject)
A few weeks ago I was in 서울 visiting ㅈ. We were heading to 성남 where ㅈ actually lives. As I was walking her to her place before finding a cheap place to stay for myself (I can usually find a place for 2만원) We had a fight. Neither of us was angry but the feelings that came out were very raw and deep. Fight might be the wrong word; earnest discussion about our relationship and where we stand with each other might be a better phrase. It was the kind of discussion, though, where afterward you understand both yourself and the other person better. After we had made peace and ㅈ had gone home, I wanted to walk and think about what we had just discussed.
ㅈ does not live in a very good neighborhood. I knew this because of the plethora of 여관s and 성인용품 stores, but because there are also quite a few families I did not realize how bad it was. Around her apartment there is a catacomb of identical-looking alleys and coves and in getting lost in all those twists and turns I discovered that she lives remarkably close to a red light district. For the record, red light districts have been illegal since a new law was passed and a promised police crackdown occurred in late 2004. I have heard the obvious famous districts in 서울 are no longer there but nothing has really changed; they exist even in 안동.
But in 성남 there were so many "establishments." It was obvious what they were, and they were not hidden in the least. They all had long windows across the front that looked into a long but shallow foyer area. The women sat in that foyer area where they could be seen. At each place the women were wearing the same "uniform." Some places all the women were dressed as schoolgirls, at some places the attire was more evening dress, but all the girls at each place were wearing the same outfit and at each place they wore a different outfit than the other places. Some smoked, some watched TV, some just talked amongst themselves. Some had little dogs with them. There were about 5-10 women in each place. The signs said that the places were 노래방s (singing rooms) but the writing was small, almost hidden and the fact that they were not actually that was obvious.
The women were surprising. Korean women are fanatical about being thin. Angelina Jolie is not popular here because "she is too fat." So I was surprised to see that the women behind the glass were quite curvy. None were fat, but none were skinny either. And all of them wore too much make-up. The effect was that every single woman sitting behind the glass looked like all the others, anonymous, nondescript. I wonder if this was the intended effect, but it lead me to wonder how the "clients" could tell them apart enough to choose one? The look on all of their faces was the same also: total apathy. When I realized where I was I wondered what the women's reaction to me would be. I was in an area of 성남 that foreigners do not come to or live in. I assumed that usually in red light districts in Korea the women fawn over the men (a friend offered to show me around a red light district in 서울 and she warned me not to wear any kind of hat because the women working there would take it and not return it until I entered their place.) But these women completely ignored me. This seemed very odd to me but it seemed they saw me for what I was: a lost foreigner.
I eventually found my way back to the area I am more familiar with and found a place to stay, but I kept thinking about what I saw. I am not sure what to think about it. I find myself to be very curious about prostitution but my curiosity is about what it is like for the women. What do they think about their job? Why and when did they start doing this? What do they think of the men? Do their families know about their job? What do they plan to do next? Does their job affect their relationships or how they thing about the nature of relationships? I want to know about their inner life. Here, this is magnified by the conflicted role that sex and prostitution plays in Korean society, where sex outside of marriage with prostitutes is actually considered normal and healthy (because prostitutes will not break up a family the way a mistress might.)
ㅈ does not live in a very good neighborhood. I knew this because of the plethora of 여관s and 성인용품 stores, but because there are also quite a few families I did not realize how bad it was. Around her apartment there is a catacomb of identical-looking alleys and coves and in getting lost in all those twists and turns I discovered that she lives remarkably close to a red light district. For the record, red light districts have been illegal since a new law was passed and a promised police crackdown occurred in late 2004. I have heard the obvious famous districts in 서울 are no longer there but nothing has really changed; they exist even in 안동.
But in 성남 there were so many "establishments." It was obvious what they were, and they were not hidden in the least. They all had long windows across the front that looked into a long but shallow foyer area. The women sat in that foyer area where they could be seen. At each place the women were wearing the same "uniform." Some places all the women were dressed as schoolgirls, at some places the attire was more evening dress, but all the girls at each place were wearing the same outfit and at each place they wore a different outfit than the other places. Some smoked, some watched TV, some just talked amongst themselves. Some had little dogs with them. There were about 5-10 women in each place. The signs said that the places were 노래방s (singing rooms) but the writing was small, almost hidden and the fact that they were not actually that was obvious.
The women were surprising. Korean women are fanatical about being thin. Angelina Jolie is not popular here because "she is too fat." So I was surprised to see that the women behind the glass were quite curvy. None were fat, but none were skinny either. And all of them wore too much make-up. The effect was that every single woman sitting behind the glass looked like all the others, anonymous, nondescript. I wonder if this was the intended effect, but it lead me to wonder how the "clients" could tell them apart enough to choose one? The look on all of their faces was the same also: total apathy. When I realized where I was I wondered what the women's reaction to me would be. I was in an area of 성남 that foreigners do not come to or live in. I assumed that usually in red light districts in Korea the women fawn over the men (a friend offered to show me around a red light district in 서울 and she warned me not to wear any kind of hat because the women working there would take it and not return it until I entered their place.) But these women completely ignored me. This seemed very odd to me but it seemed they saw me for what I was: a lost foreigner.
I eventually found my way back to the area I am more familiar with and found a place to stay, but I kept thinking about what I saw. I am not sure what to think about it. I find myself to be very curious about prostitution but my curiosity is about what it is like for the women. What do they think about their job? Why and when did they start doing this? What do they think of the men? Do their families know about their job? What do they plan to do next? Does their job affect their relationships or how they thing about the nature of relationships? I want to know about their inner life. Here, this is magnified by the conflicted role that sex and prostitution plays in Korean society, where sex outside of marriage with prostitutes is actually considered normal and healthy (because prostitutes will not break up a family the way a mistress might.)