[KS] Re: Public awareness of homosexuality in South Korea

[Young Kyun Oh]

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----- Original Message -----
From: <maliang at wolmail.nl>
To: <korean-studies at iic.edu>
Sent: Monday, October 09, 2000 5:25 AM
Subject: Re: Public awareness of homosexuality in South Korea

> Roald
> Maliangkay wrote:

> > Since Nam-(male-) sadang, as opposed to YO- (female-) sadang, did not
allow
> > any female member, it was more of an initiation and a forced life style,
not
> > by one's free will.  Namsadang was a group of entertainers who performed
> > puppetry (Kkoktu kakshi norUm) and other circus-style shows (tightrope
> > feat, plate spinning, etc.), whereas YOsadang was a group of itinerant
> > prostitutes who sold alcohol, along with singing, dancing, and sex.  The
> > Namsadang interviewee in the article described how he was "initiated" by
> > one of his senior members when he was young.  Such homosexual activity
> > was called 'namsaek [male
> > lust],' in contrast to 'yOsaek [female lust],' a general term for
> > heterosexual desire/activity of men.  The party that assumed the role of
> > a male (usually a senior) was called 'sut-tongmo [male companion],' the
> > other party was called 'amdongmo [female companion].'  (I hope this is
> > not too graphic.)
>

> Odd. I have never come across the term Yeo-sadang. Sadang, I believe, is
> the
> more common (right?) term for the itinerant female entertainers, who are
> the
> "older sister" of the namsadang and were initially connected to a
> Buddhist
> temple. Yi Neunghwa and Song Seokha have performed the research on which
> - so
> it seems - later folklorists, including Shim Useong (see his book on
> Namsadang)
> and Yi Pohyeong, base their ideas. In none of this one finds any proof
> of your
> claim that the sadang were primarily prostitutes.

You are right to say that "sadang" is the common and original term.  I
think
I heard yO-sadang used in order to distinguish namsadang from the
original
sadang.  It was in fact in the script of the namsadang's Kkoktuk kakshi
norUm that one finds the term "nam-nyO sadang [male and female
sadang]."  I
don't have Song SOk-ha's book, but I have a recent work by Yun
Kwang-bong
(Yurang yOnyein kwa Kkoktu kakshi norUm [Itinerant entertainers and
Kkoktu
kakshi norUm], Seoul, Miral, 1994), which quotes Song's "Sadang ko [An
essay
on sadang]."  It says that the sadang are supposed to be female, but
such
terms as namsadang and yOsadang came to be used after namsadang came
around
in the late ChosOn period (p.114).

As for my claim (I didn't mean to claim anything, but was just saying
out of
what I remembered from a long time ago) that the (yO-) sadang were
prostitutes, maybe I was a bit too careless to say that without proof. 
I
was in fact remembering a poem by Yi Hak-kyu (1770-?), "KOlsa haeng,"
which
contains a very graphic description of the sadang prostitution (Yun's
book
also included it).  KOlsa (or kOsa in common terminology) are the men
who
lead the group of sadang.  Yi Tu-hyOn in his Han-guk Ui kamyOn-gUk [Mask
dramas of Korea] (p.93) says that the kOlsa/kOsa are the predecessors of
namsadang.  (I also remebered reading Kim Chu-yOng's novel, "Kaekchu,"
which
had similar descriptions, but it might not be "factually grounded.") 
Yi, on
the same page, also mentions that sadang did perform prostitution
(although
dancing and singing are their main repertoire), quoting an article by
Ch'oe
ChOng-yO.  Yun (p.95) has a similar remark, describing it as a "lowest
form
of prostitution."  It is a bit off from the original topic, but I think
the
prostitution of the sadang is something that was understood by people.


>It is unfortunately
> not an
> area many people have written about in the past. Shim Useong (author of
> the
> only book on namsadang) once told me namsadang used to be gay, and
> sadang
> lesbian, but I think their outcast-status will have been an important
> (though
> perhaps not prime) incentive for the choices they made.

I am doubtful about Shim's remark that the sadang were lesbian, at
least,
not that I heard of.  And, yes, it is not an area many people have
written
about.  I myself am a (lowly) linguist, who just liked this kind of
things.

> The young
> namsadang-
> member you mention may have been one of the young dancing kids,
> "tongmu", who
> were initially employed, so it appears, to replace the women. They later
> became
> an integral part of the groups.

I think that the word you are thinking of is "mudong," not "tongmu."  It
is
from Chinese characters, "mu (dance)" and "tong (child)," whereas
"tongmu
(or tongmo)" is a Korean word for companion, friend, or pOt (buddy?).

Thanks for your comment!

Young Kyun Oh
Instructor of Korean
Arizona State University
(480)727-7447
youngoh at asu.edu
http://www.learnkorean.com
http://www.asu.edu/clas/dll/kor/korean.html