[KS] Re: homosexuality in South Korea & Lou Harrison

[michael Robinson]

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Dear List:

I think the comments passed on by Stephen remind us that there is a
significant gap in the public presentation and private operation of
sexual behavior in Korea.  Our friends who are interested in the issue
of homosexuality in Korea need remember that there are with the study of
any society huge gaps between what can be learned in the public sphere
and how people will behave in private.  Least we forget this when making
pronouncements about "the Koreans do this or that, or are this or
that."  Having worked with Korean historical materials for years, I'm
convinced that at best we really only get the very tip of the iceberg
with any written document, or, for that matter, the individual
pronouncements of experts, Korean or American.  Just as we know that so
much of the way Korean organizations, institutions, or movements are
driven by the elusive and usually unrecoverable personal ties between
people....it is not hard to understand that half of the Korean
population might be "available" for experimentation with same sex
contact.  Personally, I've always found Koreans to be remarkably free of
a number of moral and behavioral prejudices that Americans harbor so
annoyingly with regard to sex.  They have other prejudices and norms of
conformity that make their lives equally difficult.

Mike Robinson

----- Original Message -----
From: Stephen Epstein <Stephen.Epstein at vuw.ac.nz>
To: <korean-studies at iic.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, October 10, 2000 8:09 PM
Subject: Re: homosexuality in South Korea & Lou Harrison

> Further data points: I fwd with permission the following from a
> colleague who is a composer in our own music department, and who, like
> Lou Harrison, is both openly gay and has spent time in Korea.  He once
> mentioned to me (as indicated below) that he found Korean men the
> *least* personally homophobic and most willing to experiment of any
> place he had ever traveled--if a proposition was made discreetly.  While
> I certainly have no reason to doubt him, his statement, which
> highlighted the gap between actual private behavior and professed public
> ideology, was enough to make me gape with disbelief.
>
> Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2000 10:10:14 +1300
> To: Stephen Epstein <Stephen.Epstein at vuw.ac.nz>
> From: Jack Body <jack.body at vuw.ac.nz>
> Subject: Re: Fwd: homosexuality in South Korea & Lou Harrison
> Mime-Version: 1.0
>
> Hi Stephen,
> All very interesting.
> Lou Harrison is a dear friend but we never really talked about his
> experiences in Asia.
> As far as Korea is concerned there are lots of paradoxes from my
> experience.
> 1. The gay-club scene is paranoid and exploitative, subject to raids etc
> -
> at least this was the impression I was left with.
> 2. On the other hand, boys seem very available, boys in general that is,
> met anywhere in the street, not necessary "gay", but just open to new
> encounters. My impression is that homophobia as such might be directed
> against the life-style (as in most Asian countries, EVERY young man MUST
> marry) and (possibly) overt public display, whereas, with discrete
> behavior, anything is possible.
> I did read once in a Spartacus Guide that Korean boys are the most
> available in the world, and my experience suggests there is some truth
> in it!
> Jack Body,
> School of Music,
> Victoria University of Wellington,
>
> >Lou Harrison who is (and has been almost right from the get go) and
> >openly gay
> >american composer who visisted Korea twice in the early 1960s. I have
> >often
> >heard that he liked to tour the gay underground every where he went and
> >would
> >give others "the tour" in the SF bay area when they visisted. It would
> >be
> >interesting to know what kind of gay world he discovered in Seoul then
> >and if he
> >met with any problems because of his orientation.
>