[KS] Riding the White Horse

[Ruediger Frank]

Dear Scott and all,

on the issue of "riding the white/black horse":

At 08:58 PM 1/30/03 -0800, you wrote:
>     Given Korea's tragic history of providing so many
>comfort women to the Japanese during WWII, it would be
>ironic indeed if a term that many Korean men use today
>derives from a term that Japanese may have used to
>refer to certain white comfort women during WWII.

That certainly does not sound innocent at all. I am not really a feminist, 
but this ghastly and distasteful combination of racism (white) and 
phantasies of male domination (riding horses) provokes strong opposition 
from my side at least. No matter what its origins, I wonder how this can 
have a place in a modern democracy of the 21st century, to paraphrase some 
of the slogans from PR brochures. After all, it perfectly reflects and 
resembles a state of mind that is a necessary condition for atrocities like 
the comfort women issue to happen at such a large scale and with so little 
consequences. It would be a very discouraging sign if Koreans would reject 
the term because of its origins, and not of its meaning itself. What could 
be done, if at all possible, to help producing a greater sense of political 
correctnes in Korea? Or am I exaggerating the problem?

By the way, the issue of an implicit Asian male dominance reminds me of a 
highly interesting study on South Korean ChaebOl's advertisements I read 
recently. It will be presented at the upcoming AKSE conference by, now I 
hope I don't make a mistake, Heike Hermanns (Glasgow): "Korean Perceptions 
of the Outside World in an Era of Globalization" (I hope you don't mind the ad)

Best,

Ruediger


*******************************

Dr. Ruediger FRANK
Columbia University
East Asian Institute
International Affairs Building
420 West 118th Street, MC 3333
New York, NY 10027
- USA -
Phone: (212) 85 49 206
Fax: (212) 74 91 497
email: rf2101 at columbia.edu

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