tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post3898240964305937929..comments2024-02-23T23:53:54.842+09:00Comments on Gusts Of Popular Feeling: Foreign English teachers in the newsmatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-14843348916999530992010-03-29T13:49:05.880+09:002010-03-29T13:49:05.880+09:00Louve9,
Thanks a million for the info and sources....Louve9,<br />Thanks a million for the info and sources. I have always wondered about this much-hidden part of Korean history. Highly patriarchal, male-dominated societies tend to have very high rates of homosexuality/homosexual relations/man-boy relations (ancient Greece and Rome being the biggies that spring to mind.) Knowing that the Chosun dynasty was similarly as phallo-centric, I had always been looking for info on<br />this, but have come up empty-handed. Now I can learn a bit more.<br />Thanks again!Kamizahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10821079570827821359noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-38340753891743887002010-03-29T00:17:21.066+09:002010-03-29T00:17:21.066+09:00Exit86:
Here are a few paragraphs from my thesis ...Exit86:<br /><br />Here are a few paragraphs from my thesis I just published a couple of months ago. I lightly discuss the matter of homosexuality in Korea in them. I hope they help you with your endeavors. I'm sure there is more out there.<br /><br />In older Korean vocabularies, there were many different terms that denoted male homosexuality, but the three with most interest to this discussion are namsadang, midongaji, and kkoktu kaksi. As explained earlier, namsadang were itinerate entertainers. More specifically, the term namsadang was used to describe theatrical or dramatic performers whose main function was to make money through homosexual prostitution. Traveling male prostitutes were a normal aspect of rural Korean life, at least from the middle of the Chosŏn dynasty (Y.G. Kim and Hahn 62). Similarly, the term midongaji was used to describe a good-looking boy who regularly engaged in pederasty. The term midong, a derivative of midongaji, was normally used to describe boy catamites who dressed attractively, often in girl’s clothes (Y.G. Kim and Hahn 65).<br /><br />According to Kim and Hahn, in the late Chosŏn dynasty male homosexuality began to be considered immoral by the Neo-Confucian upper-middle classes despite the fact that homosexual practices were common among those same upper-middle classes as well as the lower classes in the rural communities. Similarly, in his discussion of namsadang and midong in his book, Homosexualities, Stephen O. Murray explains that “Buddhism in Korea was conducive to the development of a homosexual cadre that later disappeared under the influence of Confucianism imposed from above” (165). <br /><br />And, …[I]n his work Male Colors: The Construction of Homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan, Gary Leupp touches on the history of Korean homosexuality during the same era, stating that:<br /><br />…references to “beautiful boys” [or “midong”] in puppet plays and collections of humor from the seventeenth century suggest that many men in the gentry (yangban) class retained boys for sexual purposes. Homosexuality seems to have been especially associated with provincial gentlemen. Some of these men (like the literati of Fujian in China) even kept boy-wives whose status was publicly acknowledged in the village. Upon reaching adulthood, such boys would normally enter into a heterosexual marriage. (19)<br /><br />Works Cited<br /><br />Kim Young-Gwan and Sook-Ja Hahn. “Homosexuality in Ancient and Modern Korea.” Culture, Health & Sexuality. 8.1 (Jan.–Feb. 2006): 59–65.<br /><br />Leupp, Gary P. Male Colors: The Construction of Homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1995. <br /><br />Murray, Stephen O. Pacific Homosexualities. New York: Writers Club Press, 2002.louve9https://www.blogger.com/profile/00970433846166352959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-36251432000263271302010-03-28T12:12:56.851+09:002010-03-28T12:12:56.851+09:00Anyone know the name of the Korean-American teache...Anyone know the name of the Korean-American teacher who the articles mention is wanted on murder charges in the US? <br /><br />We had DAVID NAM last year, and he has now been <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20100129_Phila__jury_set_to_deliberate_in_1996_murder_trial.html" rel="nofollow">found guilty of murder</a>. (Not that the press here took much interest.) Nam was from Philly, not sure what gang if any he was with.<br /><br />and there is also <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/fugitives/vc/murders/suh_dm.htm" rel="nofollow">DANIEL MIN SUH</a>, who is currently wanted by the FBI for murder and still at large apparently.<br /><br />Anyone out there is familiar with the various Korean gangs and their connection to Korea. It seems that Suh was connected with "Korean Power" (aka "KP") out of Chicago. Korean Power seems to be East Coast based (base in New York?). (NYT story <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/09/nyregion/korean-gangsters-held-in-extortion.html?pagewanted=1" rel="nofollow">here</a>).<br /><br />The Korean Americans who turn out in the press here tend to be LA based gangs, usually the Korean Playboys (aka "KPB"). The (Last Generation) Korean Killers are also out of LA but haven't seen their name in the papers here. There's also the KTG and the KTM. (Korea Town Gangsters and Korea Town Mobsters). <br /><br />Is there anyone better informed who can explain who is who as to the wanted, the caught, and their gangs and affiliations?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-19668544659628924432010-03-28T08:36:21.282+09:002010-03-28T08:36:21.282+09:00Good points Louve9.
Out of curiosity, where might ...Good points Louve9.<br />Out of curiosity, where might I find more information on the 미동 you were talking about? I have never run across this phenomenon in my studies--since, as we all know, homosexuality never has and never ever will exist in either of the Koreas--but would love to learn more about these male prostitutes of old Korea.<br />Any books, essays, (informed) internet sites you might recommend?<br /><br />(More for the arsenal in my personal war against the dip-shitery that is South Korean nationalist historiography.) <br /><br />Thanks for the info!Kamizahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10821079570827821359noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-2638554258724377142010-03-27T23:13:43.967+09:002010-03-27T23:13:43.967+09:00Exit86,
Speaking in the archetypal sense, there i...Exit86,<br /><br />Speaking in the archetypal sense, there is little difference between the function of the fox in Eastern folklore and the wolf as a Western equivalent. Similarly, whether it is a one tailed fox or a nine tailed fox does not change the fact that the character of the fox (one-tailed or more) is an incarnation of evil in Korean folklore. Not to mention that I did point out that the image did only have one tail, which suggests that it is a young, undeveloped fox, rather than a fully developed nine-tailed kumiho version. Also, the fox itself may be female taking on the image of a male, which would not change the idea of it being a fox. Indeed, it would further explicate the trickster function of the fox caricature. Besides, the point that the image is male does not diminish its fox-like connotations in the Korean mindset because gender-bending is not something new to Korean society. Boy catamites called midong (미동) dressed attractively, often in girls clothes, and worked as homosexual prostitutes, and were even kept by sŏnbi during the Chosŏn dynasty. Such acts of pederasty were, in point of fact, particularly practiced by young widowers. Consequently, I do not think it is a stretch to say that the image necessarily needs to be female to portray it as a fox in the Korean mind. <br /><br />In any case, I do agree that the intended meaning of the image is in exceedingly bad taste and is little more than another poor example of the government sanctioned, yellow journalistic, propaganda machine that the Korean media (North or South) is known for.louve9https://www.blogger.com/profile/00970433846166352959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-38724515935521354632010-03-27T20:24:29.322+09:002010-03-27T20:24:29.322+09:00Louve9,
I'm not quite so sure about your sugg...Louve9, <br />I'm not quite so sure about your suggestion that this cartoon is depicting the 구미호, particularly since this legendary monster is a female figure who preys on men for their livers and/or gall bladder--the two organs where male "용 기" ("Ki" energy that is related directly to courage) resides. The Gumiho can be interpretted as the "femme fatale" or even the "vagina dentata"; something which would be a bit more scary in patriarchal "남존여비" societies.<br />Further, I think if the cartoonist wanted his viewers to connect his drawing with the Gumiho, he would have drawn in the extra tails.<br /><br />I just figured it was a poor allusion to a "wolf in sheep's clothing" or a wolf in disguise--even though wolves and sheep have never figured prominently in Korean folklore.<br /><br />Either way, it is a lame-ass drawing, and the fact that we are debating what the heck it is trying to portray is testament to the fact that it is crap on the artistic level as well as on many other higher ideological levels.Kamizahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10821079570827821359noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-85401618949403884672010-03-26T21:23:23.138+09:002010-03-26T21:23:23.138+09:00Wow, louve. Thank you.Wow, louve. Thank you.Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05477169224986077718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-30279455367306183592010-03-26T14:01:38.375+09:002010-03-26T14:01:38.375+09:00In the article you mention that you are not sure w...In the article you mention that you are not sure why the illustration of the teacher has a tail. <br /><br />It is an allegorical reference to kumiho (구미호), a nine tailed fox. In Korean folklore, the Fox is the epitome of evil. A Fox aspires to become human and attempts to do so by consuming human beings. The way the folklore goes, by consuming human livers a Fox lives for hundreds of years. For every hundred years a Fox lives it grows another tail. The oldest Foxes have nine tails. Foxes are essentially trickster figures that thrive on human misery and are able to facilitate said misery by taking the form of human beings. The Fox then disrupts the natural Neo-Confucian harmony of Korean society for its own selfish ends. <br /><br />The illustration essentially is making the statement that non-Korean English teachers are not only evil, but that they are also not even human and seek to destroy Korean culture and lives. It is also tacitly saying that non-Korean English teachers are not fully developed, and consequently can easily be dealt with since the Fox only has one tail. Furthermore, it is a way of saying that Koreans are better than non-Koreans by expounding the propaganda that Koreans are human via Neo-Confucian self-cultivation and that South Korean Neo-Confucian culture needs to be protected from the external cultural influences.louve9https://www.blogger.com/profile/00970433846166352959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-24728494838461049802010-03-25T11:38:35.440+09:002010-03-25T11:38:35.440+09:00no, the evil foreigners are leading virtuous Korea...no, the evil foreigners are leading virtuous Korean maidens astray.<br /><br />Have you seen the customs cartoons at the airport? Happy scene of cattle grazing on a pleasant day is interrupted by a red devil spreading foreign diseases and killing all of Korea's intangible cultural assets.<br /><br />The connotations are unmistakeableAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-91771192887823581682010-03-25T08:58:08.082+09:002010-03-25T08:58:08.082+09:00I found this quite interesting:
The source also s...I found this quite interesting:<br /><br />The source also said, "the majority of them find it easy to seduce Korean women and do drugs with them."<br /><br />I thought no Korean ever did drugs ever. But now it's easy to do drugs with them? This contradiction is confusing me.Jasonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15189565114656401244noreply@blogger.com