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South Korea is a curious country. Socially conservative, yet technologically super-progressive. Think America of the 1950s but add things like LG and Samsung and the internet you've basically got South Korean society as it appears to an outsider. And though the country maintains its traditional exterior, all of that technology allows a number of sub-cultures to thrive.
Among these subcultures is the homosexual set.
What drew my attention to this subculture in particular is an article from the LA Times,1 discovered through a Google Alert for "Korea Culture." The article tells the tale of Seok-Cheon Hong, a prominent actor who came out in 2000 after struggling with the issue for a number of years.
Hong's move led to the destruction of his career, and to a nosedive in his own feelings of self-worth. For as an openly gay celebrity he was ostracized,1 and in a society that prizes community and the group as a whole, to be shunned is more than just getting dropped from your "scene" or city - it's like being an exile within your native land's borders.
Luckily, a 2003 scriptwriter with an idea for a show about a gay man coming out and facing complex social issues revived Hong's career.1 Now he is probably the most prominent gay activist in South Korea.
But what came before? What's the history of homosexuality in South Korea?
Somewhat unsurprisingly, it's a history similar to that within Western culture.
In South Korea's past, homosexuality was regarded as being entirely abnormal and anomalous. Not because of Christian ideas (as is the case with the West, at least after Christianity's rise), but because of Confucian ones. For part of the filial piety that Confucianism so stresses regards marriage and procreation as essential parts of a son's duty to his father (pressures on to continue the line, produce the next generation of your family, etc.).2
Yet, as early as the Silla dynasty (57 BC to 935 AD) homosexuality was practiced among an elite warrior class known as the hwarang. At least, that's what's inferred from contemporary poetry about this class, and from the different meanings and mutations of the word down through the centuries.2
The Goryeo period (918-1392) also saw homosexuality practiced among the upper classes. Also, during this brief period, a new euphemism for it came about: yongyang-chi-chong (meaning the dragon and the son, a mix of two male symbols).2
In the Joseon dynasty that followed (1392-1897) the upper middle class completely eschewed homosexuality publicly, but engaged in it privately. Interestingly, it was also practiced at the opposite end of the class spectrum in rural Korea, where there were travelling male prostitutes.2 The term used for these men is namsadang, which more literally means actor or theatrical performer.2
In spite of this thread found throughout much of South Korea's history, the country's Confucian ideals are slow to change and homosexuality remains something regarded as "psychologically deviant, sociologically detrimental and morally corrupt."2
Jumping ahead to the nineties, students at Yonsei and Seoul National Universities were organizing themselves and getting gay rights advocacy groups together.
It's super significant that these students were at Yonsei and Seoul National Universities because those are two of the three most prestigious schools in the entire country (the other being Korea University). These schools' prestige meant that their students weren't uneducated lowlifes, but instead bright up-and-comers - thereby casting serious doubt on an old South Korean stereotype that homosexuals are depraved misfits from only the lowest rungs of society.2
These student movements were met with a media response that ranged from neutral to positive - a subculture was given a voice.
Several TV shows and campaigns and rallies followed, but the movement continued to be attacked by the more conservative South Koreans (yes, generally older), and by Christian groups.
For when Confucianism has been passed over, any major shift in South Korean society needs to get by the second most influential philosophy in South Korea: Christianity (of a Protestant and Catholic conservative sort). As such, at least according to Sang-Hoong Song, the arguments against homosexuality by Christian groups are based in the Bible rather than stats or other data which makes them seem less than sturdy.3
Thus, the fight for gay rights continues.
What's rather extraordinary about all of this is that any conservative, sex segregating society (like South Korea) paradoxically provides a socially acceptable set of limits that can act as a veneer over homosexual relationships.
After all, closeness between men is definitely something entrenched in South Korean culture - Confucianism might condemn homosexuality as much as the Old Testament does, but it also highly values close friendships. That's why it's not weird for men to walk down the street in Seoul or Busan or Incheon holding hands (though possibly buzzed or drunk while doing so), and women do the same (alcohol apparently less of a factor in this case).
Of course, that's not to say that all men holding hands on the South Korean streets at night are secretly gay, nor that Confucian mores are some kind of subterfuge.
Rather, such a strict philosophy creates a very fine line, and as long as nothing runs afoul of that line publicly, then no harm is done to anyone's public image. It's only when something leaks into, or someone bravely opens up in public as Hong Seok-Cheon did that the person's place in that society is jeopardized.
Having no veneer at all is definitely a better option, and one that's slowly becoming the case for South Korea. Older and more traditional South Koreans might still wonder what a homosexual is or think that it's an act against nature, but the younger generation is sure to encourage and create a South Korea that is more accepting and open.
What do you think about the fight for gay rights in conservative societies like South Korea's? Just toss your thoughts into the comment box below.
And check back on Friday for my review of S. Darko: A Donnie Darko Story.
References
1. Glionna, John M. "Gay South Korean Actor Throws Open Closet Door." L.A. Times. March 5, 2012.
2. Kim, Young-Gwan and Sook-Ja Hahn. "Homosexuality in ancient and modern Korea." Culture, Health & Sexuality, January–February 2006; 8(1): 59–65.
3. Song, Sang-Hoon. "The gay situation in Korea." Yawning Bread. November 1999.
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