Queer Korea презентация

International Development
Korea focus
Time in Korea
Three years teaching English
The Kimchi Queen (03/2012)
Involvement in Korean queer life

transgender individuals to the best of my ability.

*Identify with the gender I was assigned at birth

are, nonetheless, existential entities who suffer precisely because of their homosexuality. No matter what anyone says, it is clear that in our society, homosexuality is the cause of discontent. As a result, a "homosexual existence" implies change and resistance- a struggle for a better life. However, when social discourse claims that one does not exist, or in other words, when one is coerced into remaining a non-social entity… How do Korean lesbians, gays, and other sexual minorities create a normative foundation for a brighter future?” –Seo Dong-jin

to Democracy: The Invisibility of Queer Koreans?
Expanding queer movement in modern Korea
This evolution vis-à-vis film and popular culture

Kingdom
Reigned from 765 to 780 C.E.
Described as a man by appearance, but a woman by nature
Preferred the company of males over females

wore makeup
Horsemanship, archery, javelin, swordsmanship
Known for prostitution and homosexuality

ruling class
Historical analysis of Hallimbuilgok showed that King Chungsun (1275-1325) had a longtime male lover
King Kongmin (1325-1374) had ‘little brother attendants’ as sexual partners

of homosexuality
Continued male homosexuality in the ruling class and among Buddhist monks
Lesbianism not viewed with acceptance
King Sejong’s Daughter (순빈 봉씨)

joined, played the penetrated sex role
Most likely prostitutes for the ruling class
Ended with Japanese annexation of Korea
Basis of The King and the Clown
(5th Highest Grossing Film)

Japan

Story of a Senior Gay Korean Man, Shin Young Kim
Ch’oe Myung-hwan, Lesbian

in the 1970s usually used aliases.[2]Sometimes, however, there were those such as “Doctor Yi” or “Doctor Seo” and “Eun-ja” hyongnim or “Soon-ja” hyongnim who used their real names.[3] I think they used their real names because the names were common enough that they felt comfortable revealing them. The sonbae from those days remember “Myong-hwan,” not “Hyon-ok.” I’ve been using “Myong-hwan” for the past thirty years.” –Choe Myong-hwan
Common practice today

all her lovers would leave her for marriages
Emigration as a second choice





The

“One of the sonbaes could no longer stand the pressure to marry and she left for Japan. It’s absurd that we have to keep fleeing when all we do is like women. Anyway, the sonbae refuses to come back to Korea even though she knows very well that she could live in Korea these days.” Choe Myeong-hwan

“The tragic irony was that the two different kinds of love could not be compatible in Mr. Jung’s life. Mr. Jung’s care for family members made him feel obliged to be a good brother and father and it meant that he had to give up satisfying a personal desire to live a gay life in Korean society. The reason Mr. Jung decided to get married even though he did not want it demonstrates the priority of his commitment to his family.” Unheard Story

choice
Female troupes (국극) in the 1950s
Girl Prince explores this genre

men
Myeongdong as a place for women in the 70s
Invisible to the public both in bars and film

Mujigae Korea
Changing public perception
Evolution of film reflects the movement’s progress

of visibility
Development of Itaewon in the mid 1990s
Effect of American military presence
Targeted toward foreigners
Recent renaissance
Hongdae for Women

created by an American lesbian for lesbians in Korea.
In 1994, Chingusai was established, which still operates today.
Kiri Kiri, a new lesbian group, decided to go beyond a social group and focus on activism and eventually opened Lesbos in 1996.

published both by Korean authors as well as translations from foreign languages into Korean.
Same-sex characters began to appear in works by Song Gyeong-a, Yi Na-mi, Seo Yeong-eun, Yun Dae-nyeong, Baek Min-seok

4.   THE FIRST UNIVERSITY STUDENT GROUPS IN 1995.

Seven students at Yonsei created the group Come Together at Yonsei, which was largely publicized (and criticized).
It was not allowed to officially be a group since Yonsei was a Christian university.
Other universities followed

internet helped create a space
“The observation that public lesbian/gay/queer (hereafter l/g/q) cultures emerge most frequently along with late capitalism, the rise of the middle class, consumer culture, urbanization, and mobility appears equally applicable to Asian contexts … [however] it seems plausible that an additional factor has been at play: computers and computer-mediated communication” Chris Berry and Fran Martin

6. GAY FILM FESTIVALS FROM 1997.

The first film festival to be held at Yonsei University was cancelled last minute by the administration
University cut the power and locked the doors to ensure it did not happen.

the name of ‘Rainbow Festival’.

7. BUDDY MAGAZINE IN 1998.

Published in 1998
Not held in bookstores
Has since gone out of print

come out
Apologizes to fans

10. THE NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION IN 2001

April 2011: Allowed citizens to file complaints if they faced discrimination
Worked on changing disparaging definitions of homosexuality in dictionaries, stopping the censure of gay websites, ending sexual violence in the military, allowing gays to donate blood, and changing the Healthy Families Basic Act

Lee Song Hee-il’s White Night

2001.

The Youth Protection Act of 1997 stated that minors should not be exposed to the topic of homosexuality.
This meant censoring gay websites.
Was removed from the government’s categories of harm

12. ACTIVIST CHANGES FROM

Some working with the IGLHRC (International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission)
AIDS awareness (ISHAP) and sexual identity education.

discharges them for ‘mental illness’
Men can face up to a year in prison.

14. RECOGNIZING RELATIONSHIPS.

In 2003, a lesbian woman asked the courts to recognize her 21-year old relationship.
In 2004, a public gay wedding took place (though not legally recognized).
Kim Jho Gwang-su’s Marriage

orientation
Much opposition by conservative Christians.
Removed from consideration

16. TRANSEXUAL ISSUES

Harisu, the first transsexual (MtF) entertainer
Legally recognized as a woman in 2002.

been three periods of queer film
Invisibility
Ascetic (Woman & Woman)
Camouflage
Bungee Jumping of Their Own
Memento Mori
Blockbuster
King and the Clown
No Regret

their Own (2001) challenges this heterosexual bias by playing with the possibility of having one of the romantic pair reincarnated within a re-gendered body. Thus, what began as inherently heterosexual abruptly begins anew, but this time as inherently homosexual, while each lover continues to assert his heterosexual identity.” Aaron Han Joon and Magnan Park

annexation / Park dictatorship
Re-emergence of hidden identities
Christianity / Conservative continual resistance
Changing Perceptions
Myth of “modern-day acceptance”

South Korea by Seo Dong-jin
Male Concubinage: Notes on Late Choson Homosexuality by an American Naval Attache by Carter J. Eckert
En-gendering re-gendered romance of multiple lives: reincarnation in Bungee Jumping of Their Own by Aaron Han Joon and Magnan Park
Mujigae Korea by Doulgas Sanders
Korean Literature in Translation with Gabriel Sylvian
Syncretism and Synchronicity: Queer'n'Asian Cyberspace in 1990s Taiwan and Korea by Chris Berry and Fran Martin

Senior Gay Korean Man by Shin Young Kim