From: cmort@NCoast.ORG (Christopher Morton)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.korean
Subject: Re: Interested in Homosexuality in Korea
Date: 16 Nov 92 00:44:30 GMT
Article-I.D.: NCoast.BxsA27.3o1
Reply-To: cmort@ncoast.org (Christopher Morton)
Followup-To: soc.culture.korean
Organization: North Coast Public Access *NIX, Cleveland, OH

As quoted from <1992Nov11.080149.11304@news.yale.edu> by lim@omega.chem.yale.edu (Dongchul Lim):

> cf379@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (J. Alan) writes:
> : 
> : I'm researching this topic and would appreciate receiving the
> : views, comments, and experiences of any readers of this group.
> : 
> : I will not share what you send me with anyone else, and
> : I guarantee full anonymity.  Thanks in advance for your
> : kind cooperation.
> : 
> : J. Alan
> 
> What an interesting research topic!
> But I doubt if there're many homosexuals among those who
> subscribe to this news group, since korean society, maybe
> the whole asian culture, is a bit closed to sex.
> How about posting this article in alt.sex.*.
> The only thing that I heard was gays frequently showed up
> at bars around US military bases such as Itaewon.
> Does anyone have more interesting story?
> -DCL
> 
When I was stationed in Korea, I went to Yongsan to visit my best friend and
meet his fiance.  She was supposed to meet us in the officers' club.  While we
were waiting for her, we thought we'd have some fun and see how many people
we could drive out of the lounge.  This is a game that we played in college.
We'd go to the local Pizza Hut and see how many farmers we could cause to leave
by playing music on the jukebox that they hated.  We decided that we'd play a
couple of dollars worth of the "Village People".  I don't recall if anybody
left, but we amused ourselves at small cost.

When his fiance arrived we were laughing about the music.  She asked us what
we were laughing about.  Thinking that she would understand, we told her that
we were the ones who had put in "In the Navy" 15 times.  She replied something
to the effect of, "Oh yes, that is a good song".  This of course left us
momentarily speechless.  When we recovered, we said, "It was a joke!".  The
following dialog, or a close approximation followed:

"Why is it a joke?"

"It's the Village People!"

"Yes, I know."

"No, it's the VILLAGE PEOPLE!"

"Yes, AND?"

"You know who THEM, don't you?"

"Yes, they are an American band."

"And...?"

"And what...?"

"You know, they're kind of... unusual."

"Yes, they all time dress up as Indian, and policeman, and...."

"That's not what we meant, they're... FUNNY".

"Oh yes, they wear funny costumes and dance!"

"That's not what we mean by FUNNY".

"What do you mean then?"

(We look at each other exasperated)

"Hmmm, well they're GAY."

"Of course, show folk are very lighthearted!"

(At this point, my friend whispers in his fiancee's ear what "gay" means in
English.  Suddenly a stunned look crosses her face and she says with great
solemnity,)

"I think that there are NO people in Korea like that...."

I think that may sum up popular perception of homosexuality in Korea.

PS - Not long before that, I had payed Korean KSC workers at Camp Casey.  One
of them was wearing lipstick, makeup and fingernail polish.  The other workers
snickered behind his back, but seemed not to go out of their way to bother him.
Seeing as how "there are no people like that in Korea" he was obviously 
Slovenian.... :)



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