"South Korean Feminists’ Bargain: Feminist Discourse and the Movement to Abolish Prostitution"
Abstract:
The Law against Prostitution, enacted in 2004, was a major victory for Korean feminists because the abolition of prostitution had been one of their longstanding goals. Prostitution has a long and fraught history in Korea, where it has been simultaneously illegal and closely regulated. These contradictions go back to the period of Japanese colonial rule when special zones were established for licensed prostitution.
As the country became more prosperous, the domestic sex industry grew into a large-scale business, and Korean feminists came to regard it as a major factor affecting the status of women in society. The Ministry of Gender Equality and the Korean Women’s Associations United (KWAU) worked together to design the 2004 law against prostitution and there was widespread public support for its passage. However, this carefully crafted law encountered surprising resistance and activism from the prostitutes who were supposed to be helped by the law. This resistance contributed to the development of a lively academic discussion about the moral, legal, and human rights aspects of the sex industry since the implementation of the law, which replaced the consensus-driven lack of debate that existed prior to the law’s passage. This broadened discussion has seen the introduction of new terminology to de-stigmatize the women involved in prostitution and re-examine issues of victimization and representation.
This paper examines the process of the passage of the anti-prostitution law and its aftermath. I consider the domestic and international factors that contributed to this particular law being passed at this particular moment. I especially focus on the close and somewhat problematic cooperation between the Ministry of Gender Equality and KWAU, the groundswell of public opinion that overwhelmed debate before the law was passed, and the prostitutes’ resistance and activism that arose following the enactment of the law.
Bio:
Seung-kyung Kim is Professor and Chair of Women's Studies, and Director of the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is also an affiliate faculty of the Departments of Anthropology and American Studies, and the Asian American Studies Program. Her scholarship addresses the participation of women in social movements as workers and in relation to the state; the processes of transnational migration in the context of globalization and the experiences of families in that process, especially with regard to education; and feminist theories of social change.
Besides numerous journal articles and books chapters, her publications include: Class Struggle or Family Struggle?: Lives of Women Factory Workers in South Korea (Cambridge University Press, 2009/1997); Feminist Theory Reader: Local and Global Perspectives; (Routledge Publishers, 2013/2009/2003). Her most recent book, The Korean Women's Movement and the State: Bargaining for Change, was published in 2014 by Routledge Publishers.
She is currently working on a book manuscript, The Making of Global Citizens?: Transnational Migration and Education in Kirŏgi Families.
