Desperate (Korean) Housewives

As a public service for those readers married to Korean women, I post this Sep. 1 piece from the Munhwa Ilbo that I came across as I was searching for info on Korea’s criminal adultery law.

According to the paper, more and more wives are getting lovin’ outside their marriages.
In a poll of some 194 married women taken by the paper in conjunction with the women’s portal site Xyinlove.co.kr, 56 responded that they’d fooled around on their husbands, while 36 said they were considering it. Even among those that hadn’t had affairs, 61 said they knew women who were, while only 22 said they didn’t know anyone who was.

With more and more women having affairs, men are starting to worry. According to a male counseling center, one out of four calls they get concern cheating wives. And cheating wives, the paper says, leads to crimes of revenge, divorce and other social problems. As we saw in a July case of arson at a karaoke club that killed eight people, cheating wives can lead the “other man” or husband to commit impulsive acts of violence like assault, arson… or even murder.

According to the Munhwa Ilbo, experts say the increase in wandering wives is intimately tied to the improving social position of women, namely, such factors as increased social activity on the part of women leading to more opportunities for contact with men and a trend toward greater sexual openness. Another factor causing wives to stray is that men have been slow to change their patriarchal attitudes despite the social changes mentioned above. The head of the men’s counseling center mentioned above said that wives’ affairs begin as a search for an emotional escape from dissatisfaction with their husbands or loneliness, but that once things begin, such affairs often end in disaster as both parties get stuck in the “swamp of physical pleasure.” He advised husbands to work in order to maintain a happy husband-wife relation through honest conversation and physical contact.

BTW, according to the graph posted on the piece, the reasons for wives’ affairs were (according to the Munhwa Ilbo survey cited above):

To fill a sense of emptiness concerning their husbands: 54 percent;

Curiosity about men: 23 percent;

They feel love for the other man: 11 percent;

To fulfill their sexual desires: 10 percent;

Other: 2 percent

13 Comments

  1. Posted November 10, 2006 at 10:08 pm | Permalink

    Personally, I don’t think more are fooling around. I just think more are ‘fessin’ up to it.

  2. SomeguyinKorea your flag
    Posted November 10, 2006 at 10:19 pm | Permalink

    Remember how the government had a fit when they discovered that there were male prostitutes catering to housewives? They were talking about how it was terrible because it was destroying families–as if a few hundred gigolos were a bigger threat to the nuclear family than the 500 000 female prostitutes in this country.

  3. Posted November 11, 2006 at 10:42 am | Permalink

    I think Iceberg is correct.

  4. MigukNamja your flag
    Posted November 11, 2006 at 2:08 pm | Permalink

    I think Someguyinkorea is correct.

    Why do married men get not only get a pass for adultery but are encouraged to commit adultery (in the male business environment, not taking part in the “fun” is seen as being extremely rude) while women cheating on their husbands is so horrible ?

    Did the interviewer also do the same poll among men ? Or, better yet, ask those women who admitting to cheating on their husband if their husband ever cheated on them ?

    I’m not saying wives should cheat on their husbands. I’m saying it’s not as simple as pointing the finger of blame at just the wives.

  5. railwaycharm your flag
    Posted November 11, 2006 at 3:33 pm | Permalink

    Nothing new here.

  6. bluejives your flag
    Posted November 11, 2006 at 3:40 pm | Permalink

    Miguknam-ga:Why do married men get not only get a pass for adultery but are encouraged to commit adultery (in the male business environment, not taking part in the “fun” is seen as being extremely rude) while women cheating on their husbands is so horrible ?

    Because men can have sex just for the sex. It’s just a physical act. For women, it is different. Sex is emotionally involved.

    For men, adultery is just an act that involves his dick, period. For women, it involves the heart, mind, as well as her pussy.

    Big difference.

  7. bluejives your flag
    Posted November 11, 2006 at 3:51 pm | Permalink

    Furthermore, in a much more enlightened world than the current time, I believe that humans will learn to distinguish between the purely, physical act of sex, with indiscriminate partners, and love or devotion to a specific partner. It will be possible to enjoy sex with multiple partners as a purely recreational act and it will be acceptable to both partners within the relationship with none of the guilt and feelings of betrayal on either side. Society at large will be accepting of this practice and these feelings of guilt and betrayal will be considered as quaint anachronisms of the past. The husband/wife/partner swappers of swinger parties of today are ahead of their time in this regard.

    I personally encourage all women to enlighten up and to join me in helping to bring on this Sexual Renaissance.

  8. Lazy_Contractor your flag
    Posted November 12, 2006 at 7:59 pm | Permalink

    Bluejeeves wrote:

    “For women, it involves the heart, mind, as well as her pussy.”

    Dude. You are SOOOO gay.

    Only guys I know who “understands” what a woman wants - IS GAY. Good for you! So brave to “come out” of the closet.

  9. Lazy_Contractor your flag
    Posted November 12, 2006 at 8:01 pm | Permalink

    More on “BJ”…

    ” believe that humans will learn to distinguish between the purely, physical act of sex, with indiscriminate partners, and love or devotion to a specific partner.”

    Ok, we get it. Yer here - you’re queer, we’ll get used to it.

    Man, you are “flaming” gay.

  10. railwaycharm your flag
    Posted November 13, 2006 at 9:06 pm | Permalink

    He can’t help it, he got sucked into it.

  11. Fantasy your flag
    Posted November 14, 2006 at 12:42 am | Permalink

    Bluejives:

    “Society at large will be accepting of this practice and these feelings of guilt and betrayal will be considered as quaint anachronisms of the past.”

    How come that you forgot to add “This general principle will, of course, not apply if a Caucasian male and an Asian female is involved”?

    You are getting old and tame…

  12. random guy your flag
    Posted November 14, 2006 at 10:28 am | Permalink

    o_O

  13. kpmsprtd your flag
    Posted November 17, 2006 at 3:35 pm | Permalink

    Bluejives,

    Once again, I’m the oddball, but I hear what you’re saying and I salute you. Hopefully, me and you can fit the locks to the keys, and the rest of these ignorant bastards can stand around, jerk each other off, and whine about how you and me are gay just because we are proposing something way beyond the current constrictions of marriage/relationships.

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