The Marmot’s Hole

At another debate on eradicating prostitution, this one held yesterday at the National Assembly Library, former prostitutes spoke of the “shocking” conditions under which they had to live, reported the Munhwa Ilbo.

One ex-working girl going by the alias of “Sarang” noted that pimps would pay off high officials with free services and monetary bribes. The woman said the men she had to bribe sexually included police, prosecutors, lawmakers and city officials. She noted, however, that because these men were concerned with their image, they would not go to hotels, but rather conclude their business at their “officetels” (”office” + “hotel”) and the like.

With cops, it was even better. Rather than cracking down on prostitution, they were instead demanding sexual payments. In fact, “Sarang” said she often went on police station picnics in the morning, something that was particularly difficult given how—given the nature of her profession—she’d be up all night working.

Another ex-working girl named “Daisy” said that it was easier to deal with manual laborers who, like herself presumably, worked hard for their money, rather than johns of higher social standing, who often refused to pay her for her services.

And then there are the perverts.

One woman said one guy would send her into the bathroom, where he would instruct her to moan while he jerked off outside. Sometimes, he would leave the bathroom door open and enjoy watching her moan. Another guy with unique tastes liked for her to spit into the coffee he ordered.

Whatever happened to just calling up a dabang (tea house) for a simple coffee and a screw?

Anyway, prostitutes apparently classify 15 acts as “perverted,” including (get your pencils and notepads, children, because this will be on the test):

• Demanding a refund while threatening to turn the girls into the cops;
• Demanding a refund several times more than what he paid by claiming “psychological damage”;
• Burglarizing the girl’s room;
• Using violence;
• Pissing on the bed, claiming the service wasn’t satisfactory;
• Insisting on anal sex;
• Sticking strange devices up their vaginas;
• Harassing the girls by pretending to be civil servants;
• Demanding group sex;
• Visiting red light districts looking for “spring chickens”;
• Using cell phones to take pictures during sex.

An official from an Incheon women’s group said more and more people are criticizing prostitutes and claiming that prostitution is a necessary evil. She said to eradicate prostitution, men who solicit the services of prostitutes need to reform their “two-faced” understanding of prostitution and be strongly punished.

Personally, I think the government’s efforts to eradicate prostitution are bound to be as effective as U.S. efforts to bring democracy to Iraq—after three years in Iraq and two years since the passing of the Special Law on Prostitution, we should probably see by now that both are futile endeavors to graft alien values onto societies that don’t appear to accept them. Heck, laws on prostitution hardly work even in the United States, which—culturally speaking—seems much more uptight (and dare I say hypocritical) about this sort of thing.

That being said, it would probably be much funner to be an “embedded” reporter covering the War on Prostitution…