Perhaps this image however, was compounded by the fact that any time I asked a guy about it, I would hear vague descriptions and a lot of “well, eh….you know…” replies. Maybe it’s the culture of arranged marriages (albeit, severely diminishing), the societal taboo of sex before marriage, or merely a rebellious, hedonistic view to society, but the prevalence of a legitimate sex industry here, is one that surely must make Buddha blush!

So, while having a regular Thursday night dinner, my friend and I decided that we had too many questions about the other side of Korea, and that we’d only be satisfied if we had some experience of exactly what these girls felt.  I’m not going to say that I swapped jobs with a room salon employee.

On entering, we immediately felt welcome and sat at the bar. What we witnessed was not an exotic, naked strip-show, but in actuality, something much tamer! The girls were also wearing a lot more than what my friends and I used wear to regular clubs in Ireland! They were merely sitting, chatting to guys and drinking those drinks which cost, when bought by these men, almost triple the price of a regular drink. Next, and to our interest, came the “strip-show”. At the start, it was a couple of girls taking it in turns to dance around the steel, silver pole. It wasn’t what I would call sensual, sexy or exotic! I actually felt that I could do better myself (and perhaps have during that period when my friends and I drank copious amounts of tequila and sambucca!).

We then sat with and chatted to the girls (obviously it was a slow night!). 

Anna had just come from Seoul, but had been in Korea for over a year. She had to leave Russia because there wasn’t even a glimmer of a window of opportunity for her there, and came to Korea merely to make some money, so that she could go back to Russia and have somewhat of a “normal” quality of life.  She informed me that, all her job, with a salary of about $1000 per month entailed, was being in the club every night, dancing and talking and being polite to men.  Of course, if she did want to go further with any of the clientele, she perhaps would have been able to buy a new pair of knee-high boots.

Not alone was it a very educational night for my friend and I but also very liberating!  Perhaps it was because of the strong liquor, the atmosphere or maybe a need for self-expression, but I developed a strong attraction to the pole. I asked the lady behind the bar to play En Vogue’s “Free your Mind” and took to the stage!

Since I came to Ulsan, Korea to teach six months ago, my beliefs have become considerable stronger. I’m quite an “independent woman” and my belief in equality is very strong. My sense so far from South Korea, is that this belief is not shared by the majority. What I have witnessed here, is a society where, what everything looks like on the surface is the main concern. Some marriages are almost a business partnership, where the women are in charge of the “household” department. They look after the home expenses, and the children (in this case, perhaps we’ll call them the “employees” of the business).