Love Land: The Discussion of Sex in Korean Culture

While on Jeju, Seema and I visited the infamous "Jeju Love Land".  Now there is lots to talk about when it comes to Love Land, since after all it is a Sex Theme Park.  This post is different from a lot of my other posts and will contain adult material including pictures.  So if this offends you - I'm sorry.   I do try to make this blog fairly family friendly but this place just sparked too much conversation to leave it alone.  The park does require you to be 18 or older to enter and so if this isn't your cup of tea please do not continue after the page break. 

 

ADULT CONTENT AHEAD

Korea is a conservative country.  I get stared at like I'm a hooker if I wear a low cut top (actually I get stared at like I'm a hooker regardless of what I'm wearing) but this country does not openly talk about a lot of things regarding sex.  Even though there are Love Motels they aren't really discussed, and even though Love Land is a HUGE step in the Korean discussion of sexuality there are still some things that aren't perfect.

According to Wikpedia Jeju Island is a big honeymoon destination and so because of so many arranged marriages (and the lack of sex in the cultural discussion) in the past it was a place for 'sex education', thus inspiring the creation of Love Land.  

This place is not for those who hate dirty jokes because the park is full of them. All of the signs in the entire park are penises, things that you didn't think could be made dirty were made dirty.  It was like walking around in the scene from the movie 'Superbad' where everything the kid draws are dicks (my favorite in the film being the Tienanmen Square drawing)

It's a Bird... no, it's a dick.

Even the drawings that looked like birds turned out to be something else.  This would be a great place to bring a bachelorette party because the majority of it all is just really funny.  The hills are boobs, there is a giant fountain shaped like a penis with water coming out of the end.

The thing is as I walked through the park with all of this sexual artwork and all of this openness and humor found in sexuality there were some things I noticed that were lacking.  I know this is Korea and any sort of discussion of sexuality is a huge step, but there were things I had some problems with. 

A lot of statues are sexual organs removed from the body for greater comedy or drama, but there seemed to be a lot more headless women then men.  Yes there were a LOT of penises, but there were multiple women that were only bodies, much more so than men. 

Also, there was this collection of statues that features these over sized women with shrunken men that kind of portrayed the women as ugly, lazy, forceful monsters when it came to sex.

The other major issue I had with the park was its approach to homosexuality.  Now I know a lot of Korean culture denies that homosexuality even exists and therefore doesn't really accept it into mainstream culture.  But there were two instances of homosexual sex in the park that I will let you see for yourself. 

 

The first statue of the threesome only hints at homosexual sex since there are two women- this is also the only statue in the park of sex with more than two partners.  This wasn't as bad but it was the sign that really bothered me.  There were signs like this all over the park with different sexual positions and captions saying 'oh yeah' or whatever, but I saw this and was really shocked.  

I know that Korea doesn't really accept homosexuality but the judgment attached to this sign was the thing that bothered me most in the park and really a dark spot on an otherwise fun place.  The sign is what made me realize what I hadn't been seeing in the park was a validation of other sexual relationships beyond heterosexual two person (and solo) sex.  The park would've been better off leaving homosexuality entirely absent from the art instead of adding this sign.  

I knew that if some of my friends back at home saw this they would get really upset and even though I feel like I have a decent grasp on Korean culture it still really bothered and kinda shocked me.  I knew once I saw that sign I had to write about it.  I just wish Korea could accept these differences, and hopefully in time they can.  And hopefully in time the U.S. government can as well.

Now don't get me wrong the majority of Love Land was fun and funny, but some things could have been a lot better.  And just so you don't think it's all bad I will leave you with a list.

Things I liked about Love Land:

-the humor found in sex

-the portrayal of many different kinds of bodies

-the penis signs

-the key chains in the gift shop (they have pulls on them that cause different movements and actions)

-the fact that this place does exist in Korea

-how happy everyone is there- you can't help but laugh

-how groups of older adults come to point and laugh 

-the names of the statues

-how EVERYTHING in the park is sexual