The museum is clearly a labor of love, and Won's enthusiasm for the topic was
palpable as he led our group around the exhibits last Saturday, effortlessly
reeling off anecdotes about the evolution of sexual practice and attitudes
throughout Asian and world history.
The museum is divided into four themes: "saeng," "no," "pyong," and "sa," which
translate as birth, ageing, disease, and death respectively. Right from the
off, the visitor is confronted by the mixture of the quaint and the explicit
that characterizes the exhibits. In the birth section, for instance, Mr. Won
showed us a "kumjul," a straw rope adorned with charcoal, pine needles, and, if
a boy was desired, "kochu'' (red cayenne peppers), that was hung outside the
houses of families expecting children. (It shouldn't require too much
imagination to work out why the peppers symbolize males in Korea.) But right
next to this was a rather jarring set of close-up shots of babies emerging from
their mothers feet-first and head-first.
Although many of the exhibits hail from overseas, a particular strength of the
museum is that it shines light onto the sexual proclivities of Koreans
themselves from the relatively freewheeling days of the Buddhist Koryo Kingdom
(918-1392), through the puritanical and prudish Choson Kingdom (1392-1910).
Under Korea's obligations as a vassal of China, sons of Koryo monarchs were
required to live in China for a time, during which they would both find a wife,
and learn of the more liberal and sophisticated sexual mores of the Chinese
court. By contrast, as Choson kings set about applying a rigorous form of
Confucianism to Korea, beliefs about sex, especially as far as women were
concerned, became suffocatingly straight-laced.
As with many a stridently conservative society, however, hypocrisy and quirky
sexual behavior flourished. Sex toys used by women of the "yangban,'' or Korean
aristocracy, are on show at the museum, along with coins engraved with lewd
pictures that were redeemed at contemporary equivalents of brothels by children
as young as 12, who, having been forced to marry young in order to escape the
clutches of Chinese suitors, had to learn about sex in a hurry.
Won believes that Choson sexual attitudes retain an unhealthy influence on
modern Korean society. With an often disarming candor, he expounded on the
dangers of repressing sexuality, saying that to sully the pleasure humans
naturally derive from sex is to cultivate the practice of deviant, even
dangerous, sexual acts. Of course, one man's deviant behavior is another man's
night at home with a video, but Mr. Won cited the example of genital piercings,
using some large pictures to support his claim.
Elsewhere, there is a wide array of phalluses, used for everything from
preventing disease to promoting fertility to fighting infidelity. Apparently,
in Choson times it was believed that if women in the village were committing
adultery, it was a sure-fire sign of too much "umgi,'' the feminine form of
"ki,'' or the "life-force'' which is central to much Eastern philosophy and
medicine. The placement of a large wooden phallus in the village was considered
the best way to deal with this problem.
Among the wide selection of foreign artifacts, Won is especially fond of the
Indian pieces, describing the country's culture as by far the most sexually
sophisticated among traditional societies.
The modern collection comprises sex toys (some of which Won gamely demonstrated
how to use), sex manuals, and a number of eye-opening, jaw-dropping, or
downright stomach-churning pictures. For this reason, it is perhaps best not to
bring young children along, although they are admitted in the company of
adults.
Sadly, none of the exhibit descriptions have English translations yet, but should this area be of interest to you _ and let's face it, that covers pretty much everyone _ the Erotic Art Museum is a thoroughly enjoyable way to while away a couple of hours in the Sinchon area.
