Young, Korean and sexually free...?

I read the Korean newspapers online. It is a hilarious way of spending time if you read the articles in Korean. While their English translations make them sound pompous and earnest, in Korean they just sound like a demented, shrieking granny. Most of the newspapers are no better than tabloids and with their sensationalist, populist tone, it's rather like reading a larger, bigger version of the Sun (minus the Page Three girls).

Every now and then, I come across an article that lets me have a glimpse into what the average Korean 26 year old is thinking/ having to deal with in Korea. These occasional insights go some way towards preventing me misunderstanding Korea completely so that I don't become either too pessimistic or too optimistic about the sanity of Korean society as a whole.

Today there is an article which conveyed the results of a survey of 1,200 unmarried women and men in their 20s and 30s about premarital sex. A whopping 76 per cent. said that they thought it was OK to have sex before marriage - 40 per cent. had already done the deed, while a demure 35.6 per cent. said that they would if their partner asked them to (talk about being unwilling?). An astounding 45.4 per cent. said that pregnancy before marriage was fine.

So it seems that I don't need to worry too much about being seen as a wanton slut when I visit Korea. Previously, similar polls showed that over 50 per cent. of people in their 20s thought premarital sex was unacceptable. As a teenager I would pore over these figures, trying to somehow identify with these sentiments, but I was living in London - I had a boyfriend, my life was not the same. Besides which, I always figured that eventually some of these people would have to realise that sex is a good thing.

Having said that, the conservative view still prevails in Korea as a whole - no one would dream of cohabiting, even engaged couples. Young actresses and models in Korea are the worst off, I think - they are damned to be viewed as sluts generally by the older generation, and when facing their peers they still have to make difficult decisions about their private lives (if you're dating someone, you usually have to make an announcement that you are at the very least 'considering' marriage). And I don't think this poll means that young Koreans are now happily at it like rabbits, either. For one thing, most of them live with their parents.

Ah, well. One of these days they'll stop acting like Victorians.

The survey (in Korean)