Lesbian pies in Korea

Earlier we saw news that the 8th annual gay culture festival had kicked off. Now the Sports Seoul reports on what the women students of Yonsei University are doing. Considering the schlocky tabloid nature of the sports papers in Korea I had expected a lurid write-up but, instead, they give us a surprisingly fair-minded and even touching report. Whenever I hear people complain about the state of things in Korea, I always think of stories like this which illustrate just how rapidly the country is changing.

“Would you like to buy a lesbian pie or a gay cookie?”

In front of Yonsei University in Yeonhui-dong, Seodaemun-gu in Seoul on the 1st at 12 o’clock, the voice of a group of female students wearing t-shirts inscribed with the phrase “I am a lesbian.” caught the path of students passing by. Awkwardly stealing a glance in front of the women students, one male student explained that “They’re raising money for sexual minorities so I’m making a donation” and lightheartedly bought two cookies.

The festival is the first Yonsei campus ‘Lesbian Culture Festival’, run by the female student body as a whole with the aim of eliminating prejudice against sexual minorities.

According to those running the festival, the name given to the event is “L (Lesbian) in Queerland”, a take-off of the name Alice in Wonderland, in order to state that just as with Alice from the book, lesbians are not different from others, but should be recognized the way they are.

The most popular part of the festival is the ‘Question Stairs’ which reveal what lesbians think about themselves. By walking up the stairs and moving in directions based on whether they answered ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the questions inscribed on them, the thoughts of lesbians regarding themselves can be seen.

On May 30th, the first day of the festival, 10 students wearing “I am a lesbian” shirts formed a same-sex ‘Free Hug’ flash mob as at least 100 spectators gathered.

Also, a self-made film inspecting the realities of life as an openly gay middle or high school student, called ‘Out’, has attracted deep attention.

This first festival has had its own share of difficulty. Lee Na-rae, 21, summarized the festival by saying “On the morning of the festival’s first day we found a placard that had been ripped apart by someone, and on the festival grounds there was someone saying right out loud that homosexuality is evil.” She also told about how when she wore one of the festival’s shirts and walked around people would whisper around her or even come up to her and ask brazenly if she was a lesbian, and that she was able to feel somewhat what it felt like to live as a homosexual.

Festival spectator and student Shin (23) said “I didn’t know that so-called ‘outings’ where someone else reveals that you’re homosexual instead of ‘coming out’ where you reveal it yourself could be so painful to the person involved.” Another student named Kim (20) said that she had had the opportunity to “clear away the ambiguous stereotypes I had had towards lesbians,” and that “I hope the festival becomes established as an annual one.”