boys rule, girls drool
Koreans are more comfortable splitting at male and female, even more so with the kids, though their preferred topic of conversation is the opposite sex. So I separated my more gifted 14 year-old extracurricular class and gave the two groups a questionnaire about marriage. Here are their answers [sic].
- Is it OK to marry someone who is older than you?
Girls: Yes, because we love older man.
Boys: Yes, because she is good for me. - Is it OK to marry a foreigner?
Girls: No, because we don't want to bear foreign baby.
Boys: No, because my kid is distinct. - Is it OK to marry someone who's crazy?
Girls: No. We don't like crazy man.
Boys: No! Because very tiring. - Is it OK to marry someone smarter than you?
Girls: Yes, because we like smarter man.
Boys: Yes, because she gets a lot of money. - Girls, would you marry someone poorer? Boys, someone richer?
Girls: No, we don't want a hungry life.
Boys: Yes, because I will be rich. - It it OK to marry someone who is the same gender as you?
Girls: We don't want to marry with a girl.
Boys: No, because we can't enjoy honeymoon. - Boys, would you marry someone taller? Girls, would you marry someone shorter?
Girls: No. We don't match.
Boys: No, because it is shameful. - If your parents don't like your boyfriend/girlfriend, should you marry him/her?
Girls: We will marry, because we are loving.
Boys: Yes, because I want sincerely love. - What characteristics should your husband/wife have?
Girls: Kind, cute, clean.
Boys:No, because I don't like characteristics.Sexy. - Is it OK for a husband to cook?
Girls: Yes.
Boys:NoYes, because I will be nice husband. - Should a wife have a job?
The girls x'ed this question
Boys: Yes, we will be rich. - Should a husband have a job?
Girls: Yes, because we want a life.
Boys: Yes, if we don't have a job, that is disgrace. - How many children should a Korea couple have?
Girls: One boy, one girl.
Boys: 3, 8, 11, 2, 100, 2, 6/127 = 21. - Is divorce OK?
Girls: We don't want to divorce.
Boys: NO!
2 comments:
That's really interesting Sarah.
Especially the bit about "bearing foreign baby." I assume it's a taboo that is letting up a little, but is being "distinct" really so shameful?
Distinct... that really resonates.
Sure, there is racism everywhere you go. Hell, the Maritimes is a pretty racist part of Canada. But I'm sure here in Korea, it doesn't seem like such a negative thing with 99% racial hegemony on your team.
I might be guilty of giving them leading questions, and 'distinct' may or may not have come from a digital translator...
It's funny, but I see them as such a homogeneous separate race themselves that I don't even register the racism anymore - it's like you say.
They're so universally the same, and I'm different, just one little separate person who's different but luckily not in an extreme way - they acknowledge racial differences in more explicit terms than I do, but it seems normal to me now and doesn't faze me - maybe I've been indoctrinated because I'm a pretty easy-to-swallow version of 'white'.
Would I have been so if I showed up Indian or Black? Or even if I'd been fair skinned and blond?
Don't know.
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