Gisaengs in the City: The Tourism Promotion Strategy and Prostitution in South Korea during the 1960s and 70s

This presentation examines how the South Korean tourism policy had mobilized the sexualized face-to-face service during the 1960s and 1970s. Based on pioneering studies on the gendered industrialization in South Korea, prostitution became a well-known target in terms of criticising the governmental mobilization towards female bodies. Considering blurred classifications in "feminine" services, however, historicizing a certain type of practice as a perpetual entity labelled "prostitution" could fixate a misogynistic dichotomy between prostitution and non-prostitution, despite its original feminist vision.

What this presentation emphasizes is that face-to-face services using workers' femininity include sexualized elements, albeit with the matters of intensity. The question of where on this spectrum to begin calling it "prostitution" was itself the gender politics in each context. Accordingly, in order to analyze such labor-intensive industry like face-to-face services, it is necessary to include not only "prostitution" but also other female services intertwined with it.

The hospitality industry based on interaction with customers is a representative case showing the entangled dynamics around female services. Since tourism was considered a major source of foreign currency during the industrialization, the government began to set long-term goals and invest significant budgets. Besides setting up the infrastructure or supporting private business, they tried to utilize the femininity of frontline workers to maximize the political and economic benefits.

On the "Gisaeng Tourism", this presentation underlines that it was not just a deviated practice, but rather, a whole package including many female workers such as tour guides, interpreters, and receptionists. Examining policy documents and statistical data, we can see how the government navigated a narrow path of using sexualized services. Publications from training institutions or recruitment advertisements give us better understanding of what made tourism work. With this analysis, this presentation aims to offer a comprehensive explanation for the gendered industrialization in South Korea.