Sex and the Gray City: South Korean Older Adults and the Negotiation of Sexual Boundaries

• In Event: 1483 - Open Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 03. Aging, Health, and Sexuality Among Immigrants

Abstract

By examining the issue of sexuality as experienced by older adults over the age of 50 in contemporary Seoul, South Korea, I examine how and when the ages of sexual agents become problematized in urban governance and commerce. Historically, the South Korean government has policed but simultaneously tolerated sexual businesses that now attract older men and women, regardless of their marital statuses, as their patrons. I look at how older adults negotiate the regulation and commerce of sexuality and how this differs from their younger counterparts. I ask three primary questions: First, how do the South Korean nation-state and the city government of Seoul understand sexual activity of older adults within overall increase in the elderly population; second, what are the discursive frames used by business owners and workers that cater to the entertainment, socialization, and sexual needs of older adults; and finally, how are these discursive frames put to use differently by older adults in the local sites of sexual encounters in the context of their discrimination and isolation? By bringing the political economy, aging, and sexuality into an analytical frame, this study will contribute to the areas of urban sociology, gerontology, and feminist studies.

Author

• Yu-Ri Kim, Vanderbilt University