You Shall Not Divorce: Psychologization of Heterosexual Suffering in Korean Reality Television Divorce Re-Boot Camp

• In Event: Critical heterosexualities in the Sociology of Sexualities

Abstract

Since the 2020s, South Korea has seen a surge in therapeutic reality television. This study analyzes Divorce Re-Boot Camp, a series that simulates legal divorce mediation by involving psychologists, psychiatrists, and lawyers to intervene in the lives of couples on the verge of separation. Despite experiencing severe conflicts—ranging from domestic violence to extramarital affairs—couples ultimately choose to forgo divorce through expert-mediated consultations. Utilizing Seymour Chatman’s narrative analysis and Nikolas Rose’s concept of "psy disciplines," this study investigates how media intervention obscures heterosexual suffering and reproduces "cruel optimism" regarding the heteronormative family.

The study identifies two key findings. First, participants' struggles are not framed as heterosexual suffering but merely as psychological suffering. While the "heterosexual-repair industry" has historically naturalized gender differences as an inherent burden, this show reframes such suffering as an individual failure to heal childhood traumas. Consequently, the gender hierarchy evaporates, and both spouses are placed on an equal footing as individuals burdened by inner wounds.

Second, the heterosexual family's failures as an economic and caregiving unit are translated into individual psychological pathologies. A wife’s struggle with childcare is targeted as a "failure of motherhood," while a husband’s neglect is neutralized by his "breadwinner" status. This effectively justifies a dysfunctional gendered division of labor by outsourcing systemic failures to the woman’s psyche without demanding institutional reform. Furthermore, by framing parental absence as "incurable trauma" for children, the show renders divorce unthinkable. Ultimately, the program utilizes psychological expertise to enforce an affective attachment to the "normal family,” reinforcing a narrow social imagination where stable childcare is only possible under heterosexual parents.

Authors

• Yun-Hee Cho, Yonsei University

• Sujeong Yoon, Seoul National University