As is the hackneyed tradition during the New Year's season, I have prepared a list of my most recommendable posts, especially for those of you who may not be familiar with my posts of Christmases past. I won't confine myself or possibly reduce the overall quality of the list by forcing into into a "Top Ten" or other such arbitrary number; I'll just recommend worthy posts – and their associated debates – based on their merit alone.
I'm not saying I'm the craftiest writer in the world or some erudite scholar, but for those of you who do come to this blog regularly, you must be thinking I have something of note to say. Allow me to thank you for that. For those of you who may have missed some of my previous stuff because of the way past posts are obscured by the awkward default interface of the Typepad menu links, some of my favorite posts are listed below.
Also, this is partially a response to some things written about me and my site that I found on sites linked into my web stats page, which indicates the pages that refer into my site. I am speaking primarily about posters on one expat site – which will remain unnamed – that paints me as little more than a "pseudo-intellectual" and an actual "pervert" because of my "Fetish" post. Hmm. Well, that's an interesting thing, which leads me to an interesting conversation.
Many of my referring pages are found through search engines, so it's fun to watch how the combination of words that appear in posts, words that obviously cluster around a certain topic, affect who comes into my blog, as well as where they enter it. Since the infamous "Fetish" post, as well as in combination with posts from around that time when I was shooting, writing, and theorizing about how the female body – as well as the concept of femaleness itself – is constructed and consumed in Korean society, I have been getting no end of interesting search strings that lead people right to my blog's front door. Here are some choice search strings, taken from my blog's web logs:
"red light district seoul"
"korean feet fetish"
"korean foot heels eyelashes"
"massage parlor seoul"
"korean women miari"
The combinations are endless and endlessly amusing. In all of the groping in the virtual dark for something seedy on these search engines, the collection of words in certain blog entries brings a lot of the folks looking for a sexy Seoul over my way. Actually, even before I had a "blog," when I was simply taking pictures for Seoul Selection, guys would semi-regularly track me down and ask me for some good red-light district pictures, in addition to the ones I had published. And to break a theory some of ya'll might have, these folks weren't all white dudes, but had Korean names.
But still, on the search engines tracked though my blog, many of the searchers come in through Yahoos, Altavistas, and Googles France, Germany, Japan, India, and Finland (I think), as well as other places all over the world. Korean massage parlors, red-light districts, and other spots of ill repute seem to have a reputation in many other countries. And they get certain blog entries, especially ones such as "Fetish" or "Seoul Nights," which contain words that are robotically searched, devoid of the unifying and explanative glue of context:
Here's an excerpt from that "Fetish" post, which, by the way, will get this post tagged by sex searchers as well:
Since images of women's fetishization are part of what I'm trying to capture on film, being apologetic for my male gaze – the "fetishistic scopophilia" that I was told during my first film class all heterosexual men possessed – would be counterproductive and downright futile. Of course, sometimes I feel like a big, fat pervert trying to capture the pull of the fetish with my camera, especially since disconnecting my pleasure in the process is impossible; but not taking a picture and regretting it later is a far worse feeling than that caused by an occasional passersby looking at me as if I were a big brown pervert with a camera. And to a certain extent, they're right anyway. As more than just a passive watcher, when I am enabled by my camera, fetishistic scopophilia is in full effect.
So let me drop the academic façade that most people entering into controversial waters tend to hide behind, and let my male gaze guide the rest of this essay, just as it has my camera. Let me break down for you how I see the image of sexualized woman as nothing more than the sum of her fetishized parts. As a person possessing desire for the female form here - whether you are a straight man, lesbian, or gay man who just appreciates pure fabulosity itself – perhaps you might recognize some of the parts that draw not just my own eye, but yours as well. And if they weren't really important, why else would these parts be the object of so much attention, consumption, and presentation? And these are not fetishes I noticed before coming to Korea - some of them are quite learned, and recently so. Freud ain't in effect as much as many of us would have it. As the more contemporary, albeit fictional, psychoanalyst Hannibal Lecter so aptly observed "We covet what we see every day." Let's think about what those things are on the level of fetishistic, photographic detail – from coiffed head to pedicured toe – and see what we come up with:
- the sheen of shiny, straight black hair, like in the Prell™ commercials
- the confident "hair flip," or twirl, or continued absent-minded stroking
- big, black false eyelashes, flitting up and down, up and down
- big, round, black contacts to make doe-eyes with
- shiny peach lip gloss, always reapplied
- the ever-present Korean female "pout"
- the paleness of the classical Korean face, as maintained by whitening powders, creams, and base/foundation Twincake™
- big eyes and noses with European bridges
- French-manicured, slender fingers always formed in poses of feminine delicacy
- upper arms that are similar in thickness to the forearms
- stockinged thighs peeking out from under checkered, pleated skirts
- thin legs in jeans made to look longer in heels reaching out under an overly long pantleg
- the rounded legs of "office girls" in stocking and slippers
- thigh-hi tights like in the old Britney Spears schoolgirl video nobody ever admits to having made any effort to watch
- knee-high tights
- pedicured feet and toes in the barest sandal heels possible, coupled with a high skirt, to create the "near-naked" effect
- heels dangling from suspended feet, twirling in the air
- the "skinny fat" legs that are thin, yet jiggle with each step because of the lack of exercise and likely impact of past eating disorder
- pigeon-toed walking
- overly effeminate hip-swaying and sashaying, a la Ru Paul
I couldn't have cast a wider and more seductive net to search engine robots and their sex-interested users if I tried. Any user making even the most ridiculous search for something like "big korean lesbian women stroking Britney Spears in thigh-hi schoolgirl tights" would, inevitably and inexorably, come – you guessed it – right to my page.
Now, you may think that me photographing, writing, and theorizing about the Korean female body automatically makes me a pervert, with any flowery academic language I use existing as nothing more than a lame cover for my deviant sexual desires. To that, let me simply reposte by saying that I would think most true "perverts" taking pictures of women on the street for nefarious masturbatory purposes would 1) not publish their pictures or describe their activities on the Internet, 2) not waste good money on film, developing, scanning, and occasional printing to create images of everyday people when they could simply spend those hundreds to thousands of dollars on subscriptions to the many fetishistic Korean web sites of ill repute that money will buy, and 3) not waste good masturbatory time taking the time to look up obscure academic references to Freudian psychology, film studies, or critical theory.
Even a pervert has priorities, even if they are primarily penile.
And let's not forget the most important fact of the matter – I don't even write about this subject that much! Given the fact that the majority of my posts since last year, when I was most actively photographing and working out that project, most of my posts have actually have not had much to do with Korean women. So one might think that I would get cut a break on these expat sites. I mean look, people – here are some other posts that I think have some pretty good writing and thinking in 'em, and them got nada to do with nothing naughty:
A fact that had bewildered and annoyed me for quite a long time: I have never met a Korean national who likes Star Trek, no matter how much Star Wars, Matrix, or other "SF" they claim to enjoy. Star Trek is just too American, its seems, to its core.
"The "Decisive Moment"
A post about a photographer who is dear to the heart of any true street photographer, while also being near to my way of seeing through the camera.
"Korea Herald Article: Migrant Workers"
The text of a photo essay I did on two Indonesian migrant workers with whom I had the honor of spending a day.
"Sometimes I'm Glad to Be an Expat"
The post I wrote in a white-hot rage as I watched the results of the Man's racist societal structures and willful negligence that came to light all the more prominently in the wake of Katrina.
"Race and History, or "Bin Laden Didn't Blow Up the Projects"
A straight and unflinching look at America from one Black perspective.
"In Defense of Apple and the Memory of Rosa Parks"
Some people saw Apple's putting Rosa Parks' picture on its website when she died as a cheap corporate ploy. However, I saw it as completely appropriate.
"I Saw Elvis in a Korean Taxi"
Musings about one of my earliest "blog" entries and the simple pleasures of living as both outsider and involuntary cultural ambassador for parts of a culture I don't even claim.
"I Hate to Say "I Told You So," But..."
Dr. Hwang, the brouhaha, and why I'm not at all surprised. I've been raising my ethical eyebrow ever since Korean folks started bragging about the superiority of Korean culture, chopsticks, and fashioning itself – quite prematurely – from just "the hub of Asia" into the cloning "hub" of the world. Man, didn't anyone see The Island?
"Why the Idea of Intelligent Design Is – and Isn't – Stupid"
Intelligent design is actually not a bad idea – outside of the realms of science and the classroom. The faithful may see a divine hand in the wings of a butterfly, the grandeur of Niagara Falls, or the beauty of a sunrise. And you may even see it in the double helix of the DNA molecule. But it simply ain't science.
"America, the Theoretically Beautiful"
The definition of a true "patriot" should be formed with an eye to the ideals of America's ideological origins and foundational documents – not the fleeting politics of the moment.
So to you boys who came into my website riding search strings such as "seoul sex massage parlors" – labeling me the "pervert" sure are the pot calling the kettle black, especially since ya'll came in looking for the very thing you accuse me of being "guilty" of. How about reading one of my many other posts touching on a whole host of other things that catch my intellectual fancy – while actually reading and understanding the posts ya'll think are so "perverted" – before falsely claiming that they are 1) representative of the broad range of topics included in this blog, 2) simply "perverted." What grade are you in, boys? Still can't sit through a high school sex ed class without tittering nervously?
And for those of you who can take deal with gender and sexuality without devolving into schoolboyish snarking and giggling, here are my allegedly "perverted" posts, written last year when I was thinking most about the subject of "fetishized femininity" as an upcoming project. Judge my level of moral decrepitude on your own:
"Seoul Nights"
Korea and the sex industry. It's a big social problem – time to talk about it.
"En Femme"
Analysis of a picture that I think exemplifies many of the signs and symbology of "fetishized femininity" in Korea.
"Fetish"
The infamous "pervert" post. I think it's kinda well-thought and I fully acknowledge the role of my heterosexual male gaze in the project, which actually gives it its power, as well as apparent "perversity." Some people just think that this makes me a nasty boy. Take your own read.
Korea Herald Article: Uncut
The formal piece on the subject of sex work, in which the main social critique got lopped out, the other pictures in the essay got ignored, and the main red-light district image got blown up to fill 2/3 of an entire newspaper page. Talk about pure titillation; but that wasn't my fault. Good thing people have blogs where we can publish the full versions of our mutilated stories, right?
Also, take a listen to my podcasts – they're actually about a variety of stuff not related to – [hand covering mouth] – sex! 어머나! Lawd have mercy! He done said it!
And thanks for allowing me this New Year's vent. Have a good one and stick to those resolutions!
