- Headline: "Factory Girls’ Relationships Are Far from Promiscuous"
- Source: Dong-A Ilbo
- Date of Publication: April 16, 1976
- Summary:
In a lecture on “Teenage Relationships” held at the YWCA on April 13, Reverend Myung-Jin In shared his findings after speaking with 3,700 female factory workers in the Yeongdeungpo industrial district over the past year. Contrary to mainstream assumptions, these young women, enduring grueling 12-hour shifts for a meager 20,000 KRW a month, have neither the time nor the opportunity to engage with the opposite sex, especially given their rural upbringing, where deeply ingrained traditional values keep them far from the promiscuous lifestyle many presume. While some instances of cohabitation do occur, he noted that these arrangements are primarily driven by the belief that "it costs less to live" rather than a decline in moral values. He also suggested that occasional moral lapses during holidays like Christmas and Chuseok stem from the sudden sense of freedom after prolonged confinement in factory dormitories. Meanwhile, Social Welfare Society counselor Hwa-Ja Jang warned that the culture of sexual permissiveness is contributing to a rise in unwed mothers at younger ages. She urged families, schools, and society at large to take responsibility by providing proper sex education to instill wholesome values in the younger generation. In 1975, the Christian Adoption Program of Korea (CAPOK) merged with Holt Children's Services. Prior to this merger, CAPOK actively shaped the discourse on unwed motherhood by compiling statistical data from counseling sessions and asserting that unwed mothers were increasing in number, predominantly young, of low educational attainment, and sexually promiscuous. However, following its integration into Holt, CAPOK ceased to be a visible entity in the media. The same discourse on unwed motherhood was subsequently reproduced by Holt Children's Services and state-approved international adoption agencies such as the Social Welfare Society(now known as Korea Welfare Services), Korea Social Service, and Eastern Child Welfare Society (now known as Eastern Social Welfare Society). These institutions, drawing upon demographic data from their in-house counseling services, continued to construct and reinforce a stereotype of unwed mothers. In response to criticisms that female factory workers were sexually promiscuous, Reverend Myung-Jin In offered a rebuttal; however, his argument also rested on the notion of chastity, emphasizing the importance of premarital purity while framing romantic relationships and premarital sexual activity as moral lapses.
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