- Headline: "Adolescent Purity Classroom Ep. 17 The Acceleration of Sexual Activity"
- Source: Kyunghyang Shinmun
- Date of Publication: December 8, 1975
- Summary:
Premarital intercourse among teenagers is on the rise. A survey conducted by the Graduate School of Public Health at Seoul National University revealed that among teenagers under 20, 66% of boys and 33% of girls reported having sexual experiences. The rate of such experiences decreases with higher educational attainment, with 98% of elementary school graduates, 84% of high school graduates, and 67% of college graduates reporting sexual experiences. Statistics related to unwed mothers indicate that teenage girls aged 14 to 19 comprise 16% of all unwed mothers. Furthermore, 17% of high school girls responded that they intended to marry their partner after a romantic relationship, while the remaining majority stated they would pursue relationships for enjoyment regardless of marriage.
Teenage sexual experiences often lead to psychological disorders, such as phobias of sexually transmitted diseases or pregnancy, and feelings of anxiety about losing their purity. If schools and families had implemented thorough purity education, could these issues have been prevented? Recent findings from gynecological clinics show that teenage patients are more likely to choose abortion procedures if they come from families with low parental education levels or unstable home environments. This underscores the necessity for families and schools to provide education that emphasizes the importance of purity and a responsible approach to sexuality. (Gi-Ha Park, M.D., Director of the Planned Parenthood Federation of Korea) Unwed mothers have been stereotyped as the social concerns created by female workers in industrial zones or female high school students within a gendered discourse on sexuality that seeks to control female behavior through purity education. This discourse has been legitimized under the authority of experts, reinforcing prejudices that depict unwed mothers in Korean society as young, poorly educated, and sexually promiscuous. These biases have persisted for decades, shaping societal perceptions of unwed motherhood.
CLICK the article below to view the original scanned article as it appeared in print, complete with text and images, on the Naver News Library, which archives Korean newspapers from the 1920s to the 1990s. For easier reading, click “텍스트 보기” (View text) in the top right corner to open a text-only window.
Note: Articles are in Korean, and English translations are not provided in the library. # The news article was accompanied by a photograph with a disclaimer stating,
“This image is unrelated to specific facts mentioned in the article.”
Yet, it exclusively depicted female high school students.
The text framed sexual experience and issues of chastity as concerns specifically for female students, stating:
"A significant number of female high school students have sexual experience.
It is crucial to instill an appreciation for the value of sexuality through purity education at home and school."
The English summary and translation of this article is provided by UMI4AA.
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