Jjimjilbang: The Secrets Dispelled. Part I

The Jjimjilbang.

Synonymous with Sauna...

...Bathhouse...

Spa.

The name alone conjures images of refreshing relaxation for some and inspires nameless fear in others. Here in Korea, it is thought of as the social Balm in Gilead where people can have some well-deserved winding down after a tough day, week, life...whatever. One can go with friends, by oneself, with family, co-workers...whatever's your pleasure. This is not so back home in America. Though a brave few have pushed past the veil of curiosity and ventured into fabled establishments like Jeju Spa (in Gwinnett county, Georgia) and the like, most of us "Westerners" have an intrinsic problem starting right after we pay our entrance fees...

Nudity.

The problem becomes compounded if you are of any of the Black/ Negro subcultures (i.e. African, African American, African Caribbean, Afro-Hispanic, etc.) and especially so if you are male. The permeation and intermarriage of nudity and sexuality has become so overwhelming in these sub-cultures that it has given birth to an irrational fear that governs the actions of many a Westerner, especially in places where there is a chance of someone seeing you in the nude (or vice versa).

In a culture (or series of cultures for that matter) that demands its men to be masculine, strong and stalwart, nudity brings a sense of vulnerability; a crack in the armor. It displays our flaws to others and makes it easier for them to possibly see things that we are not happy about, thereby constituting to a look past our behavioral armor and into our true self perception: roll & beer-belly here, some flab there, scars, chests that look more like breasts and the dreaded thought of insufficient gonad size.

That's not all.

Since we've become such a hypermasculine culture, we have to defend our masculinity at all costs. This means that if someone says or suggests anything effeminate about us (chief of this being our sexual preferences), we have an obligation to respond...kinetically. Being in a room filled with other naked men outside of the sports (football/basketball/gym) locker-room makes most men very uncomfortable. Hell, it makes many more men uncomfortable IN the locker-room.This is where, at least psychologically, the predator irrationally fears becoming the prey. All forms of strange thoughts swirl in the mind as perceived threats to a man's ego, masculinity (and thus, safety) begin to arise. "What is he looking at me for?" "I hope no one is checking me out in here" "I don't get down with that" and a sea of other statement/questions that, with a gentle push, would send some of the toughest into blind rage defending their image and perception against an imagined assault.

Some cultures are lax about this in respects where social norms make allowances for this to occur. For example, the aforementioned locker room is the only place in America where nudity among most men is tolerable (especially black men). Not so in Trinidad and Tobago. The mere sight of such will send men into a Sodom-denouncing fury or running away screaming "pantyman!" lest anyone see them present at such debauchery. There are only two circumstances in which another man may see a Trinidadian man naked normally: one of those men must be a practicing medical doctor OR a mortician.

You get the point.

So here in Korea, we are told tales of wonder and promise surrounding this Jjimjilbang that the locals insist we visit. Working up my nerve to go, I asked one of my students about the nudity factor. The more I tried to explain the social discomforts of the West, the more confused he looked and rightly so for many reasons. It's hard to imagine that the worldwide mecca of Sex tapes, Britney Spears, racy Vegas shows and Porn Awards would have some idea of censorship or dare I say...shame. To the Korean, most of the West is considered Americanized and being the leader of the "free" world (and all SORTS of freedoms)...well...you can get where this is going.
Patiently waiting for me to finish, he explained that in the spa, which has been a long tradition in Asian countries, there is a separation of sexuality from nudity...a phenomenon that ends in Western life when one is old enough to bathe themselves. There is no need to prove oneself. There is no threat to one's masculinity, sexuality, social acceptance or self. This, for them, is what the beach is to Trinidadians; the place to relax, kick back and enjoy individually and socially.

I then realized just how much our Westernized thought process had been corrupted by the things we continue to see, hear and experience. I will be the first to admit that the bathhouse conjured images of muscled men lasciviously eyeing each other at some Turkish construct. It was time to step out of the way I had been conditioned (and allowed myself) to think and do something new, different and daring (yet legal). After all...I aim to teach Koreans that "all Westerners aren't the same, nor eat the same thing" (see earlier blogs about that...another one to follow) so I figured if they can stomach my cultural immersion exercises, I could stomach theirs.

Right?