Learn more about women-only host bars in Gangnam, Korea

· 6 min read
Learn more about women-only host bars in Gangnam, Korea

South Korea's fast financial advancement has actually implied some shocking modifications within its conventional social framework, including the rise of supposed host bars, where affluent women pay the equivalent of countless dollars for male company.
In the dim light of an underground area, a loads flawlessly brushed young guys stoop in rows, calling out their names.
Muscular, with glossy boy-band hairdos, they pack side by side right into the narrow area, waiting for us to make our selection. Outdoors in the hallway, more of their associates are getting here for one more evening at the workplace. It is 2am, and also we are their initial consumers.
Hidden below the pavements of Seoul's ritziest postal code, Gangnam, the males at Bar 123 become part of an expanding market, which grew out of the long practices of Japanese geisha and also Korea's kisaeng residences but with one critical difference - the customers below are all ladies.
Referred to as "host bars", these all-night alcohol consumption areas supply female consumers the opportunity to pick as well as pay for male friends, in some cases at an expense of countless extra pounds an evening.
Among the women I satisfy at Bar 123 is Minkyoung, a waitressing manager for a five-star hotel. As soon as or twice a month, she states she comes to host bars.
Minkyoung is really rather as well as her clothing are immaculate. She does not look like somebody who would certainly need to pay for male company. Yet the allure of host bars can be refined. Here, she says, she has more focus from her male companions, even more choice and also, most importantly, more control.
PROMOTION
" In routine bars the guys who consume alcohol with me have just one goal - to have an one-night stand. I do not want that, so that's why I come below, I want to have fun," she says.
Hosts are worked with by bars similar to this one to offer companionship and amusement. Officially that indicates pouring beverages for their consumers, dancing and talking with them, as well as singing karaoke.
Host bar in Seoul
Sex is not officially available in the majority of host bars. That would certainly be illegal but also Minkyoung appears delighted to flirt and touch with her host, as well as the guys below approximate that around half the consumers wish to pay for sex, either on or off the premises.
James has actually been operating at Bar 123 for a number of years. In Korean society, he states, there is a great deal of satisfaction and discussing a price for sex is never done explicitly. Rather, he informs me, it is all to the host's very own evaluation.
" The men here are pros - we understand what we're doing," he says.
" After speaking to a lady for a hr we essentially understand just how much money she makes as well as what she provides for a living. We've already analysed her personality and what she's willing to give."
James as well as various other hosts claim their clients include several of South Korea's elite, and also that the cash as well as benefits on deal boggle the mind. One client James satisfied, throughout his initial week in the work, asked him to sign himself over to her for two years.
" She said 'let's make a contract. I've got this item of paper and I've numbered it 1-5. Whatever you write down following to those numbers, I'll obtain you.'".
James says at the time he took it as a joke however considering that found out the exact same female spent ₤ 60,000 ($ 97,000) on an additional host.
" If it took place currently, I 'd do it - I 'd be believing straight.".
성남유흥
Actually possibly, host bars expanded out of among Korea's most established as well as, some claim, misogynist business practices - the area beauty parlor. These are private drinking spaces where teams of men pick, and are offered by, appealing female people hosting.
It was the hostesses' requirement to allow off heavy steam after job, says veteran host Kim Dong-hee, that developed the preliminary need for host bars, with all-male staff.
These ladies are required to do things they do not want to do for money.
" I believe a great deal of them are in pain, as well as a lot feel lonely. Basically, they desire to buy our time and also our bodies.".
Hostesses still compose a big percent of the consumers at host bars here, yet at Bar 123, for instance, as much as 40% of the customers on an offered evening are currently from other strolls of life.
The factors for that growing appeal are bound in South Korea's rapid economic rise. Within 50 years, the country changed from post-war devastation to OECD participant.
According to Jasper Kim, head of the Asia-Pacific Global Research Group in Seoul, something important was shed along the way.
" I assume that with all this rapid growth comes fast modification, as well as Koreans simply do not understand how to manage it. Increasingly, commercialism is surpassing standard societal norms that you would certainly anticipate a number of decades back.".
Jasper Kim says South Korea's infamously long functioning hrs have left many Korean females really feeling lonesome, while the country's technological advance has left lots of people really feeling separated.
" The human element of Korean society that existed in the past merely doesn't exist today. Individuals are focused on technology, people are concentrated on their tasks, they aren't concentrated on human relations any longer.
" In many methods, Korean society today type of reminds me of 1960s society in the US, where it's on the verge of some sort of cultural change.".
The grandfather of Seoul's host bar scene, Kim Dong-hee, concurs that a lot of the females that involve host bars are not spending for sex but also for companionship, which is why he opened up a new chain of freshly-marketed electrical outlets focused on the mainstream market - called Red Model Bars.
Red Model Bar hosts.
Image caption,.
Hosts at Red Model Bars can not touch customers.
" Men want to have aesthetic enjoyment and intend to really feel things, they're tactile. Ladies like to chat as well as to pay attention. As well as that's why I thought about opening a bar such as this - a type of discussion bar.".
Red Model Bars are various to typical host bars in one crucial respect - there is a no-touching rule. Hosts sit on one side of the table, clients on the other, as well as no physical get in touch with is permitted, as well as certainly no sex.
Probably therefore there is a lack of furtiveness amongst the individuals who function or consume below - the lights are reduced, the style primarily dark red as well as the area is separated into discreet booths, but it is an open-plan area and hosts and also consumers are divided in each cubicle by a big table.
This brand-new business model depends completely on women paying the matching of hundreds or perhaps hundreds of dollars to speak with good-looking boys over a beverage. Still, it seems to be functioning - 3 new branches result from open this year.
Resting at a table at one end of the bar was among their regular clients, a flower designer called Kim Nayu. She informs me she comes below every day to satisfy her much-loved host and talk about issues she is having at work.
The cost for this slice of male interest is $487-650 (₤ 300-400) a day.
" Talking to pals would certainly be cheaper" she confesses, "however they do not listen as much. They're active, as well as quickly to discuss themselves. Below, people will focus on me as well as they'll listen to me.".
" I spend a great deal of cash but it deserves it for what I get mentally. People pay to head to see a psychologist or psychoanalyst, so it's comparable yet less stressful.".
Nayu's preferred host Sung-il claims it can be difficult to maintain his expert and also individual life separate.
" Honestly I  would certainly be existing if I state I have not been lured to take things even more with some clients, due to the fact that we're human, we're males, yet there are guidelines.".
Among his customers chatted a great deal to her partner regarding him and when the three of them met, Sung-il as well as the partner came to be buddies.
" No one conceals - the employees do not conceal that they function here, and also customers can be open also.".


This openness is posturing a brand-new kind of challenge to South Korean culture, different from the often seedy underworld of traditional host bars as well as their hinterland of male prostitution.
By providing women a "decent" method to challenge conventional gender functions as well as flex their financial power, these brand-new bars ask questions of Korean culture that are ending up being tougher to neglect.
Listen to the complete record on BBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents. You can pay attention using the Radio 4 internet site or via the Crossing Continents podcast.
The attraction of host bars can be subtle. Right here, she says, she has more interest from her male friends, more selection as well as, crucially, even more control.
James has actually been working at Bar 123 for a pair of years. Instead, he informs me, it is all down to the host's very own evaluation.
And that's why I assumed of opening up a bar like this - a kind of dialogue bar.".