Korean Job Discussion Forums

[RachaelRoo]

A few weeks ago, I asked my class of eleven year olds where little Joe was....he had been gone for several days. This is a class of mostly boys, about 10 or 11 years old.
"He's getting operation" they snicker, pointing at their crotches.
"He's getting a what?" I ask.
"Dick operation, dick operation," they laugh. Okay, they're obviously joking. So I go to one of the Korean teachers and ask where little Joe is.
"He's getting an operation", she says, pointing to her crotch.
"WHAT kind of operation?" I ask.
"I forget the name..uh.....uh....." she says, sticking out her left index finger. She then takes her right fingers and makes the scissors sign, which she uses to pretend to chop the end of the left finger.
"He's getting CIRCUMSIZED!?"
"Yeah that." She wasn't joking.
The poor boy comes back to my class a few days later, looking traumatized and bleach white.

Today, I noticed that little Frank had been gone for a while.
"Where's Frank?", I ask.
"Same as Joe! Operation." They must be kidding.
Just then little Frank walks in, totally white and looking ashamed.
"Frank! Are you okay?" I ask.
"No."

WTF?

[ajgeddes]

This has been going on for a long time. It is normal for boys this age to get it done, they don't do it when they are babies.

[RACETRAITOR]

Yeah, my girlfriend's older brother waited until basically his wedding night before he got it done.

[Ya-ta Boy]

In the local vernacular, circumcision is known as the 'circumYIKES operation'.

[betchay]

in the poor areas of the Philippines, they just use a sharp knife to circumcise boys aged 7-up and it's not even done by a doctor... after the cutting, they have to jump in a river... the wound is then cleansed by boiled guava leaves... my two brothers were circumcised this way ... most boys wouldn't do it any other way... it's considered a rite of passage...

[Njord]

What a horrific "right of passage!" Why would they do this? It is a bit easier to understand with babies. (No significant harm, no significant advantage, just a strange cultural whim of some parents.) But with a young boy? And in a developed country? I guess this must be forced as I can't imagine a boy agreeing to such a procedure.

[thursdays child]

Just asked some (Korean male) friends about this...... they all (3 of em) got 'the snip' at about 13. And thought I was strange to think that was strange.

[thursdays child]

Ohhh not finished.

So it's not "a new trend" coz these fellas are all in thier late 20's.

[Real Reality]

[Njord]

[seoulkitchen]

One time one of my boys, the class clown, showed up with what looked like a papercup stuffed in his pants and everyone was laughing.
I thought it was a joke about entering puberty or something until he illustrated what happened on the board.
Too funny.
The konglish for it seems to be 'circled'. "Teacher, I got circled!"

[itaewonguy]

[pet lover]

I think it's better that they do a stupid thing like that to a boy or better yet, a young man. I think it is horrifying that anybody would do it to a baby. What? Do they think babies feel no pain??? Do they think that just because a baby can't articulate his fear and pain that it doesn't exist? *shudder* Chop off any other baby part and it'd be abuse. It's all crazy.

At least with an adult, if he gets it done, it's his CHOICE. Chop it off, pierce it, whatever--but it's his CHOICE.

But a baby can't very well protest missing parts--he has no choice. Terrible.

[jinglejangle]

[ajgeddes]