Lesbian Clubs in Hongdae

Stacy, a Mexican-American, and her girlfriend were on vacation in Seoul, South Korea. During their trip, they wanted to go to The Pink Hole, which is a private lesbian club in Hongdae.

Once the two women went downstairs towards the booming vibration of music, they saw the entrance to The Pink Hole, which clearly stated two rules: "FEMALES ONLY." and "NO PHOTO. NO FILM."

The hard-to-find locations and "females only" rules are quite common for lesbian clubs in Hongdae. Since LGBTQ+ individuals still face widespread discrimination in South Korea, lesbian clubs like The Pink Hole became spaces for lesbian women to meet and interact with each other without the risk of "outing" themselves to the public.

Both Christianity and Confucianism highly value the concept of "family." Thus, in terms of both Christianity and Confucianism, homosexuality is deemed unnatural and detrimental to society.

Video (0:47-2:02): This section of the video interviews several anti-LGBTQ+ protesters, which is a prime example of the intolerance still seen in Korea today.

Hongdae is a space for various social minority groups to come together and cultivate their own subcultures. A subculture can refer to any group that doesn't belong to the mainstream, which includes music taste, political values, and sexual identity.

However, since certain minority groups, like the LGBTQ+ community, still face a lot of discrimination form the general public, even the spaces they occupy in the Hongdae area are out of the public eye.

"Clubs are the focal points that create and reinforce the spatial identity of the Hongdae area."

This particular quote from Lee Mu-Yong's "The Landscape of Club Culture and Identity Politics: Focusing on the Club Culture in the Hongdae Area in Seoul" emphasizes the importance of clubs in the cultivation of culture in Hongdae.

1946: Hongik University was established.

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1950's-1960's: Hongdae was primarily a luxury residential area.

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1970's: Due to the number of art students attracted to Hongik's art school and art institutes established around the university, Hongdae became an art culture district.

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1990's: Hongdae became a prominent subcultural and countercultural area, which is connected to the development of a trendy cafe and club culture.

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After 2000: Hongdae became a complex cultural district. Culture subjects in Hondae were not only engaging in fine arts and music, but in other areas such as film, internet development, and design.

As Hongdae became more popular over time, more people and businesses were attracted to this area. So, clubs became a "minority culture space" - a space where only clubbers who recognized it could enter.

There are several elements of clubs that make it hard for the general public to find.

First, the signboards of clubs often omitted the actual word "club," which made it harder for individuals to identify these establishments.

Second, the entrances of clubs were often only found through a set of stairs to a basement-like area.

Using these aspects, clubs were able partially "hide away" from the general public and become minority culture spaces.

Lesbian clubs became a minority culture space for lesbian women. Depicted below are a few examples of popular lesbian clubs in the Hongdae (and surrounding Sinchon) area:

"People tend to view lesbians as social minorities and they certainly have misconceptions about us. In my case, I get really stressed out in the workplace, especially when I have to pretend that I'm not a lesbian. However, coming to Lesbos makes me feel that I’m back at home because I can share things with people who have the same value and experiences."

The sentiments expressed in this quote are quite common for lesbian women in Korea. Since there is still a lot of intolerance and stigma toward queer individuals in Korea, lesbian clubs became a safe space for lesbian women. In addition to being hard to find, these clubs don't allow male-identifying individuals to enter, so lesbian women are able to enter these spaces and interact with each other without facing discrimination or the risk of "outing" themselves to the public.

Although most lesbian spaces in South Korea are still quite invisible to the general public, what would happen to these spaces if there was increase in social acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community? Would these spaces remain hidden away in the form of clubs and cafes? Would these spaces take on different, more visible forms? It would be quite interesting to see the change in lesbian spaces in the future.