Bacchus Ladies () is a term to describe elderly female

prostitute Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...

s in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, South Korea. Bacchus Ladies are women in their 50s, 60s, and some even their 80s, who solicit men in Seoul's parks and plazas for sex in nearby

motel A motel, also known as a motor hotel, motor inn or motor lodge, is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the Parking lot, parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central Lobby (room), lo ...

s for about 20,000 to 30,000 '' won'' ($18–26

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

), or even less if the man is a regular client. Bacchus Ladies traditionally sold bottles of Bacchus-F energy drink in parks popular with elderly men who became their clientele, but younger men in their 20s to 40s are also increasingly becoming regular clients. According to Dr. Lee Ho-Sun, a researcher, about 400 women work in Jongmyo Park in Seoul.

Background

2011 Poverty rate by age group in South Korea

The Bacchus Ladies phenomenon is believed to have originated after the

1997 Asian financial crisis The 1997 Asian financial crisis gripped much of East Asia, East and Southeast Asia during the late 1990s. The crisis began in Thailand in July 1997 before spreading to several other countries with a ripple effect, raising fears of a worldwide eco ...

, with South Korea being one of the countries most affected by the financial contagion.Ng, Desmond (January 29, 2017
"Granny prostitutes reflect South Korea's problem of elderly poverty"
''Channel NewsAsia'' In South Korea's traditionally Confucian society, elderly parents were highly respected and in their old age could have relied on their children for care regardless of the economic situation. South Korea's rapid development since the 1960s, known as the

Miracle on the Han River The Miracle on the Han River () was the period of rapid economic growth in South Korea, following the Korean War (1950–1953), during which South Korea transformed from one of the least developed countries into a highly developed country. The ...

, led to an uprooting of this culture among many younger and more transient generations of South Koreans. Subsequent rapid changes in society and attitudes of children have resulted in a

poverty rate Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse

of 47.2% for South Korean women over the age of 65, the highest among the

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...

countries. This figure rises to 76.6% for single elderly women. The

state pension A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a "defined benefit plan", wher ...

s provided by the South Korean welfare system are often inadequate to cover the rising medical bills of old age. The historic male-dominated culture of Korean society meant many older women had no savings or a

private pension A private pension is a plan into which individuals privately contribute from their earnings, which then will pay them a pension after retirement. It is an alternative to the state pension. Usually, individuals invest funds into saving schemes or m ...

because their youth did not provide the equal education and job opportunities of their male counterparts. Professor Lee Ho-sun of the Korea Soongsil Cyber University in Seoul has carried out research and found many of the women who became Bacchus Ladies were involved in

prostitution Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, no ...

during their earlier years in karaoke bars and

teahouses A teahouse or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel, especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment that only ser ...

, returning to prostitution in later years because of financial pressures. At first, Bacchus Ladies made a living by selling bottles of Bacchus-F, a popular

energy drink An energy drink is a type of non-alcoholic psychoactive functional beverage containing stimulant compounds, usually caffeine (at a higher concentration than ordinary soda pop) and taurine, which is marketed as reducing tiredness and improving pe ...

in South Korea, which they sold to elderly men who socialized in the parks and plazas in Seoul. Eventually, many of these men became their main clientele after transitioning into prostitution.

Policing

Prostitution in South Korea is illegal, and the police patrol the areas frequented by Bacchus Ladies, primarily in Seoul's north-central Jongno District. Seoul police conduct periodic crackdowns on Bacchus Ladies, but women who are arrested are usually given a warning or a small fine. Thirty three women, including an 84-year-old woman, were arrested as part of a crackdown in early 2015. After the raid, the number of working Bacchus Ladies fell to about 200. Local police believe the problem cannot be solved by crackdowns and that policies need to be changed.

STIs

There is an epidemic of

Sexually transmitted infections A sexually transmitted infection (STI), also referred to as a sexually transmitted disease (STD) and the older term venereal disease (VD), is an infection that is spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, or ...

(STIs) among the South Korean elderly, primarily caused by the Bacchus Ladies' use of erection enhancing substances on their clients which are often injected into a vein, but the

hypodermic needle A hypodermic needle (from Greek Language, Greek ὑπο- (''hypo-'' = under), and δέρμα (''derma'' = skin)) is a very thin, hollow tube with one sharp tip. As one of the most important intravenous inventions in the field of drug admini ...

s may be reused 10 to 20 times. A 2014 local survey found 40% of the men were infected, while not testing for some of the most common diseases. The local government now offers

sex education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual activity, sexual reproduction, safe sex, birth ...

classes to the elderly.

In popular culture

*'' The Bacchus Lady'' is a 2016 South Korean drama film directed by

E J-yong E J-yong (; born September 5, 1966) is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. His feature films include ''An Affair'' (1998), ''Untold Scandal'' (2003), ''Dasepo Naughty Girls'' (2006), and ''Actresses (film), Actresses'' (2009). Early ...

. It was presented in the Panorama section of the 66th Berlin International Film Festival.

References

{{reflist Prostitution in South Korea Sexuality in South Korea

Background

Policing

STIs

In popular culture

See also

References