“Helpful Provider of Sex Education” vs. “Embarrassing to Watch with the Kids”

“Helpful Provider of Sex Education” vs. “Embarrassing to Watch with the Kids”. September. 16, 2004 22:11. by Jin-Yeong Lee ecolee@donga.com.

A Korean “Kinsey Report” or a lurid ratings stunt?

Mixed opinions are surfacing regarding the special segment “Sex!: The Truth about Adam and Eve” of KBS2’s entertainment show “Vitamin” (airing Sundays at 10:00 p.m.). The segment, which began airing on September 5, is being described alternately as a helpful venue for learning about sex and as unfit for its family-friendly timeslot due to its explicit handling of sexual content.

During the segment, Professor Kim Se-cheol of the Urology Department at Chung-Ang University College of Medicine clarifies various issues and popular perceptions about sex, on the basis of surveys conducted by KBS, the Korea Institute of Sexology, and the Planned Parenthood Federation of Korea. According to these surveys, distributed to 10,000 men and women over 20 years of age across the country, the most common sexual complexes among men involve: 1) endurance (74.8 percent), 2) penis size (32.6 percent), and 3) frequency of sex (17.5 percent). Women, on the other hand, worried most about: 1) frigidity (54.3 percent), 2) breast size (33.4 percent), and 3) decreased libido (19.7 percent).

The focus of the controversy is the explicitness of the personal testimonies exchanged among the show’s male and female panelists about such survey results and other commonly held perceptions. The segment features a panel composed of ten celebrities who share their own experiences regarding such theories as “Frequent masturbation is harmful to one’s health” and “The longer the sexual act is sustained, the more pleasure the woman feels.” After the conversation ends, Professor Kim provides the scientific explanations for the questions discussed.

On the show’s internet bulletin board, a poster named Jang Kyeong-ho praised the segment, writing, “It isn’t easy to talk about sex, and this show helped me to resolve a lot of the questions I had.” However, another poster named Yun Mi-ae lambasted it, saying, “I usually watch the show with my children, but now a public network program is broadcasting the kinds of stories one might find in the cheap tabloids!”

Producer-in-charge Kim Ho-sang remarked that “young people are already exposed to all sorts of harmful information about sex through the internet,” and explained, “I think it’s necessary for a public network to provide proper sex education.”

The episode of “Vitamin” airing on September 19 will feature the special segment on sex for the last time. The topic for the day is birth control.