Cohabitation Around University Towns Are No Longer Unfamiliar

Yonsei University’s `modern society and mental health` lecture in October, last year. When the professor asked, “Raise your hand if you think premarital sex is wrong,” only 1 out of the 60 students raised hand. As the professor asked again, “Is this man normal, or abnormal?” the class burst in laughter.

This is an evidence of university towns’ sexual awareness nowadays.

In the midst of social values’ change, including increasing celibacy and divorce, university towns no longer perceive premarital sex or cohabitation with any seriousness.

It was shameful for unmarried men and women to live together in the past, but it is now accepted as a natural trend, especially spreading around the well-educated class.

According to the results of the survey that The Korea University Weekly held against 260 of its students on the 1st, 7 out of 10 have positive attitude about cohabitation, and 5 out 100 have experiences of cohabitation.

Y University’s Lee (22) and E University’s Shin (20) have been living together in Seoul’s Shinchon for 2 years. They began living together when Shin, a provincial affiliate, moved into Lee’s one-room apartment after 6 months of dating. The parents do not know about the cohabitation, but all the friends do.

University students’ cohabitation mainly starts from convenience, such as reduction of living expenses. Also, there are some cases that when the opposite sex leaves due to reasons like overseas training, the other dates another one temporarily upon contract. Those who go overseas, in many cases, live with local opposite sex in order to learn the language faster.

A student of Seoul’s anonymous university in provincial campus, J (29), lived with his girlfriend, L, for 2 years considering her harsh financial situations and that it would be good for lovers to live together, but separated due to parents’ opposition.

These youngsters express direct discontent against the social atmosphere that generalizes `cohabitation=sex`. They say that sexual relationship may follow, but sex itself is not the purpose.

“Students nowadays do not accept the dual precepts of sex that apply to man and woman discriminatively. In order for cohabitation to establish itself as a lifestyle in our society, certain legal devices that can secure social legitimacy are needed,” said Social Studies-professor of Ehwa Women’s University, Ham In-Hee.

kimsunmi@donga.com