A South Korean e-book entitled “How to Treat Bar Hostesses in the Philippines” was recently denounced on social media after its contents were found to be sexually objectifying Filipino women.
The e-book was written by a certain Kevin Cho and was published by Scene in the Moonlight.
In his book, Cho spoke of Philippine nightlife and how Koreans who travel to the Philippines become womanizers.
“Once you go to the Philippines, you will soon be attracted to nightlife and meet many kinds of women there,” Cho wrote. “Language won’t be a problem. Few words are enough to communicate with them.”
“Even if you are not a womanizer in Korea, you will become one in the Philippines. This is not the case only for Koreans but also for Japanese and Americans,” he wrote.
Cho also cited the “Korean Wave” — the surging global popularity of Korean culture through Korean dramas and K-pop, among others — as a reason for Korean men to be proud.
“The fact that the Korean Wave is sweeping across Asia makes you feel even more proud,” wrote Cho. “While studying English there, women can be either medicine or poison.”
“They can make you feel confident about your English,” Cho wrote. “But in the worst case, you may end up coming back to Korea after getting a woman pregnant; or you could be arrested for that.”
A number of online book retailers in South Korea has since stopped selling Cho’s book after the criticism, such as Aladdin, Yes24 and Bandi & Lunis. All major online bookstores too — save for Kyobo Book Centre — have taken down the salacious book from their websites.