Photographs and postcards of the late Joseon period often depict Korean women working or walking with bared breasts. Apparently, for many revisionists, this is a cause of shame and these pictures have been denounced as staged photographs ― designed to denigrate Korea. They claim that no Korean noblewoman would ever be seen in such an undressed state ― especially by foreigners. They are right, to a degree. Noblewomen were secluded from the gaze of men and to be caught outside with their face bare ― let alone with breasts bared ― would have been unbearably humiliating, but these were not noblewomen ― they were women of the lower classes.
Read the whole story: The Korea Times
