Given the “touchy” meanings by which both “lingam” and “yoni” have disoriented this “Cradle of Christianity” in the Orient, I suppose the application of either term on anyone should now be considered as derogatory.
In this context, I think Rene Joseph Bullecer of AIDS-Free Philippines may have committed a grievous slur against the Korean people. He singled out the Koreans as among the Asian tourists that he said avail of lingam and yoni services.
I don’t know if I have to repeat it, since both terms have already been given ample media exposure in Cebu, but lingam is supposed to be a massage performed on the male sexual organ, and yoni is supposed to be its female equivalent.
Lingam and yoni seem new to us only because the terminologies are unfamiliar. But the acts to which they refer probably go back to when man and woman first discovered that the penis and the vagina had uses other than urinating.
The sexual act of intercourse, and the eventual discovery of side dishes such as lingam and yoni, are powerful movers of humanity that cannot be confined to any name. Had they remained nameless to this day, humanity would still go on fornicating based on sign language alone.
Besides, lingam and yoni only became controversial because some enterprising individuals stumbled upon a novel way of making a quick buck out of man’s oldest profession. Had they not chosen to advertise the obvious, lingam and yoni by any other name would have gone on merrily.
Even Mr. Bullecer himself, if he really thinks about it, would have to agree that, in their nameless state, the acts referred to by the terms lingam and yoni would in all probability be part of any fare offered by prostitutes anywhere, not just Cebu as patronized by “Koreans.”
As a matter of fact, the acts referred to by lingam and yoni are probably done well outside the derogatory confines of prostitution dens and prostituted private rooms and inside the legitimate spaces of marriage by loving couples.
Those who keep an open mind will probably realize there is an endless repertoire of sex acts out there, and that the only reason they swing between being loving to being scandalous is because of the circumstances in which they happen or are performed.
Without meaning to offend anyone, I think mature and healthy adults must have at one time or another experienced the acts we now know as lingam and yoni without knowing what they were called at the time, or even caring to know, given the spontaneity of sexual moments.
Anyway, I think the only reason lingam and yoni have become very controversial is because they have become fodder for media discussion. Not that I blame media, or anyone for that matter, as sex is always a topic no one seems to ever tire of.
Again, I say lingam and yoni only became controversial because the names were new to us, and because some people decided to openly peddle it. But the acts by which they are termed as such have long been going on wherever consenting partners agree to do it, even without a name.
That much about the controversy I can understand. What I cannot understand is Mr. Bullecer upping the ante by actually slurring a people by naming Koreans as among those who engage in lingam and yoni, given the now-derogatory connotations slapped on the referred acts.
What surprises me is that no one seems to have called the attention of Mr. Bullecer regarding the slur. I would imagine how Filipinos would be up in arms had we been similarly singled out by foreigners the way Mr. Bullecer singled out the Koreans.