Vol.1
Remembering
LB City Cyber Lesbian Utopia
The History of LB City & South Korean Queer Online Community in 2000s 존재하지 않는 기억을 위하여
When you enter LB City, the fiFirst thing you will see on the main page is “Are you 레즈?”
Since 2016, South Korean feminist discourse has been on the rise with the momentum of #MeToo, hyper femme online communities (여초사이트), Hidden Camera crime protest (혜화역시위), and Corset-free movement (탈코르셋 운동). Although these mainly foCused on the Cis-Korean woman experience living in the Korean patriarchy, witnessing these movement gave me hope for a radical inclusive space that in my mother's tongue. Through this yearning for inclusive femme space, I learned about the thriving queer online communities during 2000s in South Korea before Facebook Colonized the online platform. During the early 2000s, South Korean LGBT community fully embraced the Internet's anonymity by exploring and sharing their sexual and gender experience. With this narrative in mind, this is first volumn of zine series recreating LB City, the lesbian Cyber uyopia, that captured the optimism for new millennia.
What is “Lesbian� in South Korea? Preceding all the hyper femme online communities of later 2010s, LB City was founded a lesbian activist group on January, 2000 with a vision to realize the Cyber lesbian utopia . Initially LB City was planned to be a live stream platform that ended up becoming a social platform imganing the alternative "Lesbian" soCiety.
The LB City community used "lesbian" as an anthisis to Korean patriarchal heteronormativity and hoping to nurture socially inclusive language and culture. Interview from Personweb in 2001 supports that the LB City's use of Lesbian extends beyond describing sexual orientation.
"LB City's ultimate goal is more than an attempt to create an entertainment website for queer women. We are preparing for the society where queer women can live freely. So LB City is a Beta test for that world where we can practice inclusive living. Eventually this shouldn’t stop in online but implement in reality. Therefore this project is more so than city planning for Lesbians but thinking about what it means to be speak in lesbian, sing in lesbian and dream with fellow lesbian citizens."
Community Guideline For those who enter LB City won't be discriminated by their sexual identity. There won't be no tolerance for discriminatory language and treatment on gender, education, age, religion, political belief, and culture/race.
레즈비언들은엘비시티의커뮤니티,도서관,아크로폴리스,방송국,그 리고 동사무소와 경찰청을 이용할 수 있다. 엘비시티커뮤니티는누구나원하는마을을만들수있고,같은마을에 살기원하는이들과그마을의특성을살려가꾸거나변경할수있다. 힙합마을,애견마을,운동을좋아하는사람들의마을,청소년이반마
을, 갬블러들의 마을, 그리고 이반을 받아들이는 일반(이성애자)의 마을도 생겼다. Lesbian citizens have a right to access library, acropolis, TV station, city hall, and police station. Anyone could form, nurture, and develop their own city with the chosen community members. Some of the example cities are hop-hop city, dog lovers city, queer youth city, gamers city, and straight ally city.
“하나의도시전체를레즈비언도시화하 자이런건아니더라도내가레즈비언언 어로써말하고레즈비언노래를부르고,레 즈비언시민들과무엇을꿈꾸면서살아갈 지에 대한 생각과 연결되는 거죠.”
When I shaved my head, it wasn’t for atonement, devotion, healing, or protest. Who would have known that exposed scalp would be interpreted into so many different signs– especially from my mother. My uneven patches of black wire were unwilling to bend as I was getting bored of my undercut. Clearly I grew out from my baby queer declaration that’s nuisance to keep it in shape. Let’s emphasize that I shaved my head out of practicality–not a brazen decision made on a whim. However, it was a violation to my role as a 딸 (daughter). The definition of 딸 might be a little do with your assigned gender at birth but a negotiation between Korean mother’s anxiety and heteronormative femininity. The world needed an excuse from every iteration stage of my queer cell production as I peeled away a feminine performance like a dead skin layer. Perhaps my mom was afraid that she was losing her daughter as I moulted into a hairless androgyny just like a new-born who came out into the world through her.
Abandon all melancholic position where you’ve entered but never belonged or unable to look inward even when facing each other. With sun soaked haystack, molten mud-brick wall, and my grandma’s sweet peas scented shroud, she soaked into my bone without a false moan…
MISSING HAVE YOU SEEN THIS PERSON?
LEE HAE SOL 한국 여성성적소수자 인권운동모임 ‘끼리끼리’(당시 한국 여성동성애자 인권모임)의 3대 회장(1995.8-1996.7)을 역임했다. 1995년 10월 이화여 대 학보를 통해 사회적으로 커밍아웃한 이후 각 언론에 자신의 삶과 레즈 비언 활동가로서의 모습을 공개한 바 있다. 2000년에는 레즈비언 공동체 사이트 ‘엘비시티’를 오픈 했으며 한국 최초로 동성애자들이 함께 만든 법 인주식회사 (주)딴생각의 공동 이사이기도 하다. From August 1995 to July 1996, they served as the 3rd main organzier of KiriKiri, Queer Korean Woman Rights Collective(한국 여 성성적소수자 인권운동모임 ‘끼리끼리’). They first publicly came out on October 1995 edition of Ehaw Women’s University Newsletter. Since then they have been involved in queer activist scene. They are one of the founders of LB City.
IF YOU KNOW THIS PERSON PLEASE CONTACT HYPERLINKPRESS@GMAIL.COM
The Farewell Letter
On the 3rd year, the founders of LB city decided to close the platform due to financial strain. Their ambition was to generate income by creating resources and entertainment content for queer women. Now when we trace the city through web archive portal, the link and images are mostly broken except few texts. Recovering these records from 20 years ago, I wonder if we are living in the world more familiar to Lesbian Utopia.
If you can read this message, ... I r.e.a.l.l.y wish you could see this. ... I love you. Terribly so...
“지금 이 글을 말이야 ...
당신이 볼 수 있다면
좋.겠.어.
...
사랑해. 정말 지독해
(˘︶˘).｡.:*♡
Recovered text from www.LBcity.com WayBack Machine 2003 archive
Hyperlink Press Remembering LB City: Cyber Lesbian Utopia 2019 Organized by Taehee Whang bit.ly/hyperlinkpress
Hyperlink Press Remembering LB City: Cyber Lesbian Utopia 2019