Yun Hee, a fellow law school student and Jeong Jin Wu’s friend from his hometown, entered the hall with an unfamiliar female student. Yun Hee’s nickname was “Bee Sting” for her sharp wit and critical remarks, and she inspired wary discomfort in her peers whenever she spoke. She sat in the front row with her friend and, arms crossed, smirked presumptuously at Jeong Jin Wu. Yun Hee was prepared to criticize and attack him for any minute flaw. Even if the presentation turned out well, she would find some way to criticize it. In contrast to Yun Hee, the unfamiliar female student was looking at Jeong Jin Wu with soft eyes, which drew his attention to her. Her warm eyes encouraged him, and after glancing at her one last time, he lowered his head and began reading from his paper.
“In the infancy of human civilization…”
Jeong Jin Wu paused for a moment to survey the conference hall and wait for the noise to subside. He continued with a stronger cadence. His deep voice resounded with authority.
“In the infancy of human civilization, primitive people lived in groups in tropical and subtropical jungles and caves. Fruits, edible plants, and hunting weak animals were important sources of food for survival. The Paleolithic Era can be divided into several periods. If we’re going to examine the origins of the division of labor, then we’re going to have to journey back to a period before the Paleolithic Era. Man evolved from higher animal species and began to walk on two legs. And he lived in this way for thousands of years before he discovered the use of a stick and a rock-ax.
“The first form of marriage that humanity managed during this era was a form of communal marriage. Because of the unpredictable nature of wild beasts and the limited amount of food, primitive people, who lacked a great deal of ethical judgment, needed to live in groups. Very much like the basic instinct of animals (to eat and survive), these people did not have a mind-set capable of determining their goals, and therefore, communal marriages were ethically natural for them. They did not feel the need to regulate and control their system of communal marriage. This type of marital system continued for some time.
“The type of man that advanced from these primitive stages discovered tools made of wood and rocks, fire, fishing, the invention of the bow and arrow, agriculture, etc. Then, man entered the Paleolithic Era. Man, who had once been a savage, developed the concepts of family and clan. Clans were originally established to be matriarchal. Since it was a polygamous society, or one that engaged in group/communal marriage, children followed only their mothers.
“There was no sense of distinguishing generation from generation or kinship through bloodlines. Violence, resentments, and other types of emotions slowly emerged from the frail consciousness of early man. The scope of this disorderly society was limited. Therefore, great progress developed from the subsequent matriarchal society. From this disorderly society, they decided to organize a generational system, in which the notion of siblings was born. Siblings got married to one another. This type of marriage is called ‘endogamy.’ This system started in the mid-Paleolithic Era and continued throughout the Neolithic Era.
“The production of the primitive family-economy advanced as population density increased, and polygamy continued to be the organizing principle of society. However, this caused women great difficulties as it produced economic problems. Women wanted to flee from social oppression. They wanted to show that they were productive on their own and thus began to establish ethical and sexual principles. The process of establishing this new social creed was not without its problems. There were efforts to get rid of old-fashioned traditions and customs and attempts to change the beliefs of the men who still considered polygamy to be beneficial. After several thousand years of battling polygamy, women were finally able to overthrow this outdated ideology and establish a new form of marriage that went beyond ‘family relations’ and marriage with other families: exogamy. Exogamy was based on one man and one woman outside the family unit. The man continued to wield authority, while the woman took care of the children. Although polygamy was not completely eliminated, exogamy was viewed as a ‘legal’ victory for women in the history of humanity.
“The process of changing from exogamy to monogamy happened from the mid-Neolithic Era to the Bronze Age. During this era, society developed into an agrarian and livestock-based system. Great agricultural advancements occurred, and the domestication of animals progressed. Men decided to abandon exogamy and adhere strictly to monogamy by taking a single woman to wife. From this point, the notions of kinship and a genealogical system were established. This was because man needed his children to inherit his possessions…”
Jeong Jin Wu wanted to know if the audience was listening attentively to his presentation, but he did not have the opportunity to steal a glance. So he stopped reading altogether and looked up. After a moment, he proceeded.
“The division of the maternal clan and the paternal clan, the development of products during the Iron Age, division of labor, surplus production, private consumption, material production, exchange, exploitation, class division…”
Jeong Jin Wu described the historical development of socioeconomic levels through the characteristics of a family based on monogamy. His objective in describing the historical development of marriage was to draw the interest of his law school colleagues and others sitting in the audience. However, he felt that some portions of the legal analysis contained his personal opinions on the matter.
“Nations were established on the basis of a hierarchical system that derived from class division. The resultant bureaucratic system served to increase the profits of personal gain. New sets of laws were created to benefit and increase profits for the exploiters who oppressed the workers. Nations, which supported the exploiters, and the national system of law, which was used as a weapon against the workers, were fundamentally different from the clan system of the primitive era that had maintained customs, traditions, and communalism.
“The ancient Sumer civilization in 1600 BC and the Babylonian civilization had laws that regulated people and marriages. They did not establish these laws with the objective of getting rid of prostitution or adultery but for the regulation of personal property that would be passed down according to genealogy. The accumulation of personal property in the family strengthened the man’s authority and subjugated the woman as a mere economic commodity. As a result, women were deprived of any political power and were enslaved by men.
“As man entered the feudal era, a married woman was considered the property of a man and was forced to be submissive to her husband. This allowed women to develop an awareness of their human emotions and human rights that was beneficial to them. In the Goryeo dynasty, the first legal codes were called ‘Sang jeong rye mun,’ and in the Joseon dynasty they were called ‘Gyeong guk dae jeon’…”
Jeong Jin Wu took a sip of water to quench his dry mouth. The audience in the conference hall remained still and attentive. It seemed as though the audience members were entranced by Jeong Jin Wu’s academic essay.
Jeong Jin Wu looked at Bee Sting sitting in the front row. Yun Hee shifted her position in her seat and faced the podium with an expression of wonder. Her arrogant smirk had vanished from her face. She had always thought of Jeong Jin Wu as a good-looking but only mildly intelligent student and had doubted whether he would be able to deliver a worthy essay, but after listening to his comprehensive research, she changed her opinion. In contrast, the unfamiliar female student sitting next to Yun Hee no longer gazed at Jeong Jin Wu with soft eyes but rather with a serious expression, stern and focused.