Korean feminist novel: Kim Ji-young, Born 1982

(updated 2021) These days, there are more and more contemporary female writers on the best seller lists. And now to add to the list, the Korean feminist novel Kim Ji-young born 1982 by Cho Nam Joo (Minumsa, 2016) gives a realistic look at women’s lives in modern Korean society.

related posts:

The Vegetarian written by Han Kang and translated into English by Deborah Smith was the 2016 winner of the Man Booker International prize.

Please look after Mom – Kyung Sook Shin won the Man Asian Literary Prize 2012 with her moving but melancholic novel

Kim Ji-young Born 1982, was published in October 2016. It has sold over a million copies leading the way in a trend for the young Korean feminist novel. Sales went up after talk on social media and then when President Moon Jae In was given a copy. And it’s still clearly on display in the bookshops in Seoul.

The English translation came out in 2020, and the film released in 2019. For more on the film version, see my review of Kim Ji-young Born 1982 here). iIn this post I’ll take a look at some of the main issues covered in the book.

It’s an unusual book, more like a diary than a novel. Ji Young goes to school, gets a job, gets married, quits her job and has a baby. And nothing out of the ordinary really happens. But that’s the whole point.

Ji Young is the Everywoman

Ji-young is the Everywoman. (Ji-young Kim was the most common name for a girl born in 1982 hence the title of the book).

She is not fighting the system as a feminist crusader. And I think this is the special feature of this Korean feminist novel. The characters do not challenge the sexism they experience. The episodes are just explained in a matter-of-fact way. When the lecherous old client makes her go out drinking with him, she won’t stand up and throw the drink over his head and storm out. She will sit and take the sexist comments like many young female office workers do. She is simply a young woman caught up in a patriarchal society.

And this can lead to a break down.

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We are introduced to Ji-young  when she has been married for 3 years and has a baby daughter. But she is acting strange.

She has started taking on the persona of other people – first her mother and then a deceased friend – as though she has completely lost her own voice and identity. Reminiscent of The Vegetarian it seems that society has driven our protagonist mad – or at least needing some serious therapy.

A selection of scenes throughout Ji-young’s life then show the society that she has grown up in. They are experiences that happen to many women and may not even seem noteworthy at first glance. But on reflection they reveal the ingrained sexism that women deal with on a daily basis.

The story is set in Seoul and some issues may be quintessentially Korean, which make it stand out as a Korean feminist novel. But as a western woman, I could still relate to many of the protagonist’s experiences.

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The Troubles Start at Chuseok

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The trouble starts when Ji-young and her husband and daughter go to visit his family in Busan at Chuseok, Thanksgiving.

This is perhaps the most stressful and dreaded event of the year for a lot of married women who have to spend the holiday in the kitchen with their mother-in-law cooking for all the family and friends who come to visit while husbands snooze and drink soju…

Read more about Chuseok:

What presents do people give at Chuseok Thanksgiving?

What food is eaten at Chuseok?

It starts off as an ordinary situation. But then someone suggests they BUY the festive food this year rather than making it. Ji-young’s mother-in-law becomes upset. She likes cooking for her family. So she turns to Ji-young and asks her directly: Are you tired of helping me cook?

The socially acceptable answer in this case would be: ‘of course I’m not tired. It’s my pleasure to cook all day with my mother-in-law’.  (even though it took over 5 hours to get here in heavy traffic with a young child, and I’d much rather have stayed in Seoul and relax with my own parents for a change).

But Ji-young replies honestly, even chastising her father-in-law! It SHOCKS everyone.

However, it’s clear that she is NOT speaking as herself. She could never speak to her in-laws like this. Her husband can see that something is wrong. That’s when he takes her to the doctor and the therapy starts.

The feeling of not having a voice and not being able to say what you really think is a theme of the book. 

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Boys and Girls Are Treated Differently 

So what are the experiences that have led up to her current state?

Small observations from childhood onwards make her realise that boys and girls are treated differently. For instance, her family are served meals in order of importance – father – son – grandmother – daughters.

If there are two cakes the brother will have one to himself and the girls will have to share one between them. And it is always like this. But the sisters are not jealous or upset about this. They just accept the difference as ‘normal‘.

Women Discriminating against themselves

The story reveals how boys and girls are treated differently often by WOMEN.

Ji-young’s paternal grandmother puts the men in the family on pedestals. Her grandfather didn’t work or provide for the family, but her grandmother never complained since he wasn’t a womaniser and didn’t beat her up!

After Ji-young is born, her mother becomes desperate to have a son. So when she gets pregnant with another girl, she has an abortion.

(The writer points out that this kind of abortion became a trend which led to more boys than girls born in the 1980s. In the 90s the problem was so great that it became policy at hospitals not to reveal the gender of the unborn child.)

When Ji-young’s mum finally has a son there is relief all round.

Acceptable Sexual Harassment 

As an adult Ji-young learns that sexual harassment is something that she will have to accept as part of life. After she graduates from university she gets a taxi to a job interview. The driver doesn’t want to have a woman as his first customer of the day but grudgingly agrees to take her to her interview!

(The first customer of the day is considered very important as they bring luck for the rest of the day. And I’ve been told by other women who live in Seoul that this has happened to them too).

At the interview Ji-young is interviewed with two other female candidates. They are asked,

‘What would you do if you were at a meeting with a client and he started touching you inappropriately?

The older interviewer seems to be inferring that sexual harassment is part of the job. And that female employees will simply have to find a way to deal with it. They all give different answers, but in the end none of them get the job anyway.

Hidden Cameras

A company is in uproar when a hidden camera is found in the ladies bathroom.

(This is a current major issue in Korea. Protests by women with the slogan My life is not your porn were held in Seoul after many incidents of hidden cameras were exposed.)

In the novel, it’s not just the culprit with the camera who is the problem, it’s the reaction and behaviour of the other men that know about it.

The images have been uploaded onto an adult website for all to see. But when one of the men in the office happens to recognise pictures of his female coworkers on the site, he doesn’t tell the police or the boss or someone, he simply SHOWS the pictures to his male coworkers!

When an investigation gets underway, the male coworkers are INCENSED believing that they have done nothing wrong because THEY didn’t put the camera in the bathroom. And THEY didn’t upload the pictures. They simply looked at them but didn’t say anything… AAAH!

I’m going to need a moment to calm down before I continue. In the meantime, here’s a video

No Voice in a Misogynistic Society

In a review at the end of the book, a scholar of women’s studies describes Ji Young as representing the average woman who has to live in a misogynistic society where she has no voice. And this has led to her mental illness. She can only reveal her thoughts and feelings when she takes on the persona of someone else.

There are several instances throughout the book where Ji Young wants to say something but she simply can’t get the words out.

For instance, as a university student on an overnight trip Ji Young overhears a fellow university student say that he is not interested in her romantically because ‘nobody wants chewing gum that someone else has chewed and spat out‘. ( He considers her to be ‘used gum’ since she has dated one of the other male students). The next day he acts normal unaware that she overheard what he said. He notes that she looks tired and asks her if she didn’t sleep well.

Ji-young WANTS to say,

How can ‘chewing gum‘ sleep well?

But she doesn’t say anything to him at all.

There were several points in the book that got me worked up and this was definitely one of them. When will the ‘women have to be virgins‘ idea ever end?

The Last Straw

The last anecdote involves Ji-young sitting on a park bench now a grown woman with her baby in a stroller. Short of money she has been looking for part time work – the hourly rate is only 5,600 won. She sips coffee from a nearby coffee shop, tired but happy to be out of the house for a change. She eyes some office workers on a nearby bench and envies them.

But then she overhears one of the young male office workers say something like ‘I wish I could buy coffee with my husband’s hard earned money’. He calls her a 맘충 mam-chung ( parasite mom) = a derogatory term for selfish mothers who exploit their positions. There’s more about parasite moms in this article.

Again Ji-young doesn’t confront the man. She runs out of the park, distraught that she has been labelled a ‘parasite’ by someone who doesn’t even know her.

I’m sure almost all of us (not just women) have been in a situation where we WANTED to say something but just couldn’t for whatever reason. I certainly have been there many times…

But what is the reason for this? Fear of confrontation? Fear of what others will think of us – heaven forbid I get labelled ‘AGGRESSIVE’. Or perhaps fear of becoming an outcast from society?

Fear of being ostracised 

Something that is very clear throughout the book is how much Ji-young worries about what other people think of her. Here she is traumatised over a remark. And it’s not the first time. Comments by elders in the family persuade her to have a baby perhaps before she is really ready. At work she is worried about taking the maternity leave. She’s concerned that her coworkers will resent her for getting special treatment.

It’s like she is always walking on egg shells trying desperately to please everyone and fit in. Ji-young lives in a society where she feels everyone is judging her and watching her closely. She is not your typical spunky kid protagonist who will overcome every obstacle. She is real, and that’s frustrating!

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Read more on the topic of Korean feminist novel:

The Vegetarian written by Han Kang

Please look after Mom by Kyung Sook Shin

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