Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982

"Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982" by Cho Nam-Joo tells the story of Kim Jiyoung whose entire life has been dictated by her gender.

Kim Jiyoung was born in 1982 to a family who wanted a baby boy and spent her entire youth being second best to her perfect younger brother. She has spent her entire life being policed and ordered about by men. When she was a schoolgirl the male teachers dictated her uniform, when she worked in an office her colleagues installed hidden cameras in the bathroom and shared the photos, when she was harrassed by strangers at night her father told her it was her own fault and when she gave birth to her daughter husband expected her to give up her job and become a full-time stay at home mother. Kim Jiyoung is mad and tired. She is her own woman. Her worried husband discovers the many changes in her and send her to a male psychiatrist, but can he possibly understand what has made Jiyoung break down?

"Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982" by Cho Nam-Joo is a modern literary classic from South Korea that challenges the endemic misogyny and oppression that is hardwired into our institutions and societies. "Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982" was Cho Nam-Joo's international breakthrough that gave way to a heated public debate on equal rights following its publication and been an inspiration to the modern feminist movement in South Korea.