I read If I Had Your Face and Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 back-to-back a few weeks ago, and since they're both Korean feminist books, why not share a page! Korea is unique in how fast its entertainment sector developed to compete head-to-head with the US and Japan, perhaps surpassing both in some regards, but the development of its social values has not really kept up that pace. That's not to say that I think the US's brand of progressivism is the correct kind that all nations should aspire to, of course. That's not the benchmark at all, but it's just that some really obvious sexism occassionally comes out of Korea, so analysis by feminists there tends to be good. I'm not terribly well-versed and really only hear about them anytime someone gets accused of being a feminist (such as for cutting their hair short), but the efforts of Megalia (the zucchini thing is pure coincidence) and Womad are worth looking into. Both of these books are pretty straightforward and don't really delve into theory, but their observations are worth noting, as Western society isn't very far removed at all.
Soilers are marked like this, hover to reveal.
If I Had Your Face ― Frances Cha
Oct 02 2022
I read If I Had Your Face first. It was written by a Korean woman and mostly set in Korea, but it was originally written in English, so there weren't many cultural nuances to interpret. The timeline isn't that specific, but each chapter follows the story of one of four woman living in an apartment in Seoul: Ara, Kyuri, Wonna, and Miho (and also Sujin who is mentioned but does not get any chapters), all dealing with their own personal hardships. Despite the title, cosmetic surgery is only one of those hardships. Maybe because Cha spent much of her life living outside of Korea as well, most of the issues the women face aren't specific to Korea. Societal pressure to look pretty, societal pressure to marry and have kids, societal pressure know your place and not cause problems. I think these are universal. I'm not a huge fan of shifting perspectives but I understand why it was written this way, and because the chapters were mostly self-contained, it's a good choice for bedtime reading.
I mostly want to talk about the cosmetic surgery parts because that's what made me interested in the book to begin with. I think I've always been pretty against the idea of cosmetic surgery, maybe because that's the career path my mother picked out for me so of course I have to hate everything about it. But I think society takes too lightly the idea that there are no easy surgeries, and they all have risks, most pretty unpleasant. Icepick lobotomies were still being performed less than a century ago, so there's a lot that doctors have yet to perfect. Even when the surgery itself goes smoothly, the recovery process afterwards is nothing short of hellish. Spending months if not years not even being able to really touch your own skin lest you disrupt the area and prevent it from "healing" is literally trading function for form in the most superficial way. And then even after all of that, all of the upkeep... What even are you "fixing"?!
But I don't blame people for choosing that route despite all of the very obvious downsides. It's near impossible to not have significant insecurities about your body as a woman. There's even a name for every single one of these insecurities, because it makes it much easier for advertisers to point them out to you. So why not fix your flaws? Don't you want a good husband, a better job? Or just basic confidence? These things are reserved for pretty people. None of these observations are unique or remarkable, but I think Cha does a really good job at writing her characters in a way that doesn't belittle the people in reality that have made those choices. Kyuri might be obsessed with her 20-step skincare routine and only works at a room salon because she has to because being beautiful is expensive and if she were just born beautiful then she'd already have life figured out. The other characters seem to find Kyuri a little hypocritical but it's really easy to follow her thought process, and you can't help but root for her. I also like that Cha doesn't try to downplay the reality of sexwork, or sexwork lite. Rather than finding empowerment in it, Kyuri naturally seeks escape. Luckily, she lets herself dream of a better life for herself and more options open up for her by the end.
Sujin, Ara's roommate, and Kyuri have a really interesting relationship. Sujin sees Kyuri the same way Kyuri sees successful K-pop idols. Able to get ahead in life, because they're beautiful. Sujin looks to Kyuri for advice on getting cosmetic surgery and becoming a room salon girl herself. Kyuri is a little more hesitant than Ara, who gives Sujin her full support even after reading Sujin's will, as it isn't unusual for patients of jaw shave surgery to choke to death on their own blood following the procedure (and this does actually happen), but perhaps her own pride prevents her from being completely honest with Sujin and the other girls about the reality of salon girl life. It's probably better that Sujin is has a mentor, but it's a little sad seeing her follow in Kyuri's footsteps, knowing what it eventually leads to.
Ara and Miho's stories deal with relationships with men, and Wonna's deals with motherhood. I don't know how to talk about their details without spoiling too much, but Ara and Miho's stories emphasize the importance of relationships between other women and it's written in a way that I really appreciate. It's not a "girl power" sort of thing, for one Ara is a K-pop fangirl, but the amount of time Miho dedicates to thinking about her friend Ruby of her past over the boyfriend of her present, is an interesting look at the way love is supposed to be and the way love actually presents itself. Well, I actually thought Miho's story was the most boring of the four (or five) but mostly because it didn't conclude the way I wanted it to, and I can't say I was even surprised.
Anyway, I enjoyed the book a lot. I appreciated that it wasn't too on the nose, and the stories felt relatable because I'm currently in the same state of life as most of the girls, I think. I would recommend it for anyone who enjoys reading about mundane life that is a little more introspective.
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982: A Novel ― Cho Nam-Joo
Oct 02 2022
Unlike If I Had Your Face, this one is really, really bleak. This isn't a spoiler as much as it is a warning that life does not suddenly start to turn around for the protagonist, Kim Jiyoung. It's a short read broken up by Jiyoung's key life stages: childhood, adolsescence, early adulthood, and marriage. I find it fascinating that marriage is considered a life stage, and the final one at that. The story starts at the present though, before tracing her timeline of micro-aggressions and regular-aggressions, and then ends at the observations of her doctor.
Some of these aggressions include her being bullied by a classmate because he likes her, a dress code that only seemed to apply to the girls' uniforms, the shame of menstration, being followed home, etc. What was really interesting was the inclusion of footnotes for statistics and studies at the end of stories of Jiyoung's misfortunes. Cho didn't write a fantasy novel, and as uncomfortable as it is, the instances of sexism are very much based in reality. Unfortunately the translation of the book doesn't come with translated sources, but it's something I'd like to look into. I don't think Western society rejoices in the birth of a boy over a girl much, and I don't have any siblings, but many the other instances were still familiar enough that reading them made me feel that I was friends with Jiyoung and mad alongside her.
One part in particular that stands out was a molka incident at Jiyoung's former workplace. Her former coworker had to explain how it happened, as Jiyoung was not working there at the time, and summarized the conclusion as follows: "The accused male employees blame us for being too harsh with them...They say they neither set up those cameras nor took the pictures, they just saw some photos posted on a website everyone has access to, and we are treating them like sexual offenders. They distrubuted the pictures and were complicit in the crimes, but they don't understand why that's wrong." It's something to keep in mind any time someone tries to seriously defend pornography.
The book is pretty on the nose about what it's trying to accomplish. It's saying "See? Women aren't living life on 'easy mode' just because 'all' we have to do is raise a family!" There's this prevailing idea that raising a family is not only no big deal, but also doesn't require a huge slew of sacrificies and that women are just supposed to be okay with. I don't think this approach was wrong, but since I'm already on the same page as the author, I don't think there was as much for me to glean from it, other than the idea that everyone has their limits and it's only a matter of time before we all go crazy. I think the last section, 2016, lets us know who this book is really for. This section is from the perspective of Jiyoung's psychiatist, who regards himself as rather enlightened to the struggles of women despite not knowing how bad it could be until meeting Jiyoung. Most of this section is spent justifying his actions in order to paint himself as a good guy, an ally perhaps, but he clearly just doesn't get it. What Cho is asking of the reader is to consider that they are Jiyoung's psychiatist, surrounded by Jiyoungs, and they might not be recognizing the ways their mindset contributes to creating more Jiyoungs.
It's a book I would recommend to male friends but I doubt they would bother with it.