Discriminatory Gender Roles And The Objectification Of Women In Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982

Abstract

The current study tackles the interconnectedness between discriminatory gender roles and the construction of gender identity in the Korean novel Kim Jiyoung Born 1982 utilizing Judith Butler's Gender Performativity Theory. The study designates a sequence of social, ethical, physical, and psychological factors that determine gender roles and enhance gender discrimination, showing how patriarchal misogyny, the Confucian system, and gender roles are interconnected. The study draws on various resources to illustrate how gender is conceptualized and how female identity is constructed in patriarchal societies. It exposes the injustice and inequality women endure in the misogynist, patriarchal South Korean society and shows how multiple factors can affect Korean women's lives. The study sheds light on the oppressive gender roles assigned to Korean women by patriarchal cultural standards. It investigates how sexism, misogyny, and the Confucian system intensify gender dichotomy and perpetuate the discriminatory hierarchical structure of Korean society. This investigation is accomplished by applying an analytical feminist critical approach. Adopting such an approach helps allocate the moral, societal, religious, and psychological factors underneath the versatile, multifarious, and dynamic correlation between oppressive gender roles and patriarchal misogyny. The study aims to enhance the perception of the origins of oppression in the patriarchal Korean culture. It proposes the inevitability of deconstructing the male/female dichotomies, establishing complementarity, empowering women to transcend their status quo, recognizing humanity as an integral whole, and representing women as equal to men.