Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982: A Novel

Jiyoung enters the same middle school her older sister Eunyoung attends. Female students are in the minority. The school has a strict dress code for girls but a lenient code for boys. Teachers make excuses for this discrepancy and regularly punish girls for dress-code violations.

A flasher has been appearing outside the school gate for years. He is visible from Jiyoung’s classroom. On one occasion, girls yell at him out of the window. The girls later ambush the flasher, tie him up, and take him to the police station.

Jiyoung has her first period in eighth grade. She tells Eunyoung, who tells their mother. At dinner that night, Jiyoung’s younger brother serves himself a large portion of ramen. Eunyoung takes half of his noodles and puts them in her bowl. Their mother then takes half of her noodles and puts them in her son’s bowl. Eunyoung is upset with her mother for doing this. She points out that she and Jiyoung do all the chores, and their brother never helps. Mother says he doesn’t help because he’s still young, but Eunyoung replies that it’s because he’s a boy.

Jiyoung’s menstruation is never discussed, and Jiyoung feels that this secrecy implies shame. At night, she thinks about the unfair differences in the treatment of girls and boys.