The weekly: The media’s treatment of Kim Yo-Jong wreaks of sexism

Home Opinion The weekly: The media’s treatment of Kim Yo-Jong wreaks of sexism
The weekly: The media’s treatment of Kim Yo-Jong wreaks of sexism
Peyongchang 2018 logo (photo: Wikimedia Commons)

News media fell for North Korea’s newest strategy for gaining soft power when a charming young woman, the sister of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un, made her debut during the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

The Olympics made controversial headlines over the weekend when Kim Yo-Jung, the dictator’s sister, suddenly was chosen to attend the Olympics, Vice President Mike Pence did not stand up for the united Korea hockey team, and Kim Yo-Jung visited with South Korean heads of state.

Previously off the radar, Kim Yo-Jung was treated like something of a debutant at her first ball. CNN International tweeted an article with the clickbait headline, “Kim Jong Un’s sister is stealing the show at the Winter Olympics” and lauded her “diplomatic dance.”  The New York Times wrote: “Kim Jong-un’s Sister Turns on the Charm, Taking Pence’s Spotlight.”

Sensibly, social media users hit back, and online-only publications aggregated posts into stories sensationalizing the uproar. Even Buzzfeed fired shots with an article: “PSA: Kim Jong Un’s Sister Is Not Your New Fave Shade Queen. She’s A Garbage Monster.”

Kim Yo-Jung is not Kim Kardashian or Kate Middleton. She’s neither a celebrity nor a princess, yet implicitly the language that has been used takes her from her sphere of political influence and into a cultural one that makes her seem harmless.  

The language deployed reveals an inherent gender bias in media. It suggests powerful women in politics are one-dimensional, limited to being like princesses who dazzle in the limelight, who perform diplomatic dances.

During the Olympics, a venue for displays of national strength, ideas are just as important as the people who represent them. When we allow ourselves to be enchanted by North Korea’s impressively synchronized cheerleaders and a young woman rejuvenating the regime, we substitute content for form.

We can only leave behind our gender biases in our writing when we remember that people are both how they present themselves and what they represent. Somehow, in our news coverage, we can’t push past the former.