Listening to the coverage of Han Kang winning the Nobel prize on the radio. she was introduced as a South Korean female author. Why are women introduced as females? I never hear men introduced as males.

Maybe we need a new category: “South Korean male author—because, you know, men exist too!”

At arts conference, in my early 20s and invited to speak on a panel. Keynote speaker came up to me and said, "I've seen your work, you paint like a man. You must have got some extra testosterone in the womb to be so deeply analytical too." Hegemony requires the Other must be reminded of its place

Probably helpful in this case for the many Europeans and Americans who wouldn't be able to tell the author's sex by her name, and to give credit since so few women are recognized by being awarded Nobel prizes.

I did find it unsettling that like the 3rd or 4th graf of the NYT story about her winning was all about how the Nobel committee is trying to make more diverse choices. That's an important narrative, but it felt like they were trying to put an asterisk on her achievement.

Might be because non-Koreans could easily assume Han is a male's name? (Á la Han Solo...)

lol i’m gonna start introducing men that way from now on.

It’s so “people” get the pronouns right. Because it’s super annoying to be misgendered in a professional space. Same reason why so many other cultures have English names as well as their own. So, you’re right, and it’s a larger issue than gender.

This was my most-corrected error in undergraduate comp papers and it’s unfortunately just as common in the wider world (where all those 18 year olds learned it I guess)

I have read The Vegetarian and didn’t know she was female till recently. Han sounds gender neutral, so its good to clarify as people could get confused. Also, you were listening on the radio, so it makes sense for the medium to mention her gender for those unaware.

To be fair.. it is an astonishing thing when a woman wins a Nobel Prize. Only 6.5% of the total if the internet is to be believed 😲