Being Held to a Higher Standard

By Jae-Ha Kim
jaehakim.com
February 26, 2020

On Feb. 23, Variety published my review of BTS‘ latest album, “Map of the Soul: 7.” In a nutshell, I loved the album and gave it a metacritic score of 92 (out of 100).

A day later, Rolling Stone published their review. Their writer also liked the album a lot and rated it a solid 80.

A funny thing, though, about how our reviews were received: hundreds (thousands?) of BTS fans left negative comments under my review, calling me unprofessional for omitting J-Hope’s solo song. But think about it: Why would I ever do that?

Meanwhile, there was nothing but praise for the male writer’s review, which omitted three solo songs:

This happens quite often. I can think of concert reviews where male journalists got song titles incorrect, attributed solos to the wrong members etc. But they were lauded for their glowing reviews. But when it happens to women reviewers, the stans come out, calling us unprofessional hags.

Here’s the thing: Mistakes happen. Sometimes they’re our mistake. Sometimes the outlet inputs errors. Sometimes parts of the review or article are cut out due to space issues. It’s not the end of the world. And unless we specifically say that we hate your favorite member, just assume that we don’t, OK?

Original image: The Atlantic

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