The site Women in Refrigerators discusses the phenomenon of the superheroine tortured/raped/murdered/depowered in comic books. A fascinating read, even if (like me) you are not really a reader of comics.
Thanks for MeFi for the link.
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Hi there, just interested in any more thoughts you had on
‘Women in Refrigerators’?
Thanks!
It’s interesting to see that someone compiled a list of this. You can trace this back to Wonder Woman when she used to lose all her powers when she was tied up. That was her secret weakness; bondage. However, most heroes have a way of being depowered and most have been. That’s the staple plot-hook for any hero is how they deal without having their powers/gadgets. Plus, plenty of male heroes have had the “phoenix” plot where they die and comeback. The only thing that really sets female heroines apart from the male, as far as this list is concerned, is in the rape aspect. Very few male characters have had that happen to them whereas it seems to be the new “shock value” plot for female characters (especially DC). I think this stems from writers having to have a new way to make the hero of the story “powerless” without them losing their powers. And what more effective way to make a female feel powerless than rape? While it’s not pretty or very original anymore, I think it all stems from trying to make a way to twist the old stories into new forms.
Although there is something tawdry about Wonder Woman’s old weakness being “bondage”, it does fit with the stories of the Amazon mythology. It has a basis in the stories of old, and so it makes sense. I’m not suggesting that it wasn’t (very, very often) used in an exploitive way, but it is a LOT less arbitrary than some of the other superhero weaknesses that have existed (Green Lantern’s weakness against the color yellow, Superman’s vulnerability to a type of rock, Batman’s creepy inability to turn away young boys).
Also, if you’re looking for a site with a similar focus to WiR, you might want to check out Girl Wonder. I’ve been going there for about a month, now, and it’s consistently good.
Check out this for previous discussion