Comics / Spotlight

Female Characters as Survivors of Rape: Women in Refrigerators or a Necessity in Fiction?

By J. Skyler
August 28, 2012 - 02:12

A few weeks ago, republican senate nominee Todd Akin stated that “from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare… If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,” which, in his mind, was an adequate justification to ban all forms of abortion. When I read his statements, I was hoping it was some sort of morbid joke—I knew it wasn’t, but I desperately wanted to believe no one, let alone an elected official, could possibly be that ignorant. Few things are capable of causing such an eruption of seething anger within me, but this had me wanting to put my fist through a wall. Akin’s willingness to dismiss rape because of his own ignorance regarding basic scientific facts about a woman’s reproductive system represents a gross misunderstanding about the subject, and one that far too many people share. The fact is, as pro-life republican Harmeet Dhillon stated: “there is a difference between a person whose religion teaches that life begins at conception—and who may oppose abortion in all cases—and Akin's indefensible comments regarding ‘legitimate’ rape,” which imply a woman seeking abortion after being impregnated by a rapist wasn’t really raped, and therefore is simply hysterical or a liar. Although I am pro-choice, I'm elated to see women and men in the GOP and Democratic Party on both sides of the abortion debate unwilling to allow Akin to dilute the definition of rape. Encyclopedia of Victimology and Crime Prevention, Volume 1 (2010), reports that myths about rape “can blame the victim for her victimization, relieve blame from the offender, and/or trivialize the rape itself. Victim-blaming rape myths imply that women are somehow at fault for their own victimization.”

Rape may include but is not limited to forced-sex (aggravated sexual assault, which may involve torture or battery), date rape, corrective rape (in which a lesbian or bisexual woman is raped in an attempt to "cure" her same-sex attraction), incest, child molestation, sex under duress (where consent is only given under threat of bodily harm or extortion), female on male or male on male rape. Under any circumstance, rape is rape, and a rapist who seeks to absolve themselves of responsibility doesn’t have a leg to stand on—moral, legal or otherwise.

For decades, the comic book industry frequently placed itself on the front lines of the Culture Wars of America. Characters have been depicted living with HIV/AIDS since the height of the epidemic when the general public was still ignorant on how the virus could be contracted, and LGBT characters have steadily been coming out of the closet since the 1970s, even though radical conservatives are still battling to keep us from marrying and raising children. The ignorance of rape raises the question of whether or not it is an issue that presents an inherent need for proper reflection in comic books. Have characters been depicted as being raped before? Yes, of course, but how many stories are told entirely from the survivor's point of view and how realistic are their depictions? Comic book writer Gail Simone famously coined the phrase Women in Refrigerators (WiR) in 1999 by creating a website dedicated to cataloging the long history of mutilation and murder suffered by an alarming number of female characters (the term itself inspired from Green Lantern #54 in which the title character Kyle Rayner discovers the body of his murdered girlfriend stuffed in his refrigerator). Since WiR usually involves a female character in a supporting role being victimized to further the story of a leading male, many would argue rape in fiction could only further contribute to the amount of unequal violence female characters are forced to endure. However, if prominent female characters such as Wonder Woman, Supergirl or Spider-Woman are depicted as survivors of rape, does it inherently tarnish their character? If so, isn’t that part of the problem—seeing survivors as only victims? Part of the reason psychologists, sociologists and advocates use the term “rape survivor” instead of “rape victim” is to prevent women from internalizing the victimization and to prevent others from stigmatizing them as somehow being “less.”

I’d like to open up a dialog in the comment section of this page. What is your personal view of rape in comic books? Is it possible to utilize comics as an educational tool concerning rape? Have the stories you’ve read involving rape seem realistic or oblivious? If you are a survivor of rape (and if you’re willing to share of course) would you want a reflection of your story depicted in a comic book? I encourage everyone to give their opinion.

Follow me on Twitter @jskylerinc

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12