salon:

It must be possible to create an entertaining show that provides a glimpse of a more just society without doing it on the backs of abused women. I’m not suggesting that we censor movies or TV shows in any way. The creators of these forms of entertainment should be free to craft their stories as they see fit. We should not promote censorship, but that does not mean that we should reward the creators with our viewership. We don’t just vote with the ballot, but also with our time and our money. I am voting against ‘woman as victim’ entertainment by choosing not to watch, I wish more feminists would join me.

In a culture besieged with violence against women, it’s imperative to think about the shows we choose to watch

Perhaps we need a variation of the Bechdel Test to examine the prevalence of women’s torture, pain, death, sexual violence, abuse, and victimization in any given work? A tool to help us be more aware of what we’re watching, to count. to quantify, to consider. A good place to start may be to ask if the depiction of violence is necessary for the plot. If knowing a woman was beaten is enough to propel the story, isn’t any additional depiction of the crime just torture porn? This in and of itself is not enough. Perhaps the next question should be whether we know more about the woman or the violence against her. Even if a graphic scene of rape or murder is crucial to the plot it is still a very bad sign if we know more details about the crime than we do about the woman against whom that crime was committed. Finally, is the story (or a storyline) about the victim of the violence or does her victimization occur only to further other character’s stories? These three questions—is the violence necessary, do we know more about the woman than the violence, and is there a storyline about the woman—may not tell us everything we need to know about a film or TV show but it is a good place to start, a sort of “Dead Disposable Women Test.”

208 Notes

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