Monster Misogyny: Difference between revisions
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The phenomenon in [[B-Movie|B Movies]] from the 1950s to early 1960s in which rampaging monsters/serial killers seem to focus their "random" attacks mostly on women. Usually young, innocent, vulnerable women. Although such films may show a man or two as victims, [[Double Standard|the real focus is on the ladies]]. For instance, if the movie includes a montage of attacks, expect every victim shown to be female.
This seems to be a wide-scale application of the [[Disposable Woman]] concept, sans any significant connection to [[The Hero]]; further, the deaths carry no more than the normal dramatic weight, and do not motivate the Hero to action any more than would male deaths. All other things being more or less equal, the director will simply ''choose'' to populate his movie with female victims. And then, of course, there are plots in which the killer will ''specifically'' target females.
One would assume, in this age of equal rights and feminism and all, that this would be a [[Discredited Trope]] or even a [[Dead Horse Trope]]. But no, the trope is alive and well. Apparently, the sight of women being terrorized on screen is just more... um... [[Fan Service|titillating]]. Or a good way to show just how evil your monster is by [[Kick the Dog|attacking poor defenseless girls]]. Also don't forget that [[Girls Are Really Scared of Horror Movies]]. Either that, or it's because this trope is based on
As a direct result of this trope, many slasher movies have a [[Final Girl]] (and one with no form of self-defense training at that), since audiences are somehow more likely to root for a young, nubile, defenseless ([[Missing White Woman Syndrome|white]]) woman on the run from a psychopath who gutted her friends like fish, as opposed to a man in a similar position.
If the women are abducted rather than killed, it's probably because [[Mars Needs Women]]. See also [[Damsel in Distress]], [[Mono-Gender Monsters]], [[Touch of the Monster]]. Many this trope's aversions come from the fact that [[Men Are the Expendable Gender]].
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== Anime and Manga ==
* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', Barry the Chopper attacked people regardless of gender. In the [[Fullmetal Alchemist (anime)|2003 anime version]], however, he is mentioned as killing only young women.
* In ''[[Ranma ½]]'', the monstrous eight-headed Yamata-no-[[Orochi]] is an enormous pervert who likes to see women's underwear, naked women, and women in general. It also ''loves'' eating them. It even has taste buds for it. Men? They just taste bitter, they piss it off, and it kills them on sight. This is roughly based on the myth of the Yamata-no-Orochi, which demanded maiden sacrifices.
* A [[Justified Trope]] in ''[[Witchblade (anime)|Witchblade]]''. The I-Weapons usually go after women; women who just happen to have the Witchblade of Cloneblades that they are attracted to.
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* While men and women both die plentifully in works by [[Frank Miller]], the fetishistic way that women are killed, often while they're partially or completely naked, has led to accusations of [[Author Appeal]].
** [[Sin City]]'s male villains in particular are nearly always some variation of misogynistic [[Complete Monster]], to the point where in ''A Dame to Kill For,'' the second major [[Sin City]] story, {{spoiler|Ava, the titular [[Femme Fatale]], plays on Dwight's [[The Dulcinea Effect|violent protectiveness toward women]] by casting her perfectly innocent husband, Damien Lord, as one of these in her [[Wounded Gazelle Gambit]]}}.
* Unum is being created by a cosmic entity called Enmity, out of the souls of the armies of cruel villains such as Dormammu who [[We Have Reserves| treated them as expendable and sent them to their deaths.]] Practically an embodiment of hate, Unum's goal is to murder every hero in the universe, and [[Female Misogynist| despite being physically female herself]], decided to start with heroines. Why? Nobody knows, but at very least, [[She-Hulk]] was able to [[Heel Realisation| convince her to turn on Enmity]].
== Film ==
* The story goes that the memorable attack on the "Hitchcock woman" in ''[[The Birds]]'' was a result of [[Alfred Hitchcock]]'s [[Creator Breakdown|issues with that specific woman]].
* ''[[This Island Earth]]''. It's on the [http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_GIchwvJ-aNk/TMDaye49spI/AAAAAAAAVxQ/0oY5mRKbGZY/s800/this+island+earth+film+poster.jpg poster], for Chrissakes.
* Aversion: None of the spotlight deaths throughout the entire ''[[Jurassic Park]]'' series are female.
* ''Death Car On The Freeway'': a [[Made for TV Movie]] from the 1970s, in which a serial killer runs lone female motorists off the road and kills them.
* Subverted in ''[[Creature from the Black Lagoon]]'': his victims are predominantly men (and killed with much claw-rending gusto), though he does kidnap two women.
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== Literature ==
* In the [[Dean Koontz]] novel, ''Shadowfires'', a [[Mad Scientist]]-turned-monster stalks his ex-wife out of (at first) murderous intentions. But after slowly becoming more animalistic, and {{spoiler|raping and killing and eating an innocent bystander}}, his desires towards his ex-wife turn more amorous and cannibalistic.
** Koontz does this a lot. ''Dark Rivers of the Heart'' was a particularly graphic example.
* In the [[The Silence of the Lambs|Hannibal Lecter series]], all non-Lecter killers (Jacob Garrett Hobbes, Frances Dolarhyde, and Jame Gumb) specifically targeted women - Dolarhyde killed whole families, but it was the mothers that interested him. This is also a case of [[Truth in Television]], as many serial killers really ''do'' have serious issues with women. Lecter himself was far too much of a [[Magnificent Bastard]] to particularly care whom he killed, and it's implied that he had a fairly even split in terms of victims.
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* To hear [[Joss Whedon]] tell it, [[Buffy]] was designed as a deliberate subversion of this tendency, with the typical female victim rounding upon the pursuing monster and kicking its ass.
** Vampires most often try to chow down on victims of the opposite sex.
** Played straight with Warren Mears, an [[Ax Crazy]] megalomaniac who actually was outright mysogynistic.
*** Also with [[Sinister Minister|Caleb]] in Season 7.
* In the ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]'' episode in which [[Jack the Ripper]] turns out to be [[Beethoven Was an Alien Spy|an evil alien entity]], Spock says it focuses its attacks on women because "women are more easily and more deeply terrified, generating more sheer horror than the male of the species." Though the dialogue doesn't have this caveat (and hence lacks this implication), that actually makes sense in the context of Victorian England, where women were supposed to be delicate and helpless and this attitude was encouraged in them.
* On ''[[The League of Gentlemen]]'', the demonic blackface minstrel Papa Lazarou goes after women to make into his "wives". In a bit of a twist, though, all of the women are over 50, and he's just as dangerous towards men if they come across his path. Also, due to the format of the show, almost all the women are played by men in drag.
* Because he targets serial killers, [[Dexter]] is a heterosexual serial killer whose targets are mostly males.
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** Played straight in the first season though. The Ice Truck Killer targets only women, in particular, prostitutes. Again, this is similar to real serial killers, who (being primarily men) will target prostitutes under either some misguided "morals" that they have, or simply because they feel [[Disposable Sex Worker|they won't really be missed]].
== Tabletop Game ==
* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'':
** The kelpie is a Monster Misandrist. A combination of [[Man-Eating Plant]] (the plant in question being seaweed), [[Enthralling Siren]], and [[The Vamp]], they not only limit their prey to males, females are immune to their charming powers. It is not known why, the most common theories being they were created for divine retribution against sailors for not honoring the sea gods (at a time when female sailors were rare, giving them exemption), or that they were created by the Evil Archomental Olhydra, who is herself a [[Straw Feminist]].
** Nereids are female elemental spirits who Zigzag and possibly subvert the Trope. They clearly do not like men and have powers that are detrimental only to males, a type of glamour about them causing men to be unable to physically harm them and viewing them as shy and flirtatious maidens. However, nereids are non-combative and do not go out of their way to seduce and enslave males, usually letting their pet [[Sea Monster]]s defend them, using a [[Kiss of Death]] on a human who will not take "NO!" for an answer. In fact, it seems far more common for unscrupulous pirates or mercenaries to enslave a nereid by stealing her shawl (her [[Soul Jar]]) making [[Humans Are the Real Monsters|this Monster Misogyny of a very different sort.]]
== Video Games ==
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== Web Original ==
* ''[[Neopets]]'' once had something called the "Terror Mountain Ski Lodge", where members of the staff were picked off by the Ski Lodge Killer. The first victim was a male, but then the killer killed 8 female staff members in a row. Eventually the killer went back to male victims (as there were only two women left).
* The [[SCP Foundation]] has [http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-847 SCP-847]. Usually a normal seeming (if damaged) female mannequin, it [[Living Statue|comes to life]] if a woman approaches within 100 meters of it, with a single minded determination to murder the woman and [DATA EXPUNGED].
== Real Life ==
* A partial aversion - Serial Killers in the real world are usually attracted to a very specific category of victims; a common theme is that heterosexual killers will often prey almost exclusively on females and homosexual killers on males (assuming a male killer), although each has their own warped preferences. One British murderer, when asked why he chose a particular victim, claimed it was 'because she had red shoes'.
** On a similar note, religious extremists overwhelmingly target women that "break the rules" as well, and the punishment is generally much more severe. This can leak into serial killer territory (of the "visionary" variety) if one becomes certain that women's 'whoring' is the cause of the current town/state/country's moral decay.
** There is a specific type of serial killer that averts this: an "omnivore" will kill anyone, making them hard to catch.
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[[Category:Double Standard]]
[[Category:Monster Misogyny]]
[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]
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