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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 reality -- real-life serial killers target women much more often than men. Ted Bundy, Ed Kemper, Gary Ridgway, and even Jack the Ripper killed women exclusively, or nearly so.
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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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* 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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== 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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