Changes: Women in refrigerators

Latest revision as of 19:31, 5 March 2017

Women in refrigerators is a term used in Comic Book Fandom and, to a lesser extent, SciFi Fandom and overall narrative media geekdom, to describe a common trope where a woman's intense suffering is used to kickstart or progress the male protagonist's storyline. The woman is typically the protagonist's partner, family member, or love interest.

The origin of the term is in a specific comic book story, where the protagonist finds his female partner murdered, and hidden in his refrigerator.

WiR is a trope in aggregate, and while well-built solid narratives that use the trope well, it is the overall pattern, not individual works, that forms the problem.

Points of objection

cheapening and normalizing murder, abuse, and sexual violence of women by rote execution of the trope
sexualisation of the same
the use of female characters as disposable plot enhancers, especially if the Sexy Lamp test comes out positive

Note that many of the women on the list were also victims of sexual violence. WiR is an example of rape culture as seen through comics.

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-'''Women in refrigerators''' is a term used in [[Comic Book Fandom]] and, to a lesser extent, [[Science Fiction Fandom]] to describe a common trope where a woman is brutally murdered in order to progress the male protagonist's story line.  The term is more broadly used to describe systemic violence against women in comics.
+'''Women in refrigerators''' is a term used in [[Comic Book Fandom]] and, to a lesser extent, [[Science Fiction|SciFi Fandom]] and overall narrative media geekdom, to describe a common trope where a woman's intense suffering is used to kickstart or progress the male protagonist's storyline. The woman is typically the protagonist's partner, family member, or love interest.
+The origin of the term is in a specific comic book story, where the protagonist finds his female partner murdered, and hidden in his refrigerator.
+WiR is a [[aggregate effect|trope in aggregate]], and while well-built solid narratives that use the trope well, it is the overall pattern, not individual works, that forms the problem.
+;Points of objection:
+* cheapening and normalizing murder, abuse, and sexual violence of women by rote execution of the trope
+* sexualisation of the same
+* the use of female characters as disposable plot enhancers, especially if [[Media test#Sexy Lamp test|the Sexy Lamp test comes out positive]]
 * [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Refrigerators Women in Refrigerators on Wikipedia]
-* [http://www.unheardtaunts.com/wir/ Women in Refrigerators website]
+* [http://lby3.com/wir/ Women in Refrigerators website]
-* [http://www.unheardtaunts.com/wir/women.html List of women in refrigerators]
+* [http://lby3.com/wir/women.html Original list of women in refrigerators]
+* [http://www.comicvine.com/women-in-refrigerators/12-43763/ Additions to the list at comicvine.com]
+* [http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Women_in_Refrigerators_Syndrome WiR category at the DC comics wiki]
+* [http://www.toplessrobot.com/2008/06/the_10_worst_women_in_refridgerators_ie_cases_of_v.php 10 worst women in refrigerators]
+* [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WomenInRefrigerators WiR at tvtropes.org]
-Note that many of the women on the list were also victims of sexual violence.  WiR is an example of [[rape culture]] as seen through comics.
+Note that many of the women on the list were also victims of sexual violence. WiR is an example of [[rape culture]] as seen through comics.
+[[Category:Tropes]]
+[[Category:Rape culture]]
+[[Category:Comics]]