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A really amazing video essay on the monstrous feminine and some common female monsters

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The Feminine Evil in Film

Although there are surely examples across several movie genres that fit this theme, I would like to focus particularly on the feminine evil in the horror film because, one, it’s a genre chock full of examples to explore, and two, it’s my favorite movie genre!

Some of my favorite feminine monsters are Carrie White from Carrie (1976), Ginger Fitzgerald from Ginger Snaps (2000), Jennifer Check from Jennifer’s Body (2009), and Thomasin from The Witch (2015) 

There’s been a great deal of discussion on (male) monsters in general, and relatively little discussion centering feminine monsters (although I believe this is changing!) I think feminine monsters are interesting for a couple of reasons: one, their monstrosity is often expressed as a metaphor for a sexual appetite, and two, because they’re usually considered monstrous because they violate the taboos of femininity and what a woman should or should not do. They’re too aggressive, too sexual, too uninhibited, too gross, too hairy, too loud, too violent.

What’s interesting about all four of the aforementioned examples is the common thread between them of budding female sexuality and the changes associated with things like puberty being portrayed as monstrous.

Carrie White from Carrie is monstrous because of her telekinetic powers. The increasing strength of her powers coincides with menarche--her first period and ultimately causes her to be deemed a “witch” by her own mother. Women have historically been associated with possessing magical powers before men due to their ability to create life (Spera, "Three Types of Feminine Monsters”). Carrie’s powers are linked to her reproductive system (and thus her sexuality), which are in turn viewed as inherently evil (Spera, "Three Types of Feminine Monsters”). A similar thing happens to Ginger Fitzgerald in Ginger Snaps (2000), but her instead her transformation into a werewolf is linked to menarche and her budding sexuality. Thomasin from The Witch (2015) is also depicted as a witch, but for slightly different reasons. In addition, to her budding sexuality and changing body, she is also portrayed as monstrous because she deviates from the norm or the “natural” order of things (Spera, "Three Types of Feminine Monsters”). Jennifer Check from Jennifer’s Body (2009) is monstrous because of her sexuality--specifically her sexual prowess and implied promiscuity.

Sources

• Spera, S. (2018, October 17). The Three Types of Feminine Monsters. In Film School Rejects. Retrieved from https://filmschoolrejects.com/feminine-monsters-in-horror/

Further Reading

• Frau, F. (2018, January 16). Nevertheless, She Feasted: Why Girls Get Hungry in Horror Movies. In Film School Rejects. Retrieved from https://filmschoolrejects.com/girls-get-hungry-in-horror-movies/?utm_content=buffer15786&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

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Harpies in the Infernal Wood, Gustave Doré

In Greek Mythology, these are female monsters possessing bird-like bodies and human faces. They have been noted for their pale faces, long claws, general ugliness and are considered the personification of storm winds.

Further Reading

• Harpies. (n.d.). In Greek Mythology. Retrieved from https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Monsters/Harpies/harpies.html

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[S]ince men have a tendency to be afraid of women they also create situations which rationalize these fears and perpetuate them. In addition, since no human being can easily face his own compulsion, the male tends to project his fears and antagonisms in terms of derogatory attributes by insisting that women are evil, inferior and valueless (because different) and hence should be made to obey, be kept in their place, or fulfill some unreal role which neutralizes them and removes them from the sphere of competition. From all of this, traditions and stereotypes are born which can always be called upon to justify the inherent tendencies in male behavior.

“The Dangerous Sex” by H. R. Hays

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The Feminine Evil and Psychology

This post won’t center the feminine evil in psychology per se, but rather a couple common themes present throughout various forms of media that contribute to the framing of woman as evil, abject, or a deviation from the norm. 

One theme is the male as normative. For example, throughout mythology, the male is seen as normative and the female as variant or deviation (Else-Quest and Hyde, 2018, p. 10). Thinking back to the creation story of Adam and Eve, Adam, the male is created first, while Eve, the female is created second, out of Adam’s rib, almost like an afterthought (Else-Quest and Hyde, 2018, p. 10). A similar pattern follows in other creation stories, where the man is created first, then the woman second. One of the clearest examples of this theme is present in our language, typically when one’s gender is unknown, masculine pronouns such as he or him are used. This theme relates to the concept of androcentrism or male-centeredness. To be a deviation to the norm is to be devalued, marginalized, and ignored, which is made apparent in women’s lower social status relative to men.

Another common theme is that of gender differences and similarities. Although both are important for understanding many things, such as our psychology, differences between genders are usually emphasized more than similarities (Else-Quest and Hyde, 2018, p. 10). Particularly, the focus tends to be on how women differ from men. So, not only has the emphasis on gender differences combined with the idea of male-as-normative fostered female deficit models but have also led people to conclude that women are abnormal or deficient (Else-Quest and Hyde, 2018, p. 10). For example, many scientists found that women had slightly smaller brains than men and interpreted this as evidence that women are inferior to men (Else-Quest and Hyde, 2018, p. 10), although there is no evidence that brain size is correlated with intelligence (Else-Quest and Hyde, 2018, p. 232).

Sources

Else-Quest, N. M., & Hyde, J. S. (2018). The psychology of women: Half the human experience (9th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

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Lady Lilith, Dante Gabriel Rossetti

In Jewish folklore, Lilith is Adam’s first wife and is generally considered a sexually wanton demon who steals and murders babies in the night (Lesses, “Lilith”). It’s interesting to note the symbolism of the flowers used in this painting: poppies (death) and white roses (sterile passion). In the painting, she’s looking in the mirror while combing her, which combined with her demeanor gives off feelings of both coldness and vainness. All of these pieces go along with the role of a femme fatale or a seductive woman who lures men into dangerous or uncompromising situations.

Further Reading

• Lesses, R. (n.d.). Lilith. In Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved from https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/lilith

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Ulysses and the Sirens, Herbert James Draper 

In Greek mythology, Sirens were considered dangerous creatures who lured men at sea to their doom with their music and beautiful singing voices

Further Reading

• Sirens. (n.d.). In Greek Mythology. Retrieved from https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Creatures/Sirens/sirens.html

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The Myth of Feminine Evil in Religion / Mythology / Art

Unfortunately, blaming women for all the world’s problems is an age-old practice, as echoed in many aspects of religion, mythology, and art (“Women are the Devil’s Gateway,” 1986). Three interesting examples are the creation story of Adam and Eve, Pandora in Greek myth, and Yin and Yang in Chinese mythology.

A cornerstone of the historical bias against women in the Judeo-Christian religion is the creation story of humankind centering Adam and Eve (“Women are the Devil’s Gateway,” 1986). In this story, Eve disobeyed God’s orders and ate fruit from the tree of knowledge (Else-Quest and Hyde, 2018, p. 7). As a result, Adam and Eve were forced to leave the Garden of Eden, making Eve, the woman, the source of original sin, responsible for the fall of humanity (Else-Quest, 2018, p. 7). It should be noted that the mythos surrounding Eve has been heavily influenced by the teachings of Augustine (354-430 C.E.), an enormously influential theologian who was bishop of Hippo, an ancient city in Roman Africa (Barrett, “Augustine and Eve”). In his earlier works, he proposed that the fall into sin was the result of human embodiment and gender differentiation, and associated Eve with carnal lust (Barrett, “Augustine and Eve”). Augustine is also responsible for introducing the idea of original sin into Christian thought, arguing that the sin of Adam and Eve has been passed onto every member of the human race through the act of sexual intercourse (”St. Augustine’s Penis and Original Sin,” 1998). While he did not condemn sex outright he did condemn lust which physically manifested itself through the erect penis (”St. Augustine’s Penis and Original Sin,” 1998). Heterosexual men cannot control their erections, which were more likely in the presence of women (”St. Augustine’s Penis and Original Sin,” 1998). This reaction can be provoked naturally by the presence of a woman, making a woman’s sexuality something that can effectively usurp a man’s power (”St. Augustine’s Penis and Original Sin,” 1998). Herein lies a woman’s threat to the heterosexual man (”St. Augustine’s Penis and Original Sin,” 1998). Since heterosexual men are unable to control their bodies in the presence of women, they seek to control women’s bodies instead (”St. Augustine’s Penis and Original Sin,” 1998).

Another influence on the mythos of Eve is Tertullian (160-220 C.E.), an early church father who denounced Eve as “the devil’s gateway” and accused her of not only disobeying God’s orders but also of bringing her partner, Adam, down as well (Sanders, “Eve in Art”). These attitudes toward Eve are reflected in a great deal of art, which reflect historical negative attitudes toward women and sexuality.

Another classic story that perpetuates the narrative of women being responsible for evil in the world is the original myth of Pandora, recorded by 7th century B.C. poet Hesiod. This myth serves as a tale of the fall from innocence, the hardships of mortal existence, and the fear of women (Johnson, “A feminist nightmare: How fear of women haunts our earliest myths”).  Pandora, the first woman, was actually created as a punishment (Johnson, “A feminist nightmare: How fear of women haunts our earliest myths”). Prior to the creation of Pandora, the earth was a paradise inhabited by men who lived free from hardship and enjoyed the company of the Gods (Johnson, “A feminist nightmare: How fear of women haunts our earliest myths”). But, after Titan God Prometheus disobeyed Zeus, king of the Gods, one too many times, by giving the gift of fire to mankind, he punished both Prometheus and the mortals complicit in his act of disobedience (Johnson, “A feminist nightmare: How fear of women haunts our earliest myths”). Prometheus was punished by being chained to a rock while a giant eagle nibbled at his liver, while men were punished with women. The first woman, Pandora, was created as a trap—beautiful on the outside, evil on the inside—and marked the end of paradise. Zeus delivered Pandora as a bride to Prometheus’s younger brother Epimetheus and gave to her a jar as a wedding gift, which he instructed her not to open. A very curious Pandora could not resist opening this jar, so she did, thus released all the sorrows of the human condition, interestingly trapping only hope inside the jar (Johnson, “A feminist nightmare: How fear of women haunts our earliest myths”). This is another story frequently captured in art.

Lastly, another idea that contributes to the myth of feminine evil is the Chinese concept of yin and yang. Yin and yang, core elements of Chinese cosmogony, involve oppositional aspects and “dark and light,” “soft and hard,” and “female and male” (Shen and D’Ambrosio, “Gender in Chinese philosophy”). These notions have deeply rooted connotations surrounding gender, associating yin with femininity, submissiveness, darkness, evil, etc. and yang with masculinity, dominance, lightness, goodness, etc. However, it should be noted that the closest word for gender in Chinese is xingbie, which signifies a difference between individual nature or tendencies rather than provide a basis for corresponding social identities (Shen and D’Ambrosio, “Gender in Chinese philosophy”).

Sources

Women are the devil's gateway (1986, January 5). In New Internationalist. Retrieved from https://newint.org/features/1986/01/05/gateway

Else-Quest, N. M., & Hyde, J. S. (2018). The psychology of women: Half the human experience (9th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

Barrett, L. C. (n.d.). Augustine and eve. In Bible Odyssey. Retrieved from https://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/people/related-articles/augustine-and-eve

Sanders, T. (n.d.). Eve in art. In Bible Odyssey. Retrieved from https://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/people/related-articles/eve-in-art 

Shen, L., & D'Ambrosio, P. (n.d.). Gender in Chinese philosophy. In Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from https://www.iep.utm.edu/gender-c/

Witcombe, C. (1998). St. Augustine's penis and original sin. In Da Vinci's Code. Retrieved from http://witcombe.sbc.edu/davincicode/original-sin.html 

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The Feminine Evil in Music

As an avid music lover, a common theme I’ve noticed in popular music is the evil woman. She is typically described as wicked, deceptive, dangerous, mischievous, manipulative, a femme fatale, succubus, devil, temptress, or witch, usually by a male vocalist. These descriptors are often associated in one way or another with her sexuality. This theme is exemplified is songs like Evil Woman by Electric Light Orchestra:

Rolled in from another town

Hit some gold, too hot to settle down

But a fool and his money soon go separate ways

And you found a fool lying’ in a daze

Ha, ha, woman, what you gonna do?

You destroyed all the virtues that the Lord gave you

It’s so good that you’re feeling’ pain

But you better get your face on board the very train

And She Rides by Danzig:

She rides

Let loose upon the world

She is the night

And my loneliness in bondage

She’s black

And sin runs down her back

She rides

From the daylight in chains

There are countless other examples within popular music (I even made a playlist of songs I like that fit this theme). While there are indubitably songs that associate men with evil, what I found was a disproportionate amount of songs by male vocalists associating women with one or more of the aforementioned descriptors. 

Supplemental Material:

Feminine evil playlist: Spotify

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Medusa is a classic example of what the term “monstrous-feminine” conveys, which is whatever it is about woman that is considered shocking, horrifying or abject (Creed, p. 37). Her monstrousness is related to sexual difference and castration (Creed, p. 38) in that many of her features--specifically, her long hair and gaze--which are generally considered to be markers of femininity are manipulated into something that is dangerous or lethal. Freud theorized that Medusa’s head was symbolic of the female genitals in that it made men stiff with fear, thus turning them to stone (Creed, p. 38).

Sources

• Grant, B. K. (Ed.). (2015). The dread of difference: Gender and the horror film (2nd ed., pp. 37-67). Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

Medusa with the Head of Perseus, Luciano Garbati, 2008