On Sat, Jun 13, 2015 at 2:17 PM, Kelly St. Clair <kellys@efn.org> wrote:
On 6/13/2015 10:35 AM, Knapp wrote:
On Sat, Jun 13, 2015 at 6:56 PM, Ethan McKinney
 <ethan.mckinney@gmail.com <mailto:ethan.mckinney@gmail.com>> wrote:

    Women in Refrigerators
What?

Shorthand/jargon, originating in the comic book industry/fandom (based on one particularly ugly incident), for the unfortunately common trope of female characters whose purpose/existence in the story is solely to be killed or abused in order to motivate a heroic male protagonist.

(For one thing, it's almost vanishingly rare for it to be the other way around.)


IIRC, the motivating victims in most of the Anita Blake novels are male. Or - if they're not - Hamilton gives Anita a chance to actually save the victim. Sometimes, save the villian[ess], even. Again IIRC, at least one of Anita's current (in the latest novels) bodygaurds is the former human servant of a Bad Guy vamp.

But then, Hamilton IS a female author. Most male authors probably don't think of it, unless they're deliberately trying to break the stereotype for the interest/shock value.

--
Richard Aiken

"Never insult anyone by accident."  Robert A. Heinlein
"A word to the wise ain't necessary -- it's the stupid ones that need the advice." - Bill Cosby
"We know a little about a lot of things; just enough to make us dangerous." Dean Winchester