Synopses & Reviews
Stieg Larsson was an unabashed feminist in his personal and professional life and in the fictional world he created, but
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest are full of graphic depictions of violence against women, including stalking, sexual harassment, child abuse, rape, incest, serial murder, sexual slavery, and sex trafficking, committed by vile individual men and by corrupt, secretive institutions. How do readers and moviegoers react to these depictions, and what do they make of the women who fight back, the complex masculinities in the trilogy, and the ambiguous gender of the elusive Lisbeth Salander?
These lively and accessible essays expand the conversation in the blogosphere about the novels and films by connecting the controversies about gender roles to social trends in the real world.
Review
"For both feminist scholars and fans of the Millennium trilogy, this thought-provoking collection indeed lives up to its title by kicking ass."
--Bust
Review
"This book would make a thoughtful present for the feminist
Dragon Tattoo fan in your life."
--Gender Focus
Review
"A scholarly but cheeky survey"
--Star News
Synopsis
Feminist takes on depictions of violence against women and changing gender roles in Stieg Larsson's thrillers
About the Author
Donna King is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Carrie Lee Smith is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Millersville University of Pennsylvania.
Table of Contents
CONTENTSIntroduction
Donna King and Carrie Lee Smith
Misogyny and Mayhem
Always Ambivalent: Why Media Is Never Just Entertainment
Abby Ferber
Kick-Ass Feminism: Violence, Resistance, and Feminist Avengers in Larsson's Trilogy
Kristine De Welde
Lisbeth Salander as the "Final Girl" in the Swedish "Girl Who" Films
Karen Ritzenhoff
Accounts of Violence against Women: The Potential of Realistic Fiction
Roberta Villalon
State Complicity in Men's Violence against Women
Patricia Yancey Martin
Gender and Power in the New Millennium
The Gender Ambiguity of Lisbeth Salander: Third-Wave Feminist Hero?
Judith Lorber
Third-Wave Rebels in a Second-Wave World: Polyamory, Gender, and Power
Mimi Schippers
Men Who Love Women: Pro-feminist Masculinities in the Millennium Trilogy
Michael Kimmel
Tiny, Tattooed, and Tough as Nails: Representations of Lisbeth Salander's Body
Catherine (Kay) G. Valentine
Hacker Republic: Cyberspace and the Feminist Appropriation of Technology
Sophie Statzel Bjork-James
Is This What Equality Looks Like? Working Women in the Millennium Trilogy
Diane Levy
Swedish Perspectives
Corporations, the Welfare State, and Covert Misogyny in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Anna Westerstahl Stenport and Cecilia Ovesdotter Alm
Lisbeth Salander and Her Swedish Crime Fiction "Sisters": Stieg Larsson's Hero in a Genre Context
Kerstin Bergman
Is Mikael Blomkvist the Man of the Millennium?
Sara Karrholm
Readers' Responses
An Open Letter to the Next Stieg Larsson
LeeAnn Kriegh
Pippi and Lisbeth: Fictional Heroes across Generations
Meika Loe
Feminist Bloggers Kick Larsson's Ass: Reading Resistance Online
Jessie Daniels
Feminist Avenger or Male Fantasy? Reading the Reception of the Millennium Trilogy
Caryn Murphy