“Women in refrigerators” is a term that is widely known in the comic book industry. Coined by writer Gail Simone, the term refers to women in comics that are used as plot devices. They are beaten, raped, de-powered, murdered, and generally mistreated — all in the name of a good story.
The term “women in refrigerators” or “women in refrigerators syndrome” comes from a comic released in 1994. Kyle Rayner, the then-current Green Lantern, comes home to find his girlfriend strangled and stuffed into a refrigerator — and not in the fun/crazy “jumping out and tackling you” way that Rorschach from Watchmen likes to stuff himself into an ice box. Since this is the origin of the term, let’s talk a little bit about this infamous issue of Green Lantern vol. 3 and the character herself.
Alexandra “Alex” DeWitt was a photojournalist for a newspaper in LA. Beautiful and witty, she first appears in issue #48, where she and Kyle go on their first date. Alex breaks up with Kyle soon after, however, because she finds him to be too immature. Of course, things change once a certain piece of green jewelry falls into Kyle’s hands. Alex is uncertain at first, but she eventually agrees to help Kyle to hone his new powers and even helps him to create his costume. Things seem to be going very well for the two lovers; Kyle’s new life and responsibilities as Green Lantern have helped to give him the maturity that Alex felt he needed. Their life after getting back together seems to be almost perfect.
Issue #54 — the infamous issue in question — opens with a sweet moment between the two. They share a little bit of banter and a kiss in front of Alex’s apartment, and afterward, Alex invites Kyle to stay the night. The next morning, strange things are afoot and it looks like a job for the Green Lantern. Alex decides not to tag along, promising Kyle that she’ll have a surprise waiting for him when he returns. That, folks, is what we call foreshadowing.
Unfortunately for Kyle Rayner, the surprise is nothing near what he expected; while he was out saving the city, the contract assassin known as Major Force came to Alex’s apartment looking for Green Lantern. When Kyle’s girlfriend was less than forthcoming, Major Force strangles Alex until she’s dead, then shoves her into the refrigerator. Along with Kyle’s startling and horrifying discovery, a legacy is born: women in refrigerators. Unlike most legacies, however, this is one that is not something to be proud of.
As the ultimate woman in a refrigerator, Alex DeWitt’s untimely death raises a lot of questions. At the very top of the list is the question: is this right? Alex DeWitt was a character that was, according to her creator Ron Marz, destined to die from the beginning. She was created with no purpose other than to be murdered by Major Force. While Marz argues that it’s more a case of tragedy befalling a supporting character rather than specifically a woman, he also makes the point that title characters are more often males and supporting characters female.
The question remains, however, if this sort of behavior and plot device should be considered acceptable. If Marz created a character that he knew was going to die from the beginning — a woman who was sentenced to death in order to advance the plot and transition Kyle Rayner from his old life to his new life as Green Lantern — why not a man? Why not Kyle’s brother, for instance? His father, his uncle, his best friend? The fact is that, more likely than not, this has to do with the male-female dynamic — along with common misogynistic misconceptions about women. Alex DeWitt does not go down without a fight, but it is made apparent throughout her entire struggle with Major Force that she is weak and frail compared to her murderer, a powerful and muscular man.
If there had been a male character in Alex’s place – an actual Alex instead of an Alexandra — killing him off might not have been so easy. It’s all but inconceivable for a male writer — especially in the comic book industry — to fit a male character into the role of “damsel in distress.” Is it any less conceivable for a male character to be overpowered by a huge muscular monstrosity like Major Force? Or would such a thing emasculate a male character along with killing him? The idea that a female character would be fragile, defenseless, and all but helpless in this situation is more comfortable for male readers than the idea of another man not being able to defend himself in a fight. Never mind that Alex slashes Major Force with a knife and his massive chest breaks the blade, a male supporting character seems to have been out of the question.
I will be fair, here. Men in comics have taken their fair share of abuse in the name of plot and story, but not to the extent that women have. Some male characters stay dead, but most of them make their way back — and are better and stronger than ever, whereas the only way Alex DeWitt is coming back is possibly as a Black Lantern in Geoff Johns’ Blackest Night event. Barbara Gordon will never walk again, Dinah Lance will never be able to have children, and, well, let’s not even talk about Jean Grey and the handling of the women of Marvel. Women in comics are treated much more brutally than their male counterparts — main character, supporting, or otherwise.
When drawing up a list of male characters who have had a hard time in the name of story advancement, it’s hard to even compare. Atom’s wife divorced him and wrote a tell-all book about their life. Captain Marvel died of cancer. Alexandra DeWitt was beaten, strangled to death, and then shoved in a refrigerator — and that was all that she was created for. There was no chance for her to survive. Seven issues of Green Lantern vol. 3 was all that she was ever meant to know. As a woman who loves comics quite a bit, I must answer the question is this right? with a resounding no. Brutality against women in comic books is not acceptable as a plot device, especially when the character in question was created with no purpose other than being murdered.
There are people who would argue the point and say that Alexandra DeWitt’s death is no different than that of a victim on one of the many popular crime drama we watch on TV. What’s the difference between a woman in a refrigerator and, say, a murdered woman on an episode of Law & Order? In Law & Order the murderer is arrested, tried, and punished; in the case of Alexandra DeWitt’s murderer, Major Force was made immortal and then thrown into space — ten years later. He eventually dies, but it’s not as a result of justice served for his murder of Alexandra DeWitt; in a way, that makes her death even more meaningless and shallow than the idea that she was created specifically to die.
superb, a interesting read. nice written and well thought.
“The fact is that, more likely than not, this has to do with the male-female dynamic — along with common misogynistic misconceptions about women.”
Actually, that’s not a fact at all, but an (at best somewhat implausible) hypothesis. Speculation which ultimately cannot be proved or disproved (actually, some would say that since Ron Marz denies the charge he should be given the benefit of the doubt if there is no positive proof). Is there a reason to assume things would have been dramatically different if a male character had become Major Force’s victim? Not the evidence of superhero comics. There have been plenty of male characters created to die, and one can’t say that e.g. Jor-El, Thomas Wayne, or John Grayson had more of a chance of survival than their spouses or Alex DeWitt. Similarly, Ben Parker, Professor Yinsen (from Iron Man’s origin), Dr. Marko (Charles Xavier’s late stepfather), Jack Murdock, Barney Barton (Hawkeye’s brother), or Michael Barnett (Ms. Marvel’s psychologist boyfriend, brutally murdered by Mystique) did not exactly have a fighting chance. Are female supporting characters more likely to get hurt or killed than male ones? Is their suffering more “permanent”? Hard to say without evidence, without a proper listing of injured and killed male and female characters. As a longtime reader of the Spider-Man titles I’d say that about twice as many male supporting characters as female ones were killed off in them. But then a lot more Spidey supporting characters are male than female.
A big problem with “Women in Refrigerator” discussions is that most of the time people rely on their subjective impressions and and anecdotal evidence. So far no-one really has attempted to compile a list of male characters who had a hard time in the cause of story advancement, so the WiR list compiled by Gail Simone et al. at
http://www.unheardtaunts.com/wir/women.html
is of somewhat limited use (and let’s not go into how justified some entries in the WiR list are, e.g. Fury II and Snowbird are listed, among other things, because they became widows (in other words, because male characters got killed off to advance the story)).
Great article. Female characters in both the Marvel and DC universes, including spouses and girlfriends, still have some ground to gain, More women writers in the comic industry would a logical first step.
Thanks Damon and Allan. This is, of course, an article of opinion and not fact; but it’s a strong opinion of mine that women are treated a fair bit worse than their male counterparts in comic books. I also agree with you, Allan, that to have more women writers in the comic industry would definitely be a first step toward evening things out.
I have mixed emotions about this, I see your point Marron; or at least I sort of see it. Having said that Menshevik is right men are created just to die too, and there are lots of them. I also think that Alex Dewitt was the right choice for the person to get stuffed into a refrigerator; it’s got more to do with Kyle Raynor’s personality than with stuffing a poor defenseless, powerless woman into a refrigerator. If I were writing a story where Kyle Raynor loses somebody and that loss will play a significant part in re-defining who he is for years to come Alex Dewitt makes the most sense. Losing the woman he feels will be the love of his life before so soon would be more tragic to Raynor than loosing any of the other people you suggested.
Generally I agree with you, there have been appalling examples of the treatment of women in comics (Jean Lorring comes to mind) but I’ve always thought that Alex Dewitt was a bad example and shouldn’t be the poster girl for the cause.
@Menshevik: No, it’s not a fact; just a fact in my opinion. As I said, there are men who receive the same treatment as well. However, overall, I believe that women are often treated worse in comics. I feel that men have a different way of thinking and perceiving things than women do, and perhaps what I find appalling and erring on the side of misogynistic, someone of the opposite gender might not see as such. Even more than that, it’s something that could be different person to person, not just between people of different genders.
@Mike: I don’t think that Alex should be a “poster child” per se, but I chose her as my first subject to talk about because of her treatment–and because she’s the origin of the coined term. Is she a good choice to die in order to help Kyle transition from his old life into his new? Yes. But, at the same time, could this have been accomplished without stuffing her in a refrigerator? I feel the answer to that is “yes” as well. I believe that it’s the excessive force that is what disappoints/upsets/disgusts/what have you women who are reading comics like this particular issue of Green Lantern and seeing things like a woman not only brutalized, but stuffed into a refrigerator.
And if anyone thinks this is a controversial subject or that Alex isn’t a good example, just wait until next month’s woman in a ‘fridge!
I wasn’t saying you made her the “poster child” (don’t think I didn’t notice that you quoted me but changed the term I used either), Gail Simone did that. As far as Alex Dewitt being stuffed in a freezer being excessive force goes, of course it was excessive force, but it’s a comic book. Everything is larger than life in comics, it was excessive force when The Joker beat Jason Todd to death with a crowbar too. I’m looking forward to seeing what you have next month. I have some more points I’d like to make but I think I’ll save them for another month.
I didn’t take it as you saying I was making her into the poster child. I took at as you saying you thought she shouldn’t be and I was agreeing with you.
I agree with you on the death of Jason Todd being excessive; but to be fair, it was the readers who voted for him to die rather than survive. I’m not sure what, exactly, that says about comic book fans, but there you have it!
Good article. And thank you – I’ve been inspired to write something I’ve been meaning to put into words in my own blog regarding Alex.
I gotta tell you, I think this piece is really poorly researched with statements that are completely unsupported and seem to show very little knowledge of comics. Particularly this line:
“It’s all but inconceivable for a male writer — especially in the comic book industry — to fit a male character into the role of “damsel in distress.” ”
Are you kidding? It happens all the time. I wrote a response to your piece on my blog here:
http://scottthemadthinker.vox.com/library/post/barbara-gordon-is-not-in-a-refrigerator.html
And another thing!
http://scottthemadthinker.vox.com/library/post/dudes-in-distress.html
It really bothers me when comic writers are accused of misogyny or even poor writing when the evidence to back up those claims shows no real research into the comics themselves. You wrote, “The fact is that, more likely than not, this has to do with the male-female dynamic — along with common misogynistic misconceptions about women.” You use the term “the fact is” without actually looking at facts, while accusing people you don’t know of having a neurotic hatred of women. It’s stunning.
Ouch…I’m going to say you wouldn’t be reacting like this if I’d written this article Scott. You might want to reign in those misogynistic outbursts a bit. I’m calling the cops if I find out you’re keeping a copy of this column in your fridge buddy.
Mike, you are mistaken. I say the same thing when guys write about WiR. I belong to a nearly all male, gay comic group that has discussed this issue and I say the same thing to them. I am a feminist who believes that feminism is hurt by shoddy claims of misogyny. They taint claims of real misogyny and give feminism a bad rap. The majority of women claim that they aren’t feminists in part because they don’t want to be associated with junk theories like this one. And it is a shame because women (and men) should be proud to call themselves feminists. You can hate what a woman has done without hating women.
I am all for more women being involved in the production of comics. A female lead in a comic improves the chances that I will read the comic in part because I want to support the inclusion of women in comics. I support the inclusion of more comics that are for both a gender neutral audience and a specifically female audience. But the way to acheive those goals is not to make comics look less friendly to a female audience than they really are with research-free pieces that claim that things that happen quite frequently don’t happen and then blaming this nonexistent problem on misogyny. You will not get women to read comics by saying (falsely) that all the men writing them hate women. That will only drive women from comics.
Why would any woman or clear thinking man read comics if they are nearly all the product of misogyny as this article suggests? I would boycott comics and support a boycott of comics if I thought what Marron wrote about comics was true.
BTW, I notice that you didn’t say that anything I wrote was false. You just attacked my motives. If you want to say that I’m wrong, by all means support your argument with facts. I’d look forward to reading that. But just calling me names is beneath you even if you do it in a joking manner.
I wasn’t making fun of you, calling you names or attacking your motives at all, I was agreeing with you and using the flawed reasoning, logic, and tactics of those who would dismiss your argument to demonstrate how ridiculous it is for them to do so. I don’t for a second think you would ignore Marron’s column if I had written it instead. It was just a joke, but one aimed at second rate feminists, not at you.
Oh. Never mind.
“The question remains, however, if this sort of behavior and plot device should be considered acceptable.”
Why not?
The problem can’t be that it is used can it? Violence to women is jarring and makes many of us uneasy (myself included) but people not being allowed to harm the “weaker sex” ( I use this word sarcastically) is not a step forward.
WIR is a good topic but it helps no one as a feminist theory imo.
so one more time!
“”The question remains, however, if this sort of behavior and plot device should be considered acceptable.”
As a plot device? Yes. Acceptable? More so then the alternative. Bothersome anyway? Yah it is imo.
Interesting article. It really makes you think. Thanks.
Marron said, “And if anyone thinks this is a controversial subject or that Alex isn’t a good example, just wait until next month’s woman in a ‘fridge!”
I’ve noticed that it has been well over a month since this article and that quote above. Does that mean that you’ve changed your mind about WiR? Or is the article just a little late?
@Scott: Nope, I haven’t changed my mind, I’ve just been busy with life. :) As far as everything else you’ve said on the subject, I never denied there are male characters who go through some especially horrendous things in the name of plot; and while I did use the word “fact”, if you look at one of my replies above, you’ll see that I say that it’s not an actual fact, just a fact in my opinion — since this is an article of opinion, not a research paper or news article.
I also believe that one can be misogynistic through ignorance, and not just through outright hatred of women; just as one can be racist or anti-semetic, etc, through ignorance. I feel that a lot of “women in refrigerators” are the direct result of this sort of ignorance; at least with male writers writing “dudes in distress” as you put it, men generally know how men think and feel and can correctly gauge what a male character would think or feel in that situation. I think it’s a lot harder for a male writer, even one who might be very in touch with his feminine side, to as correctly guage the thoughts, feelings, or reactions of a woman. And, once again, the same is true in the reverse situation. This entire discussion is a great example of that; my reaction to Alexandra DeWitt’s murder, and that she was created solely to be murdered, is one of senseless violence toward women. Yours, obviously, is not.
You’ve written a few great articles about men who experience the same sort of situations; although, to be honest, I think your articles may have been a little more poignant if they were articles on their own instead of responding to my opinion piece as it was something I was writing as a news article.
So does that mean you stand by this statement:
It’s all but inconceivable for a male writer — especially in the comic book industry — to fit a male character into the role of “damsel in distress.”
Are you still unable to conceive of a male comic writer putting a male character into that role? You don’t need to write a “research paper” to see that plenty of men have been in distress. The orgins of several major characters (e.g. Spider-Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, Iron Man, Captain America, Green Lantern II) not only have male characters in distress who were created to die in their wildly famous origin stories, but they only have men in distress in their popular orgin stories. It is one thing to not be writing a research paper, it is quite another to write something for which you display a complete lack of knowledge on the topic. Seriously, 4 Green Lantern origin stories have men in distress in them where the distressed man sometimes dies and you only saw the woman’s death in the 5th Green Lantern origin. Does’t that strike you as odd?
Or this one (which is not a statement of opinion, btw):
Men in comics have taken their fair share of abuse in the name of plot and story, but not to the extent that women have.
Can you name a male character who hasn’t had something like the things done to female characters on the WiR list done to him?
Or this (which might be an opinion if what is more or less brutality is opinion):
Women in comics are treated much more brutally than their male counterparts — main character, supporting, or otherwise.
Finally, there is this, which kind of sums things up:
This entire discussion is a great example of that; my reaction to Alexandra DeWitt’s murder, and that she was created solely to be murdered, is one of senseless violence toward women. Yours, obviously, is not.
But here is the important difference, you only feel that way when a female character is created to die while completely ignoring when male characters are created to die. I, however, don’t think that either male or female deaths of characters created to die are necessarily senseless violence in a medium that thrives almost entirely on violence. Your opinion appears sexist because you don’t hold female deaths to the same criteria that you hold male deaths to while suggesting stating that the problem is that men hate women. If male writers are killing and assulting both male and female charaters with abandon but you only mourn the female charters, that sure seems like it’s your sexism that is the problem, not theirs. But that’s just my opinion, of course.
Scott, I’m not ignoring anything. There’s a difference between ignoring something and focusing on something. The focus of my opinion article, as you may have guessed by the title “Women in Refrigerators” is women comic book characters.
Once again, I never said that male characters don’t go through extreme circumstances within the comics world. If this had been a “Men in Refrigerators” article, then I probably would have written about my feelings on how Jason Todd was bludgeoned to death and how I felt that this was an overly violent death, just as I felt Alexandra DeWitt’s death was overly-violent. But, it was not a “Men in Refrigerators” article, so I did not write about that. If you had a teacher that, say, asked you to write a paper about brown bears and you took half of the paper to also talk about polar bears, you would be off the mark; and I would be off the mark by writing about the treatment of male characters in an opinion piece that was meant to talk about female characters, or one female character in particular.
The point of the opinion article was one woman’s opinion about the particularly violent treatment of a female comic book character, an idea which I believe you either did not think of or chose to ignore in favor of trying to make your point clear by repeating yourself over and over. It was, again, “Women in Refrigerators,” not “Men in Refrigerators” or “Everyone in Refrigerators.” There are just as many pieces out there, yours included, that include male characters. I’ve read some similar articles that are solely about male characters. Did I feel angry or that the writer was sexist? No. It’s an opinion, it’s not meant to be taken personally. My opinion is just an opinion. If you feel it’s wrong, then I won’t argue with you; that’s your opinion. It’s not going to change how I feel about the subject just because you keep pushing your point.
You are confusing “opinion” with “theory.” I don’t mind your opinions. If you say you disliked Alex’s death or thought it was too violent or something, that’s fine. It’s your opinion. There is no right or wrong to that. What I’m concerned with is your theories, things that aren’t opinions, but statements of how the world operates that you believe are supported by facts. I’m not talking about your emotional response to something or your taste in comics. I’m talking about the attacks you’ve made on comic writers and men in general based on what you appear to think are facts. These three are particularly troubling:
“The fact is that, more likely than not, this has to do with the male-female dynamic — along with common misogynistic misconceptions about women.”
“It’s all but inconceivable for a male writer — especially in the comic book industry — to fit a male character into the role of “damsel in distress.””
“The idea that a female character would be fragile, defenseless, and all but helpless in this situation is more comfortable for male readers than the idea of another man not being able to defend himself in a fight.”
These three statements all suggest that there is something wrong with male comic writers specifically and men generally. We’re neurotic and hate women. We are so neurotic that can’t stand the idea that some character who is not us but shares our gender might be hurt by forces stronger than him that we can’t even read comics where guys get killed or beaten.
If you wrote anything like that about Jews, women, any racial group, and failed to back up those assertions with facts you’d be called a bigot and rightfully so. To target comic writers and male readers with this kind of baseless bigotry by playing fast and loose with the facts (like the one of the worst things to happen to male character in comics is that his ex wrote a tell all book — jeez, that’s stupid) then you too get to be called a bigot just like the guy who finds one example of Jew being greedy, a woman being irrational, or an African-American being lazy to then spout his “opinion” that smears them all.
Your article is full of half truths and outright lies used to disparage real writers and real readers.
And you are lying again when you said you were just focused on the treatment of women. If all you wrote was about the treatment of women and said nothing about the treatment of men, you might have been correct. But you specifically said that you also looked at the treatment of men when you wrote things like the following:
“When drawing up a list of male characters who have had a hard time in the name of story advancement, it’s hard to even compare.”
“Some male characters stay dead, but most of them make their way back — and are better and stronger than ever, …”
“Women in comics are treated much more brutally than their male counterparts — main character, supporting, or otherwise.”
You focused on male characters too. You ignored the reality of what happens to male characters in comics to make those statements. You are lying to yourself if you pretend that you didn’t. All of those are statements about male characters that are either completely false or misleading. And you used those false or misleading statements to make derogatory comments about men.
We call that sexism.