Men Who Hate Women and Women Who Kick Their Asses

Feminist takes on depictions of violence against women and changing gender roles in Stieg Larsson's thrillers

Stieg Larsson was an unabashed feminist in his personal and professional life and in the fictional world he created, butThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, andThe 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.

CONTENTS



Introduction


Donna King and Carrie Lee Smith





Misogyny and Mayhem





Always Ambivalent: Why Media Is Never Just Entertainment


Abby Ferber





KickAss 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: ThirdWave Feminist Hero?


Judith Lorber





Third-Wave Rebels in a Second-Wave World: Polyamory, Gender, and Power


Mimi Schippers





Men Who Love Women: Profeminist 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 BjorkJames





Is This What Equality Looks Like? Working Women in the Millennium Trilogy


Diane Levy



Swedish Perspectives





Corporations, the Welfare State, and Covert Misogyny inThe 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