Women in Merlion Refrigerators An ASH Universe Essay copyright 2006 by Dave Van Domelen ============================================================================ Women In Refrigerators: http://www.unheardtaunts.com/wir/ Back in the early issues of the Kyle Rayner Green Lantern, they decided to put some drama in Kyle's life by having Major Force kill Kyle's girlfriend and stuff her body in the refrigerator. This has given a name to the tendency in comics for female characters to be treated rather worse than their male counterparts. The site URLed above is a list of various instances of such shabby treatment. It struck me that, while I never really set out with an agenda of stuffing women in refrigerators in ASH, it looks like my female characters have generally come out of things more badly than the male characters. Sure, I usually fix the ones I break, but I still do seem to put the women through the wringer a little more severely than the men. So, here's a brief examination of the sorts of abuse I've inflicted on each of my major ASH characters, or have overseen in the writing of others (after all, this is my sandbox, and if Tony or Matt or Marc stuffs someone in a refrigerator, the buck still stops here). Just to be arbitrary, I'll go by last name, alphabetical, with one exception. Of course, I won't be composing this in alphabetical order, so there may be some incoherence as I write entries out of order. Here's the exception: Kelsey, Arin (Fury) - If there's anyone in ASH who has been put through the grinder, it's Arin. Driven mad by the horror of the "merlion refrigerators" back in Academy, she spent quite a bit of time in a coma. And as she was starting to recover her sanity, she got kidnapped by Josh Cole. He controlled her body, raped her repeatedly, and got her pregnant with his son. Giving birth to that son nearly killed Arin, and any attempts she may have made to bond with little Chris maternally were interfered with by both her job and his uncontrolled powers. Sure, she came out of it a stronger person in many ways (although there's always the possibility she's a hollow shell waiting to crack), but it's been pretty tough on her. Why did she get such a shoddy treatment? Well, in part because I chose a bad power for her. She could explode. Limited usefulness, that (although I later had her develop more finesse with it). So, when I wanted to drive home the horror of the moment in the Pranir organlegger ship, she was an easy one to write out of the team. It helped that I'd also established her as coming from a sheltered background, but there were other people on the team who could have had reactions nearly as bad. Heck, Sal would have been a good candidate, since his medical training would have driven home the true nastiness of the situation (Arin thought people were being eaten, Sal would have immediately recognized they were being chopped up and used for replacement parts...he wouldn't have gone catatonic, but might have decided to quit). Adams, Morgan - Slowly dying of a killing curse. Lived to see everything he loved die or fade. Adams, Tabitha Pierce (Tawny) - Nothing so far. Not related to Morgan, which is probably for the best. Auger, Claire (Arc) - Doing okay so far. Brown, Carol Jackson (Burnout III) - Possessed by Mr. Strings. Chin, Madelyn (Hellhound) - Father was the superhero Black Opal, he died in 1998 (before July). Dodson, Tom (Lightfoot) - Vaulted a generation into the future. Drake, Tony - He had a small nuke set off in his guts in the Deep Armageddon event. This hurt a LOT and resulted in a hospital stay while his intestinal flora were regrown, but he survived. Dumont, Jessa (Scry/Hellhound) - Lost her powers temporarily from the effort of sealing Mr. Strings into Cockatrice. Dumont, Tyra - Legs turned to ice by Cockatrice, went insane and became the villainous Mr. Strings. Body destroyed, eventually sealed into Cockatrice's body. Garanhir, Daffyd Glwycg (Llyr/Giantstar) - Turned into a photonic entity and then shared his form with the Shadowmonger Suspir. Controlled by Doublecross for a time. Geode (real name unrevealed) - Risked death of her and her family just for being paranormal. Powers rendered her inhuman. Fatally injured in fighting the Leviathan, possessed by TerraStar for an extended period. Gimble - Is a humanoid dung beetle. Seduced by Rebus, bore his child. Suffered trauma from partial Anchoring during pregnancy. Grant-Taylor, Sarah (Meteor/Comet) - Started off with some psychological issues, but got past them without much comment. Got turned to ice in the Battle of Montreal, eventually learned to move despite that condition. Later got past most of the intimacy problems her situation caused to her marriage, but is still made of ice. Handleman, Scott (Scorch) - Crucified by the Revanche, but recovered fully. Inhabited by George Sylvester's spirit for an extended period, possibly messing with his emotional state. Henderson, Howard (Peregryn) - Mentally assaulted by Contact. It didn't seem to emotionally scar him, however. All the other nasty stuff that's happened to him has been pretty much self-inflicted. Hendrick, Col. Richard - Severely burned over most of his body. Hodgson, Michael J. (Boomer) - Nothing bad yet. Hoekstra, Ross (Hooks) - Other than being roughed up a lot, not much. Ierulli-Kiris, Cas (Dioscuri Castor/Aegis) - Revealed to have been an inadvertant killer, much to his massive angst. Ierulli-Kiris, Pol (Dioscuri Pollux) - Killed in action. Jackson, Alaric Muhammad (Dervish) - Nothing bad yet. Keane, Harry (Hotspur) - Nothing bad yet. Kleinvogel, Jen - Largely unscathed, but I may be forgetting something. Li, Christina (Breaker) - Has done pretty well, actually. Had some fear issues regarding gods and China, but has resolved them. Mahler, Paul - Killed by the Arcanovore. Malfeas, Thomas (Warden) - Born without eyes, mentally manipulated by "Mentor" for months. Beaten to (clinical) death by the CSV. Napier, Sal (Gawain/Green Knight) - Turned into a puddle of blood by Caprice in the Battle of Montreal. It was only temporary, but seems to have been a preview of what he's becoming. Suffering a lot of existential horror of late as he wonders if he's going to permanently become a puddle. Qvenhild, Erik (Ymir) - Nothing horrible yet. Ridley, Jo - Brainwashed into becoming an assassin. Rodriguez, Carlos - Killed by the Burnout Killer. Rodriguez, Sara Ana (Essay) - Crucified by the Revanche, resulting in temporary paralysis. Cousin Carlos killed by the Burnout Killer. Smith, Lana (Burnout II/Fadeaway) - Tried to commit suicide after the death of Carlos Rodriguez, gave birth to his child. Possessed by Mr. Strings, tried to weaken that control by starving herself (bulimea). Sosnov, Yevgeny (Rasputin) - Crippled in battle, confined to a wheelchair. St. James, Sean (Popper/Burnout) - Killed by the Burnout Killer, identity assumed. Sylvester, George - Accidentally destroyed the universe, subjected to temporal and genetic manipulation by Baal Samin to avert this. Crucified by the Revanche, but recovered fully. Assassinated by agent of Doublecross. Soul inhabited Scott Handleman's body for a time, then bounced to the future by Baal Samin. Now lives in a body of solid light. Probably the most abused male lead. Sylvester, Julie - Caught in the blast radius of the emotional issues surrounding George Sylvester and Scott Handleman. Taya, Saori (Oni) - She hasn't had anything horrible happen to her yet. Taylor, John Zachary (Solar Max) - Wife turned to ice in Battle of Montreal, manipulated into almost committing mass murder against Khadam. Teller, Jason - Nothing major. Tracey, Dan (Grind) - Obsession with Rebus nearly cost him his sanity. Walker, Nate (Netwalker) - Nothing major yet. Willot, Beth (Hellhound) - Nothing major yet. Willot, James - Nothing major yet. Zander, Aaron - Saw his lover Paul Mahler die in front of him. Copied Paul's mind onto his own, eventually discovered it was merely information, not Paul's spirit, so he got to have Paul die twice. Villains not included, as doing horrible things to them is kinda par for the course. Just looking at members of ASH itself, there have been 7 male members (Solar Max, Scorch, Gawain/Green Knight, Peregryn, Lightfoot, Contact, Channel/Beacon) and 5 female (Meteor/Comet, Essay, Breaker, Fury, Geode). Four of the five women have had serious trauma directed at them, including rape, mental domination, and transformation of body. Depending on where you draw the line for serious trauma, anywhere from one to all of the guys have suffered, but most of them either got off relatively lightly, or the trauma was a result of something done to their beloved rather than to them. Granted, the only one to actually be killed outright was a guy, but it was a quick and painless death. Of course, regardless of whether there's an actual subconscious anti- female bias at work here, you have to admit I'm a royal bastard when it comes to treating my characters in general. :) BTW, the title of this piece is not just a reference to the Women in Refrigerators site, but also to the "Merlion refrigerators" from the opening arc of STRAFE, in which simplified Chinese leads to the closest translation of "Pranir organleggers" being "Merlion refrigerators".