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Are Stephen King's novels sexist?
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Stephen King's novels hyper-sexualize women

Whenever a female character is involved, there is almost certainly going to be something sexual.
Literature Sexism Stephen King

The Argument

Most Stephen King novels contain some kind of sex scene in one way or another. The issue is the amount of these scenes compared to the women within them. Many scenes are derogatory towards females everywhere, placing them as objects for affection and severely miscalculating female sexuality. One example of this occurs in the famous book and movie, It. The main characters include six young boys and one girl, and their adult counterparts later in the story. The singular female character is placed in sexual situations many times throughout the novel. Her male counterparts are not unless it is specifically with her.[1] In Thinner, the female character incites the entire plot of the book through a sexual encounter with her husband, the protagonist. In Gerald's Game, the woman is traumatized by her pedophile father and abusive husband. Her entire situation, much like Thinner, is sparked by a sexual encounter. Stephen King writes well, but his development of female characters leaves much to be desired. Women have more of a purpose than their sexuality.

Counter arguments

While this may be true, there are also many sexual scenarios which involve the male characters, and even some stories that do not contain any form of sexual innuendo. Every tale is not the same.

Proponents

Premises

[P1] Stephen King too frequently places his female characters in sexual scenarios. [P2] He does not do the same to his male characters.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P2] His male characters are also placed in sexual situations.

References

  1. https://themuse.jezebel.com/about-the-gross-child-sex-scene-in-it-that-didnt-make-i-1802676064
This page was last edited on Thursday, 5 Nov 2020 at 23:16 UTC

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