Addendum to Strangler’s Wife Review

A few things I want to elaborate on, but not directly within the context of my review.

1. I’ve no doubt that some people, those who don’t know me most likely, will read this review as being somehow prudish or overly sexually conservative. You’ll have to trust me that it’s not. I don’t mind nudity in films, really enjoy it in others, and do occasionally watch films for nothing but their nudity [non- porn films, that is]. I think enough people can vouch for my sexual and filmic open-mindedness, if need be, to dispel any ad hominen attacks on these grounds. My real concern here is the festishization of sexual violence and its casual display, not sex or violence as discreet subjects.

2. No, I don’t think all representations of violence that involve women are automatically “violence against women.” Some on-screen or on-page violence that involves or impacts women is just that, violence. Other violence, though, compounds itself by adding a layer of sex or power or hatred that makes it violence against women. I’m clear on seeing that distinction and am not among the squeamish camp who can’t stand any violence done to a woman in fiction or film. I just want my violence, whether done to man, woman, child, or animal, to have more meaning that titillation or exploitation.