Hunting Girls: Sexual Violence from The Hunger Games to Campus Rape

by Kelly Oliver

Katniss Everdeen ("The Hunger Games"), Bella Swan ("Twilight"), Tris Prior ("Divergent"), and other strong and resourceful characters have decimated the fairytale archetype of the helpless girl waiting to be rescued. Giving as good as they get, these young women access reserves of aggression to liberate themselves--but who truly benefits? By meeting violence with violence, are women turning victimization into entertainment? Are they playing out old fantasies, institutionalizing their abuse?

In "Hunting Girls," Kelly Oliver examines popular culture's fixation on representing young women as predators and prey and the implication that violence--especially sexual violence--is an inevitable, perhaps even celebrated, part of a woman's maturity. In such films as "Kick-Ass" (2010), "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (2011), and "Maleficent "(2014), power, control, and danger drive the story, but traditional relationships of care constrict the narrative, and even the protagonist's love interest adds to her suffering. To underscore the threat of these depictions, Oliver locates their manifestation of violent sex in the growing prevalence of campus rape, the valorization of woman's lack of consent, and the new urgency to implement affirmative consent apps and policies.

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Academic, Politics, Sociology, Film

216 pages, Hardcover

First published May 24, 2016

About the author

Kelly Oliver is the award-winning, bestselling author of four mysteries series:
Jessica James Mysteries (contemporary suspense), Pet Detective Mysteries (middle grade), Fiona Figg Mysteries (historical cozies), and The Detection Club Mysteries (traditional).

When she’s not writing mysteries, Kelly is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University.

Kelly lives in Nashville with three very demanding felines.

To learn more about Kelly and her books, please visit her website at www.kellyoliverbooks.com.

Reviews

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oliver's book delivers some interesting and important points about consent, campus rape, the interconnections between social media/sexualisation, but the overall coherence of the book is lost within the frequent repetition of arguments and evidence. It needed a thorough editing, there seemed to be no real flow or depth to many of the arguments.

In addition, Oliver seems determined to emphasise the negative, forgetting that the way we decide to view and use media is part of the experience. There is only so much interpretation of a film/book/form that can be forced upon the viewer. Oliver thinks putting women like Katniss Everdeen on the screen is so that they can be beaten and violated. For my part, I see her holding her own. Yes, violence is a part of her world, as much as her male counterparts, but that is the world. One which she tries to change. She is female in a male dominated environment (as most environments are or were), but she is the one that stands out. She excels. She fights. How about we see her, flawed as she is, not always making the 'right' decisions, as an example of someone taking their future into their own hands, or trying to? A person. Someone determined to have agency in their lives. Not a role model. Not perfect. Not simply a foil for male audience members to watch a young, attractive woman get beaten up. Why do we constantly have to negatively define everything all the time? Especially when the potential positives are sidelined for emphasis. Do we really think that young women are watching this thinking 'she's a girl so she's being subjected to violence so this is how my life will be' or might they think 'she's fighting for family and what she believes in, it may be difficult and it might be a painful process'??? Or maybe just that Katniss kicks some serious ass.

This book made me feel weary. There seems to be so much that needs to be done to address consent and rape in society, especially on campuses where the statistics are shocking. Yet Oliver seems to give a disproportionate value to Hollywood's picture of our world and the levels to which it influences 'rape culture', like we're all passive consumers of media and have no independent means of evaluation. I agree that pervasive imagery and attitudes can be internalised, but it seems almost to give a pass to those people (mostly men) committing these crimes. 'Social media made me do it. I didn't know it was wrong'. As if there were no other means by which people can learn that touching others while unconscious/rape/videoing sexual assaults etc etc might be a bit off....

At the same time she invalidates the rights of people who have been assaulted to 'safe spaces' and trigger warnings. I agree that the whole trigger warning sentiment has been vastly overused and that it would be ridiculous to put danger signs up on anything that might upset someone, but there is difference between being upset by hearing something you disagree with and being upset because you were raped last week and now you're supposed to be having a discussion about it in class. She highlights the word trigger as suggestive of a weapon and says 'words are seen as weapons that can wound or traumatise'. Of course they are. Words are written or spoken for effect. They want to make you do something, think something, believe something. This is what her book is doing. They can harm someone's emotions or their reputation. They can be true to one person and false to another and every shade in between. Yes, we need to have critical discussions about the 'rape culture' but we need to do it with tact and consideration. Telling a girl or guy who has been assaulted that they don't have the right to upset feelings isn't helpful. How is it any different from the kind of attitude that makes people ask: what were you wearing? Were you drinking? Did you fight back? Is it your fault? Can't you stop feeling that way? In a typically negative fashion, she rips apart the ways in which women have tried to fight back against sexual violence on campuses (not always in a particularly effective or useful way), but offers no real ideas for moving forward.

Right at the end she says 'we should focus on the ways in which girl power in these films is also the result of girls and women bonding together to nurture and protect each other' [location 2017]. Yes we should. So why did you spend so much time tearing these characters apart and viewing them through an apparently violent male gaze, rather than doing so? The space you give to each theme is indicative.

Thanks to Columbia University Press and Netgalley for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

[6655321 · Rating 1 out of 5]

ugh this book is such a fucking mess, was an editor involved at any point? I mean this in a sincere way. Anyway, the book is loosely organized around 2 thematic concerns:
(1) Sexual Assault
&
(2) YA Novels and the new sort of female protagonist

if you are saying "wow these things don't get together", you are probably right. Rather than fixating on causes of sexual violence (such as idk? Masculinity? (Compulsory) Heterosexuality? Social Institutions including class that shield certain classes of sexual predators from repercussions from their actions?) Oliver focuses on the narratives of a series of YA novels and films (although some things are very much *not like the other* and her point bears far less repeating). It is an almost grim march through the first and third chapter which are extended plot explanations and pulling out singular points (which are repetitive, dull and feel completely disconnected from the second chapter that is about the complexity of consent, and has some interesting arguments). Anyway, meandering through this feels like punishment (since, idk it lacks a fixation on much of anything other than maybe pornography causes sexual violence which was more convincing as an argument from Andrea Dworkin who had plenty of faults but one of them was not looking at the context in which images circulated even if she had a sort of misguided quixotic air). The conclusion is a fucking mess and why i hate this book. If you want an extended anti-trigger warnings riff that *completely misses the point* and ends up being a convoluted defense of the right for arguments in support of rape culture (which Oliver doesn't have a real critique of i.e. are we supposed to censor media? create new media? who knows?) because why not (also PTSD infantilizes individuals? and the college tradition is apparently supporting this sort of callus disregard, whatever, who knows). Finally there is some more crusading the abyss by arguing against critiques of the prison industrial complex (Oliver does seem to feel that conviction and incarceration is a solution to rape even if the root causes seem to be social which *shrug* is a mess, this book is a mess). It is disheartening when bad books get published (because apparently multiple fail safes failed and allowed this book to make it to market) but at least some have a profit motive (Anne Lawrence, Camille Paglia, or Shelia Jefferys may be transparent ideologues with deeply offensive positions in a number of instances, but they are controversial which perhaps meets some market share). I cannot image the situation where this book is necessitated.

[Naima · Rating 2 out of 5]

** I received this book through NetGalley and Columbia University Press in exchange for an honest review**

I was really rooting for this book in the beginning. In fact, my updates will verify this. Oliver delivered some very convincing arguments about campus rape and why attention needs to be drawn to this epidemic. Where she really lost me is the analysis of media concerning rape culture and sexual violence. Oliver struggles to hold onto her main point, that media influences rape culture, because she gets lost in side-commentary. Good things: commenting about how we're given 'strong girls' so that we can watch them get beaten down and punished for breaking the mold. Bad things: just about everything else.

I think one of the most prominent issues I had with this book is that all of the characters she brings into her arguments are white. When she argues that these characters' stories symbolize sexual awakenings, she neglects to mention the severe dichotomy between women/girls of color and white girls. Girls of color are assumed to already have sexual autonomy, proven in the sexualization of little black girls, and the 'spicy latina girl' stereotype. Only white girls are allowed this sort of narrative- which is apparent in how Katniss Everdeen (a canonically Native American character in the books) was whitewashed in her movie proper. Only focusing on white girls and their narratives really shows Oliver's point of view- that of a solely white feminist who doesn't take into consideration the lack of narratives designated for women/girls of color.

Another issue with this writing as a whole is how she starts into very good topics (ones that not only promote thought and needs) only to drop them and regurgitate the exact same points she's mentioned half a million times ('rape is valorized in our culture', anyone?). Things she brought up but didn't continue: Edward's continued abuse of Bella (outside of their sexual relationship), the actual meaning behind the 'choking women' imagery in Hollywood, and the fact that women are expected to forgive all the time. All things that should've been explored, but Oliver's dismissal of these topics (as well as the way that she ignores the lack of WoC in her narrative) makes it seem like she doesn't actually care for her topic.

Alright, now, the whole 'this book hates millenials topic'; I made a joke about this once in my updates (around the time she denounced selfies for 'sexualizing women', not taking into account the fact that women have autonomy in taking these pictures of themselves, and not the creepshots they were being compared to). Then, it actually began to be proven with Oliver's denouncement of triggers. The thing about triggers is that they are a real thing- except when it comes to rape survivors, apparently (which Oliver defends a professor that said they shouldn't be called 'survivors', but 'accusers', because the sexual assault hasn't been proven. Also, because apparently the only people allowed to use the word is Holocaust survivors, ignoring the fact that many people were raped during the Holocaust and immediately after the Holocaust). It's almost as if Oliver has never seen a movie- you know, where they show you the content warnings alongside the words PG-13 or R. By law, they have to report whether or not a movie shows sexual violence.

And, yet, Oliver acts as if rape survivors can not have PTSD triggered by explicit discussion of rape. She acts as if words don't actually affect someone's emotions (which, if she holds this view, she should've never written this book), and that only the repeated act is actually triggering. As if veterans hearing loud noises aren't triggered into panic attacks from their PTSD. As if child abuse survivors don't cringe when someone moves their arms quickly in a strike. She acts as if it's some big Barrier to the Feminist Movement- as if making slight accommodations or warning people that you were going to discuss rape is a big inconvenience. Telling people that you're going to discuss rape beforehand, and giving people who are uncomfortable with hearing that the entire world functions to allow rape to occur (what, did Oliver forget that that's what talking about rape culture entails?) the option to leave. This idea that rape survivors should pull up their big girl pants and suffer through flashbacks and panic attacks so we can have some sort of intellectual debate about rape is victim shaming- you're arguing that they aren't allowed to experience these emotions in relation to active triggers.

Honestly, though, I lost all respect when Oliver argued that a teacher should be able to use the n-word when discussing racism (especially since the woman she was defending was an old white woman). There is no circumstance where white/non-black people are allowed to use the n-word- the whole reason why we are not allowed to is because it has been used to dehumanize black people for centuries. I don't care what your circumstance is, using the n-word is not something you can do.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Depressing, but important.

[Osbian Night · Rating 2 out of 5]

TBH I spent most of the book saying 'What the hell?' I really don't agree with a lot of the things Oliver says in regards to the film heroines, though I admit I'm probably biased.

The book seems mainly about rape in college campuses, mostly with unconscious girls or nearly unconscious, and the role of Social Media in further traumatizing the victims. This bit was well written and definitely highlights the issue. It's not something I really now about except from film and television.

My main issues was with statements like - our "culture encouraged the denigration and assault of girls and women from fairytales, to hollywood blockbusters" and connects campus rape with girls being hurt in teen films - the main examples being Hunger Games, Divergent and Twilight.
Unlike what Oliver says I don't think the heroines of these films are at risk of being sexually assaulted by the leading males - in Twilight there is definite risk of other people but that is never even brought up. In fact there are people in at least Twilight and Hunger Games that are raped and the author doesn't even bring them up - Twilight = Rosalie and I think Esme, Hunger Games - Finnik, not sure about Divergent but maybe Four's mum.
Oliver brings up Tris' simulation where Four attempts to assault her but again, its a simulation and there is no hint even that he would actually do that from what I remember of the film or book.

The conclusion chapter feels different from the rest of the book in that these films do provide a good role model for women in sports but that seems to be the only good thing about them. They are meant to show how films promote hurting girls, because that's what men enjoy, yet offers no alternative ideas. An alternative idea could be so that the girls are on an even playing field with the heros of the same genre, the author could have done an comparission with the leads of things like the Maze Runner.

Also there could have been better examples for some of her points. Like not promoting but not caring that characters have raped or attempted to other characters. The first thing that comes to mind is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Beloved characters like Xander - 'The Pack' - and Spike - 'Seeing Red' - have attempted to Rape Buffy but we still love them. Or Robert in Game of Thrones. He raped Cersei but very little people care about that aspect of Robert.

Had my rant, if you want to read more a full review its on my blog: https://osbianreviews.wordpress.com/2...

[Pam · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF.

The author attempts to shine a light on the prevelance and seemingly upheaval of sexual assault across American University. Deemed "The Hunting Ground" from a documentary, colleges are where most rapes occur with a growing concern of men stalking their prey (young women) and using drugs or booze to lower her inhibitions or consciousness.

This is further reinforced by today's pop culture like Hunger Games, Divergent, Twilight Series, and the like. Strong female leads are hot, but to Oliver what is hotter is the amount of violence against these women, the brutal end of their innocence, and the fact that we have to carefully protect our young ladies from this onslaught of freedom and sex.

A fascinating topic, but one that a) an ackward and poorly written college paper, b) makes wild generalizations and that spins off in weird topics or worse doesn't really look at root causes. Or conveniently forgets or overlooks details.

It's a shame, as there is so much we could learn from and use to galvanize around.

[Sierra Gemma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very readable academic book about sexual violence. The book presents itself as a book about media representations about sexual violence, but it is much more than that. Anyone interested in sexual assault on campus would find several chapters very valuable reading. I also made a copy of the Works Cited because this book led me to so many other interesting readings! Some parts can get a little repetitive, because you know, it's an academic book and academics also must drive home their thesis, but it is still very much worth a read. I may not agree with everything in it, but I was certainly interested.

[Sandy 🥀 · Rating 4 out of 5]

When reading the reviews for this book, I was very surprised by the overall ratings. Most readers said that this book was clunky and needed more polishing. I did not find that to be the case. I did notice one paragraph that was repeated in the first chapter, and there was some redundancy throughout the first and third chapters. However, it wasn’t so god-awful that I wasn’t able to retain the author’s central message: the way that women are portrayed in young- adult distopian films and in other forms of media perpetuates the image of women as hunters and prey, where beaten and bloodied women become the norm and even become something to valorize, a reality that is evidenced by campus rape. Oliver establishes this point well throughout the book.

Personally, I found the second chapter to be the most eye-opening. I read “Rape as Spectator Sport and Creepshot Entertainment” for the first time in my feminist philosophy class. The chapter focuses on this book’s central message, and it does it in a powerful way. As someone who has grown up in light of the “Me Too” movement and the growing revelations of campus rape, I deeply related to this topic, especially as a college student familiar with misogynistic attitudes on campus.

I always had a “feeling” on these matters, but I wasn’t completely reassured on that feeling. It’s difficult for one to be reassured on new, controversial topics like the easy accessibility of porn in light of the internet era. We don’t have a lot of concrete evidence…. it’s something so new in the span of the entire human existence, yet, there is still growing evidence that is already highlighting its effects, and it’s up to us to make reasonable judgments based on that.

Hunting Girls brings new evidence to the boiling pot of inequality, and it argues its point very well. She does this by highlighting frat party titles that fit the “pornutopic fantasy”. She does this by addressing rape victims’ stories. She does this by discussing in detail consent apps and their usefulness within the courts. She concludes this by making a normative claim: we can create healthy relationships with one another by focusing on the complexity of human interaction, in other words on intersubjectivity; we do not need consent apps, instead, we need vigilant reciprocation and acknowledgment of one’s needs, which is only successful through the constant process of analyzing one’s behaviors and responses. This is the response that we need for this kind of material, and I am grateful that I found it.

[Caroline Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was honestly a 2 but it was a 3 for me because it helped me to examine a personal experience of sexual assault in my past. I also particularly liked it on a personal level because of an epiphany I had in middle school that the Disney princess stories were examples of misogyny. Of course I didn’t use the word misogyny, but young me mused upon the pathetic creepiness of princes kissing dead women.

Other than that it’s repetitive, the descriptions of media portrayal are confusing and uninteresting if you haven’t seen the actual show or movie, and the connections between young adult media and campus rape aren’t strong. It reads like she had a college assignment to connect two topics and did so off the top of her head.

I think this book might be interesting for a young adult to explore themes of sexual assault in media. And also to be aware that drinking heavily at college parties is probably risky, I guess.

[Chloe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel as though a two star rating may be generous. Nonetheless, here we are. My objections to this book are primarily regarding the delivery of the information. This book would make for an amazing essay or paper. And that is what it should have been. A page, or two, per chapter would more than suffice as most of the information was repeated excessively. Within the first ten pages of the book, I felt as though little to no new information was being provided. Frustratingly lengthy and repetitive. If you have the patience of a saint, this book may be a good read for you.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great premise, but I wasn't satisfied by the execution. This book needed more thorough editing to cut down on redundancies and a stronger link between fact (campus rape statistics) and fiction (media portrayals of women). I felt like the scope of women characters analyzed was also a bit narrow. Along with the meandering arguments, this made the book feel a bit surface-level so that it did not quite fulfill the goals Oliver outlines in the introduction.

[Cynthia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This could have been a really interesting and powerful analysis, but ends up very repetitive with little depth and completely forgoing all the levels of nuance attached to its thesis. It feels like the author had enough content for an article and tried to extend it into a book without additional work. The same shallowness of debate is brought to the complicated topic of trigger warnings and safe spaces in the conclusion.

[Dan Khanh · Rating 4 out of 5]

một trải nghiệm đọc kì lạ
các phần liên kết với nhau một cách khá lỏng lẻo và tác giả cứ làm t nghĩ là t chỉ cần viết những gì t luôn nghĩ luôn nói ra là in được thành sách
nma có vài điểm khá thú vị, với t bắt đầu tò mò về ecofeminism

[Rick Ernest · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really glad I read this book. It has caused to think in a much deeper way about how we address consent and the culture that has allowed rape to exist on our campuses.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

ehhh good stuff, but soooo repetitive

[Libby · Rating 5 out of 5]

The stats in this book were incredible and mind boggling. I was so interested and loved reading it.

[Cathy Geagan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book certainly has an interesting premise. Written by an eminent feminist philosopher (currently Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University) it looks at popular culture's fixation on representing young women as predators and prey and the implication that violence (especially sexual violence) is an inevitable, part of feminine coming of age. I came to this book with high hopes for its content.

“Why do we find violent pubescent girls killing animals, humans, and the occasional vampire, so appealing? Is this equal opportunity killing?... Killing, instead of loving, animals has become the emblem of girl power. Just as girls are hunted and attacked with relish in these films, our heroines displace that patriarchal violence onto their animal prey”.
The first sections of the book examines several popular movies/franchises in light of violence perpetrated by the heroines and upon them, particularly by their romantic partners. The discussion of the symbolism of hunting provide the most interesting sections of the book. However, despite retellings of the plot of The Hunger Games (trilogy), the movie Hanna, and a few fairly random name checks and one liners (Merida from Brave has a bow!), it all feels a bit hollow. The best of the points she makes were made by Carol J Adams in The Sexual Politics of Meat over twenty years ago.

In the final section of the book, Oliver refocuses on the real world, particularly through the growing prevalence of campus rape in the United States. As an educator, Oliver obviously has strong views about sexual violence on campuses and who is responsible for this culture – to the point she loses objectivity. She ‘name drops’ the Hunting Ground documentary in a way that I was not comfortable with – reducing these real women to more archetypes for analysis. I am not a fan of trigger warnings, but Oliver is extremely dismissive of the need to provide safe spaces for survivors of assault. While I agree with her that there needs to be discussion and debate around the causes of rape culture, I disagree that victims of sexual assault cannot be simultaneously protected and respected.

I found this book disappointing on a number of levels. Close to the end of the book Oliver states “we should focus on the ways in which girl power in these films is also the result of girls and women bonding together to nurture and protect each other”. I’m going to set aside my utter loathing for the phrase ‘girl power’ for a moment and agree with this. So, if Oliver believes this why didn’t she do that, rather than tearing apart these characters, encouraging the reader to look at them through a violent male gaze instead? That there is a significant issue with the packaging of female suffering as entertainment there is no doubt – but this book is an unrelentingly negative attack on the majority of strong female characters in the past ten years. Which is helpful how? The recasting of these YA heroines as new Disney princesses is gimmicky and doesn’t work (Bella Swan and Edward as Beauty and the Beast anyone? Anyone? No, me neither). It’s also disappointing that she focuses on the flattened film versions of more complex book series, not least because this insures she is speaking about white women and girls when she talks about women and girls.

Oliver’s point seems to be that a lack of consent is something prevalent and reinforced by popular culture – which is a bit of a ‘no shit Sherlock’ conclusion to come to. I expected Hunting Girls to be an analysis of, and perhaps a suggested response to, rape culture. Instead this book concludes that yes, there is indeed a rape culture, and lack of consent as a virtue has been around for as long as the Sleeping Beauty myth has. In essence, Hunting Girls is a journal article stretched into a (short) book, shorter again if we take out the plot summaries of several movie franchises that bulk out the first two thirds of the book. This pop culture analysis, while sometimes entertaining, doesn’t mesh with the campus rape discussion in the latter third of the book at all. While some of the points raised are interesting, I felt this book left a lot to be desired.

www.eatsplantsreadsbooks@wordpress.com - I received a copy of this book in exchange for an impartial review.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should note that of the movies and books that Oliver discusses in this book, I have not read the Twilight series, Insurgent Series, The Hunger Games, or seen the movie Hanna in its entirety. I have read 50 Shades of Grey (I wish I hadn’t) and part of the Hunger Games.

To say this is an interesting book would be wrong. It is a rather unique look at a raising cultural trend. You may end up disagreeing with Oliver but at the very least, she will make you think.

Oliver’s focus is on the prevalence of young girls in movies who at first glance seem to kick ass. While much of the movies she deals with were books first, Oliver’s discussion is primary focused on the film versions of the various series. This, on one level, is understandable because the film undoubtedly reaches a wider audience, but also because it is the creative output of more than one person. Oliver contends that while the more active “princess” character is good, there is something off about the vast numbers of girls who get beaten and almost raped, usually beaten at one point by the boy she loves. Oliver’s analysis of this beating the girl up is most powerful when she discusses the Kick-Ass series. In these sections, Oliver also considers the camera angles and views.

The connection between the hunting girls and campus date rape is not as quite strong as it could be. The strongest point is the link is between 50 Shades and campus date rape, a connection that Oliver makes. She always draws connections to the old Sleeping Beauty stories (where the prince rapes Sleeping Beauty) as well. The connection to Bella, Katniss, and Tris is less clear, though not due to Oliver’s writing. The hunter as hunted is good, but she seems to be on surer ground when she deals with the boy being controlled and forced to attack the heroine. The connections she makes between such scenes and campus/date rape is rather powerful as is the use of social media in the various movies and how it connects to interactions with social media in the real world.

Also of interest is when Oliver compares the hunting girls of today to the animal loving girls of the movies. It is a valid point, this switch to hunting animals and no longer protector of animals. These passages in particular raise several questions – is it identifying the girls more closely with the male world, is it a symbol of strength or something else? This leads into a discussion about Artemis, the first girl with a bow, and what she symbolized.

I do wish that Oliver had considered more of the role of other women in the stories. Isn’t it just as damaging and dangerous to have only the heroine be the only capable female in the story. This trend, sadly, is seen in more than young adult kick ass heroines. At the very least, however, she does get the reader to think about the portrayal of girls as action heroes, and whether so much blood must be shed by them.

[Whatthelog · Rating 2 out of 5]

‘Hunting Girls’ is a new book by Kelly Oliver, a Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University. Published by Columbia University Press, it discusses recent phenomena including campus rape, “creepshots”, and depictions of young women in recent Hollywood blockbusters.

I am always looking for new feminist texts, particularly those that really analyse recent developments in social media. This looked particularly promising – the book talks about Tinder, Snapchat, recent legislation, and the developing image of what a ‘victim’ looks like. It also talks about trigger warnings and how young women are now both depicted as the hunted and the hunter in films such as the Divergent series, The Hunger Games series, and others such as Hanna. And ‘Hunting Girls’ most definitely discusses all of these issues.

A lot of interesting points are made. I think the strongest sections of the book were when Oliver discussed reality TV shows such as America’s Next Top Model, and when she compared traditional fairytales to modern young adult novels. A lot of analysis also went into the Grimms fairytales versus the Disney-fied versions of them, which I also found fascinating. It wasn’t necessarily the most analytical feminist text that I’ve ever read, but as an introduction to the problematic themes within mainstream media, it was pretty good.

However. This book needs some serious editing. I know I’m a nit-pick, but some facts were repeated three or four times within single chapters. Some facts were repeated twice on the same page. This book needs some serious re-assemblage. All the facts are there, and they’re very interesting. Oliver makes some very pertinent points, particularly in the last two chapters. But I was almost too distracted by the endless repetition to even notice this. It was a real shame, because with a bit more editorial effort, this could be a very good primer for young feminists today.

[Roman Clodia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an important book which looks at sexual violence against young women from US campus rape to the so-called 'empowered' heroines of YA fantasies such as The Hunger Games, Divergent etc. Oliver makes some crucial points about the disturbing way social media has turned rape into a spectator sport via 'creepshots' and other filmed footage of women being violated, blurring the lines between 'entertainment' and brutal attack. She also suggests that strong heroines such as Katniss and Tris pay for their power by being beaten up, bloodied and sexually attacked on screen. All of which are important points, it's just that they are made repetitively in this book without the argument being particularly developed.

There is much story-telling and description here (precisely those things we nag our students not to do) rather than analysis, and it might have been helpful to have contextualised what analysis there is with theory (e.g. gender and the gaze).

There is some interesting material such as medieval French versions of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White which make the rape narrative explicit in these fairy tales, an element which gets sanitised in nineteenth-century versions through to Disney (though Maleficent reinstates it, at least partially). Did we really need to have these stories detailed, though, at such length? Don't we all know what happens in Sleeping Beauty and Snow White?

I suspect this should really have been a long journal article rather than a book: it's a short read, just three chapters, and if we take out all the story-telling, it's even shorter.

So some important points and an interesting contribution to the debate about the eroticisation of non-consent in books such as 50 Shades, but more penetrating analysis would have given it more scholarly weight.

ARC from Netgalley

[Louise Colclough · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very repetitive...

Do not read this if you have not read the following:

Divergent series
The hunger games series
The Twilight series
Fifty shades series
etc...

This book spoils or rather analyses particular scenes from these books and their corresponding movies. I know that repetition is used to instil a message but this book takes it way too far to the point where the author must think I'm stupid obviously.

Also, although it highlights serious issues within today's society its tends to read as another scaremongering tale for example don't watch divergent or our daughters will think its ok for her boyfriend to strangle her, ir another example don't let your son watch the hunger games he might think that girls can take more physical abuse these days because that katniss is just so tough.

to me, this is ridiculous because we can't keep blaming the media and entertainment for the issues that some perverted degenerates have.

[Ren Mooney · Rating 1 out of 5]

look i think the synopsis was interesting and i gave it a try but the whole book was so unorganized. i think i struggled with trying to understand the main claim?? like no points about this whole female dystopian heroine was made. also no mention of intersectionality…

[Mills College Library]

305.42 O486 2016