“ALL I CAN DO IS THE WORST I CAN DO” - Male Fear and the Backlash in Stephen King´s Misery

Abstract

The horror trope of sexual violence against women emerges as a result of the backlash of second wave feminism and embodies the collective patriarchal fantasy of violence against women and the patriarchal fear of female liberation. To understand why this is, one must examine the fears of the patriarchy and how their exploitation of women represents a greater fear of loss of power in the face of the Women's Rights movement. This essay studies sexual violence and fear of male loss of creative control in Stephen King's Misery which reflects the societal attitude towards women in media during the 1970 – 1990s. By use of Faludi's theory of the Backlash as well as Mulvey's Visual and other Pleasures this essay analyses the narration as well as the patriarchal attitude of Misery and focuses on how it contributes to the backlash.