The original title of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was, in Swedish, "Men Who Hate Women." Ok, we get it. Every single woman in the book, or at least every single woman that has anything to do with the main story, has major man issues. It's not exactly discreet.
Let me count the ways so far:
- Rape/Incest
- Kidnapping
- Degrading media portrayal
- Misogynistic language
- Human sex trafficking
- Domestic abuse
Good lord.
Aside from the series being about a slight and slightly deranged woman on the war-path to avenge her battered mother, in the process becoming a victim of the system herself, there are other peripheral stories now coming up in the 3rd book that really make me feel like I'm being beat over the head with this depressing theme. For instance, Erika Berger, a prominent but supporting female character in the book, is now receiving messages on her email saying things like "WHORE" (wow), and other misogynistic epithets. I'm not sure what will come of this in the book, but I'm starting to get paranoid in my real life. I find myself staring at random men on the bus, or out my office window, and asking myself, "Does he hate women? Does he?" Because the way that Larsson paints the world, it would seem that every Tom, Dick and Harry wants to kill every female (or at least call her a whore) that he comes into contact with. Or maybe just in Sweden. This makes me never want to go to Sweden as long as I live - maybe the lack of sunlight during the winter months makes people crazy.
I have to wonder what kind of man Steig Larsson really was, and what kind of messed up childhood he went through in order to produce this series. What makes someone write a novel in which every man save one or two has crazy issues with women? Is that how Larsson himself experienced life? Or maybe, the women around him?
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