Men Who Hate Women and Women Who Kick Their Asses: Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy in Feminist Perspective

9. Tiny, Tattooed, and Tough as Nails: Representations of Lisbeth Salander's Body

88 9 Tiny, Tattooed, and Tough as Nails Representations of Lisbeth Salander’s Body Catherine (Kay) G. Valentine T here is no escaping Lisbeth Salander’s body. The vivid descriptions of her physical appearance in the books and the stunning representations of her body in films have been part and parcel of a steady stream of print and electronic media commentaries. Salander ’s tiny physique, her body art and modifications, the horrific violence visited on her, the violent revenge she imposes on her torturers and rapists, the sexual desire she expresses in her relationships, and the ease with which she alters her appearance for undercover purposes are among the aspects of her body that have captivated audiences . Lisbeth Salander’s body is the focus of my essay. The representations of her body in text and on screen are integral to Stieg Larsson ’s portrait of misogyny, and they raise essential questions about the role that physical appearance plays in women’s subordination. A Brief Politics of Women’s Bodies I address one primary question and various spin-offs. Do the representations of Salander’s body in books and films (particularly in Dragon Tattoo) offer a significant feminist challenge to the painfully narrow standard of bodily perfection to which women and girls are held in our global world? Books, television, movies, magazines, and other media deliver strong messages of what constitutes model womanhood and manhood. A seemingly infinite number of messages target our bodies and spell out precisely the contours of feminine Tiny, Tattooed, and Tough as Nails 89 versus masculine physical appearance. Deviations (e.g., a gamine-like male-bodied person or a large, muscular female-bodied person) are defined as strange and even unnatural. Indeed, decades of research in the social sciences and related fields demonstrate quite clearly that media and popular culture representations and images of women and men are critical to the process of cementing and legitimizing gender inequality. However, the playing field of gender and appearance rules is not even. For girls and women, physical attractiveness is by far a more important component of being valued than it is for boys and men. The penalties for not looking attractively feminine are myriad and can be quite severe. The insidious effects on women’s well-being and the opportunities that result from living in cultures in which being a good girl or valuable woman is equated with possessing the idealized body are well documented and range from time and money spent on products and procedures that never yield perfection (e.g., skin lighteners , peels, and plastic surgery) to health risks (e.g., disfigurement, depression, and death) to flat out discrimination (e.g., in hiring, promotion , and pay). What do the representations of Lisbeth Salander’s body say about gender inequality? Do they offer a critique of idealized beauty and alternatives to the standard, oppressive depictions of physical perfection ? The answers to such questions are as complicated as the character herself. Salander both fits and doesn’t fit the profile of idealized beauty and physical perfection. Lisbeth’s Allure The fit is obvious. She is white, reflecting and reinforcing the privilege of lighter skin that exists almost everywhere around the world. She is young, and youth in women is valuable currency in ageist, patriarchal societies. Salander is remarkably thin, so much so that she initially appears anorexic through the eyes of some of the books’ characters. In addition, her breasts are tiny. Neither is necessarily a problem. In the worlds of high fashion and Hollywood celebrity, small-breasted, ultrathin girls and women have occupied the center 90 Men Who Hate Women and Women Who Kick Their Asses of attention and been generously rewarded for their waiflike appearance . Consider Twiggy, Audrey Hepburn, Kate Moss, and Gwyneth Paltrow, to name a few. One of Salander’s many notable physical characteristics is her height. She is quite short, a fact that contributes to the perception of her as girlish or childlike but doesn’t necessarily diminish her perceived attractiveness. Indeed, for some of the men characters, her prepubescent persona is enticing. In addition, when she goes undercover as a chic, hyperfeminine blond, initially with faux latex breasts and later with surgically enlarged breasts, her tiny stature is not an impediment . After all, she emerges as something of a blond bombshell. Salander’s face is fascinating. It is described in terms that suggest an exotic beauty. When we first meet...