I Spit on Your Grave

The Phantasy of Women as Castrated

As Barbara Creed explains in The Monstrous-Feminine, “the slasher film deals specifically with castration anxieties, particularly with the male fear of castration” (125). The concept of women as castrated figures serves to alleviate male anxieties about female figures as whole and powerful. Women are constructed as castrated to because men fear that they are, in fact, not castrated. By perceiving women as castrated, men can also alleviate some of their anxieties regarding the possibility of their own castration. As Creed explains, “...men enact on a woman's body a symbolic form of castration” (125). This castration is perceived through “...the castrated female form in film…‘the bearer of the bleeding wound’” (126). The wound being the female genitalia, and the bleeding being menstruation. This wound is also enacted through cutting or stabbing the woman to create a bleeding wound. “According to Royal Brown, the slasher film ‘grows out of the severest, most strongly anti-female aspects of a very American brand of the Judaeo-Christian mythology’ in which woman, because of her sexual appetites, is held responsible for man’s fall from innocence…[w]oman is victimized because of she is blamed for the human condition” (125). This theorization justifies the victimization of women, as their desires and transgressions are the reason that men are forced to harm and subjugate them. This does, however, indicate a sense of power in female figures, as by necessitating subjugation, there is a male anxiety that women may possess a great deal of power. In the rape scenes of I Spit on Your Grave, Jennifer is “hunted down, degraded, humiliated and tortured...her humiliation and subjugation are dwelt on and drawn-out..[o]n each occasion their attacks grow more violent” (130). Jennifer is hunted down by a pack of men, all of whom must be involved to hold her down to be raped and beaten. She is also beaten so badly that she is unable to fight back. As one of her attackers explains, he likes when women are totally submissive. Jennifer must be near to death for him to feel more powerful than/attracted to her. As Creed asserts “it seems clear that woman is actually being punished because, by her nature, she represents the threat of castration” (131). The men, fearing that Jennifer is not castrated, and thus possesses power, must completely subjugate her to relieve the anxieties of their own castration. They transform Jennifer into “a battered, bleeding wound,” reminiscent of a castrated phallus (131). As Creed explains,“the sadistic nature of the attack can only be seen as an attempt to rob woman of her terrifying -- but imaginary --powers before she can use them” (131). The men, however, are unsuccessful as in the second half of the film Jennifer transforms into a super-human, castrating deity.

The Castrating Woman

The castrating woman is a sympathetic figure “...[she is] not punished; rather, [she is] shown to be justified in [her] actions” (123). The castrating woman in I Spit on Your Grave is, of course, Jennifer, who both literally and metaphorically castrates her rapists. It is important to distinguish between the phallic woman and castrating woman, who Creed notes are distinctly different figures. The phallic woman possesses symbolic attributes of the phallus and is often ascribed masculine traits and characteristics (such as a masculine name). Jennifer, however, when seeking her revenge, becomes more feminine, weaponizing her sexuality to be able to gain the leverage to castrate. Creed notes that the castrating woman is like a Siren, mythological figures with beautiful voices who lured sailors to their deaths. “The Sirens, of course, were images of female castrators par excellence” (128). The femme castrice is, as Creed puts it “represented as fulfilling a stereotypical image of female beauty” (128). Jennifer, when later seducing her rapists does her hair, her makeup, and dresses femininely, seductively. She touches her rapists gently, coaxing them into a sense of safety and encouraging orgasm. 

Spectatorial Male Masochism in the Rape-Revenge Film

Creed also notes that “the scenes of castration and murder are presented as sensual, erotic moments characterized by a marked degree of male masochism” (128). The pleasurable nature of these castration/murder scenes complicates male spectatorship in I Spit on Your Grave, as it “offer[s] the spectator the promise of an erotic pleasure associated with the desire for death and non-differentiation….[the femme castrice] arouses a fear of castration and death while simultaneously playing on a masochistic desire for death, pleasure, and oblivion” (130). The castration and murder scenes are the antithesis of the rape scenes, as while the rape scenes are drawn out, unpleasurable, and seemingly unjustified, the murder/castrations are cathartic, relatively quick, and are paired with...well...sex.

It is interesting to note the ritualistic nature of the castration/killing scenes. After asking God for forgiveness while draped in black, Jennifer changes into ethereal white robes, lures her victims with seduction, cleanses her victims in water, urges them to orgasm, murders/castrates, and then listens to classical music or walks/boats away unbothered. This iconography connects the experiences of sex and pleasure with death. Contrastly to the abject nature of the woman as victim in the rape scenes, and the degredation and humiliation that Jennifer experiences, as Creed explains, “the death scenes of the male victims offer a form of masochistic pleasure to the viewer because of the way they associate death with pleasure” (130). So I guess I would like to ask my fellow male classmates...are you horny for death?