From Atalanta to Angelina: Smith & Wesson feminism, white heteropatriarchy, and intimate partner violence

Abstract

This article re-examines the increasingly ubiquitous media representations of ass-kicking heroines celebrated by academic and popular feminism in North America. We look at these violent white women as Smith & Wesson feminists, empowered by whiteness and their capacity for physical violence and death. As refigurations of the mythical Atalanta, their fighting power is understood as part of a feminine arsenal for managing romantic or sexual partners. This is a particular kind of white (post)feminism, prominent in the US and Canada, that may be empowering on some level, but only to the extent that women are enabled to enjoy the privileges of and assist in policing the boundaries of white heteropatriarchy. In addition to buttressing the alliance between whiteness and heteropatriarchy, it rationalizes intimate partner violence and other forms of violence, including state sanctioned violence, against women who fight back.