Sexual Violence in Comics: The Ethics of Visualizing Trauma

Okan, Lee

doi:10.5040/9798881891749

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Okan, Lee. Sexual Violence in Comics: The ethics of visualizing trauma. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2026.
Added by: joachim (10/02/2026, 10:46)

Resource type: Book
Language: en: English
Published
DOI: 10.5040/9798881891749
ID no. (ISBN etc.): 9781666929157
BibTeX citation key: Okan2026
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Categories: General
Keywords: Ethics, Gender, Trauma, Violence
Creators: Okan
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic (New York)

Views: 19/278

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Abstract

Lee Okan argues that comics, with their hybrid form of image and text, possess an ability to express the unspeakable dimensions of trauma while also raising ethical questions about spectatorship, representation, and storytelling. Through close analysis of contemporary and independent comics, as well as anthology collections, this book shows how artists navigate the tension between testimony and spectacle, visibility and exploitation. Rather than treating comics as an isolated medium, Okan situates these works within broader cultural and media discourses on sexual violence, arguing that comics shape and are shaped by feminist activism, visual culture, and reader response. Sexual Violence in Comics traces how creators reframe the terms of witness, challenge dominant narratives, and reclaim narrative authority, particularly in the wake of the #MeToo movement and beyond.

Table of Contents

List of Figures
Acknowledgments
About the Author

Introduction
1. The Language of Trauma
2. The Language of Comics
3. Comics and Trauma Narratives
4. The Ethics of Representing Trauma
5. Fridging the Heroine: Sexual Trauma and Superhero Narratives
6. The Culture of Visual Misogyny in Una's Becoming Unbecoming
7. Time, Trauma, and Selfhood in Whit Taylor's Ghost Stories
8. Everyday Coercions in Commute by Erin Williams
9. Shared Narratives, Shared Trauma: Comic Anthologies of Sexual Violence
Conclusion: Frames of Recognition, Ethics of Representation

Notes
Bibliography

Added by: joachim