The Female Avenger, Women's Anger and Rape-Revenge Film and Television examines the contentious nature of the female rape survivor turned avenger in rape-revenge stories. The focus is on a trend of contemporary rape-revenge film made by women directors. Vaage asks what it might mean for women in particular to watch female avengers, and suggests that the reason some women filmmakers explore the rape-revenge convention is because it is all about an emotion that is difficult for women, and used to label women as difficult, namely anger. The central premise in this book is that understanding the emotions stirred up by this type of story is crucial in order to understand its recurring, controversial presence in popular culture, and also its potential value. Vaage offers a cultural and political analysis of contemporary rape-revenge film made by women grounded in the psychological and philosophical study of the emotions.The Female Avenger, Women’s Anger and Rape-Revenge Film and Television examines the contentious nature of the female rape survivor turned avenger in rape-revenge stories. The focus is on a trend of contemporary rape-revenge film made by women directors. Vaage asks what it might mean for women in particular to watch female avengers, and suggests that the reason some women filmmakers explore the rape-revenge convention is because it is all about an emotion that is difficult for women, and used to label women as difficult, namely anger. The central premise in this book is that understanding the emotions stirred up by this type of story is crucial in order to understand its recurring, controversial presence in popular culture, and also its potential value. Vaage offers a cultural and political analysis of contemporary rape-revenge film made by women grounded in the psychological and philosophical study of the emotions.

"'Turning a cognitive lens on rape-revenge, Margrethe Bruun Vaage illustrates the political potential of its conventions and affective structures for processing women’s rage. This book made me see rape-revenge film and TV shows in a new light, and I strongly recommend it as a significant contribution to the field.'" - Tanya Horeck, Professor of Film and Feminist Media Studies, Anglia Ruskin University

"'Vaage analyses the female rape revenge film genre by making impressive and clear use of relevant resources from feminism, film studies, moral philosophy, race theory and evolutionary biology. She argues that our imaginative engagement with such films can facilitate exploration of diverse reasons for female anger, thus potentially promoting social change.'" - Cynthia Freeland, University of Houston

"'The Female Avenger unfolds the moral, affective and political implications of rape-revenge scenarios with high analytical thoroughness, offering new facets of cinematic anger. It is a great contribution to film studies and strikingly demonstrates that fictional displays of anger by female characters can change mental imageries and affects, and gender stereotypes.'" - Kathrin Fahlenbrach, Professor of Media Studies, University of Hamburg

"Taking into account different aspects and arguments, Bruun Vaage effectively bridges affect, film, and feminist studies to provide multi-faceted, sensitive analyses about a plethora of films. The monograph serves as an important, essential piece of literature in feminist film theory, and possibly a soon-to-be staple of course materials." - Eger Journal of English Studies

"The Female Avenger is an important work for anyone concerned with philosophy of film, philosophy of art, philosophy of emotion, feminist philosophy, and critical philosophy of race. Vaage has written a strikingly original, compelling work focusing on matters that should concern us all." - British Journal of Aesthetics

"The book is to be recommended for more reasons than I can count, but I want to highlight the amazing job it does in showing how fiction can have important ethical and political value [...] I deeply recommend this book and I praise its capacity to illuminate important aspects of our culture, our society, and ourselves." - Projections

"Will stimulate the reader to pose new questions regarding rape and rape-revenge. It deals in bracing concepts and is coherently structured [...] The Female Avenger should be in the library of any serious student of rape revenge. It will repay the investment." - Journal of Popular Film and Television