She chose vengeance and anger: Sex Shaming and Internalized Misogyny in the House of Night [Part 2]
As the title suggests, this is a continuation of a previous essay — Part honey, part whore: Slut shaming and internalized misogyny in the House of Night. I strongly advise reading that essay before this one, as it lends some important context and background information.
Without further ado, let’s dig in to Part Two.
Sexual Assault
It should go without saying with that title, but I’ll say it anyway: Trigger warnings for sexual assault and rape in this next section.
Victims are Villains
It should go without saying with that title, but I’ll say it anyway: Trigger warnings for sexual assault and rape in this next section.
One aspect of Neferet’s vilification that I haven’t delved into is her motive — the origin of her villainous downfall. To keep things simple and non-graphic, it boils down to the fact that she was raped and abused by her father. This origin story is only slightly altered for Other Neferet, who was instead raped and abused by her husband. The difference doesn’t ultimately matter — the outcome is the same. Their abuse at the hands of human men turned them down a path of revenge and Darkness, leading to their desires to pursue war with humans and obtain ever increasing power.
Now, on its own, this isn’t particularly remarkable — though it is handled poorly, and both Neferet and Other Neferet are publicly outed and shamed for their victimhood. In Hidden, Zoey uses a spell to summon a magic mirror that shows Neferet as a young girl, freshly beaten and raped. The image sends Neferet into complete hysterics, and Zoey only closes in on her, forcing her to stare at this vision of her own abuse so that she remains too distracted to stop Zoey from saving her captured grandmother. In Lost, while confronting Other Neferet for the first time and trying to convince Other Stark that she’s evil, Zoey explains that “Neferet was broken as a child before she was Marked” and sought vengeance, using the war as a means of “getting back at her father for raping her.” [2018: 306] (Note that her victimhood specifically makes her “broken” in Zoey’s estimation.)
But, as I said, Neferet alone turning evil because of her past abuse isn’t exactly remarkable. What is noteworthy is that Neferet is not the only antagonistic character with sexual assault as part of their backstory.
Enter Becca Adams. First introduced in Untamed as one of Zoey’s Drama classmates, readers are immediately shown they should dislike her because she takes a clear interest in Erik Night, who is the new Drama professor and Zoey’s recent ex. We don’t learn much else about her at this point, and the only other time she’s mentioned in that book is when the Twins note that she seems to have a crush on Erik and ask Zoey if she wants them to “claw her eyes out” for this transgression. [2008b: 182]
The next time she appears is in Hunted, where Darius and Zoey walk up on Stark (a fledgling who had recently died and been resurrected to serve Neferet) feeding on Becca against her will and preparing to rape her. The narration makes it clear that this is assault, noting that even though Becca “was physically feeling pleasure, […] her wide, terrified eyes, and the rigidity of her body made it obvious that she would fight [Stark] if she could.” [2009a: 176] Zoey and her friends are talking with Becca about the assault shortly afterward, and Becca has done a complete 180, suddenly insisting that she was okay with Stark’s advances and that she thinks he’s really hot. Shaunee calls her behaviour “annoying” when discussing it later, even going so far as to refer to Becca as a “bimbo” for it. [2009a: 189] They eventually realize Becca is behaving like this because everyone on campus is under Kalona’s influence and thus enraptured by him and his followers, which includes Stark.
The characters continue to rag on Becca for her behaviour toward Stark, who she had been effectively brainwashed to desire. Erin calls her pathetic for “pant[ing] after [Stark] like a terrier” and compares her to a snot rag that has been “used and then wadded up and thrown away.” [2009a: 215] Even Zoey, who had occasionally defended Becca, ends up lashing out at her and shaming her for her abuse. Specifically, while in Drama class listening to Becca gush about Stark, Zoey becomes jealous; she and Stark had shared a romantic moment before he died and she is still confused about her feelings for him. So, despite acknowledging that Becca is being magically influenced and can’t be reasoned with, Zoey gives us this:
“Uh, excuse me, Becca,” I said, heavy on the sarcasm. “But didn’t Darius and I recently save your butt from getting raped and bit by oooh! the [sic] hottest guy at the House of Night? Then you were snotting and whimpering.” [2009a: 232]
Though this is the most overt and appalling example, the shaming and antagonistic characterization of Becca continues into later books. She is reduced to consistently being jealous of and hostile toward Zoey because she is lusting for Zoey’s current and former boyfriends. This culminates in a scene with Aurox in Destined.
To make a complicated story short, Aurox is a sort of reincarnation of Zoey’s human boyfriend, Heath, who was killed several books prior, and whose spirit, memories, and desires frequently influence Aurox without him understanding or even realizing it. He and Becca run into each other on campus and Becca flirts with him. Thanks to his empathetic powers, Aurox immediately assesses her desire as being “mixed with desperation and a little meanness.” [2011: 174] She makes a move on him and he reciprocates. As things heat up between them, Aurox ends up moaning Zoey’s name due to the aforementioned influence of Heath’s spirit, and Becca is offended and angered. She bites him, and tasting his blood makes her realize that he’s not a normal creature. She is turned off and frightened by this, saying “Stop! You don’t taste right!” [2011: 175] Despite her verbally stating her change of consent and Aurox’ ability to feel her fear, he persists in aggressively pursuing her, lifting and backing her against a tree. He is stopped by professor and swordmaster Dragon Lankford interrupting them.
In addition to once again being the victim of attempted sexual assault in this scene, Becca is also immediately vilified and shamed for it, especially for how she reacts afterward. Dragon calls her “crude” for saying she doesn’t want to be with Aurox if he’s interested in Zoey, and tells her to “choose to walk away gracefully.” [2011: 175] After she leaves, Aurox remarks that she has a mean spirit, and Dragon makes no effort to defend her or question this statement. Becca is never seen or mentioned again.
Aurox, it should be noted, faces no punishment for being caught attempting to rape a student.
And this is another important pattern in the series. While female characters like Neferet, Other Neferet, and Becca are shamed and vilified for being victims of rape, several male characters are redeemed after committing or attempting rape — or their actions aren’t even acknowledged as assault.
Men Must Be Forgiven
I mentioned back in Zoey’s section that Heath tricks her into drinking his blood. In the House of Night series, like many vampire stories, feeding on blood is a pleasurable and erotic experience for both people, with bloodlust going hand-in-hand with sexual lust. Zoey, as someone experiencing bloodlust for the first time, has very little willpower against its draw, especially when faced with the allure of fresh blood from someone she has Imprinted with. Heath uses this to his advantage.
When Zoey insists that she wants to break up with him in Betrayed, he won’t take no for an answer, insists on accompanying her to her car and then entering it, then cuts his neck and tells her she must feed from him to make the pain go away. He also does this again in the next book, Chosen, and then tries to do it a third time in Hunted, forcing Zoey to cut his neck with her fingernails.
In every example of Heath using Zoey’s bloodlust to weaken her resistance to him, she’s trying to break up with him or, in the third instance, maintaining that they can’t reform their Imprint and start dating again. Though Zoey manages to resist and push him away in the third example, the first and second instances result in them making out and dry humping. They’re interrupted both times. It’s clear that if they weren’t, things would have continued escalating and they would have had sex. In Zoey’s own words:
I knew that if I allowed myself to continue seeing him I wouldn’t be a virgin much longer, and not because Heath would pressure me into it. It would be because I couldn’t control my bloodlust. [2007b: 107]
Zoey claims Heath isn’t pressuring her into having sex, but by cutting himself and using her bloodlust against her, any physically intimate act she performs is a direct result of him forcing her into it.
I’ve already mentioned Stark and Aurox’ attempted assaults. As I said, Aurox faces absolutely no consequences for his actions, nor is his cruelty to Becca ever brought up again. Stark is treated similarly, but his situation is arguably worse. Though we only directly see him attempt to rape Becca, it is heavily implied that he has behaved similarly toward other girls on campus — girls who did not have Zoey and Darius show up to save them, and who were brainwashed into allowing him to use them in the days that the campus was under Kalona’s control.
Stark is another one of Zoey’s love interests. Contrary to Heath, his actions are acknowledged as assault. They are also easily forgiven.
During the events of Hunted, the book in which Stark attempts to rape Becca, Zoey is grappling with her feelings for Stark in light of his corrupted nature as a result of being an undead fledgling serving Neferet and Kalona. This includes being conflicted because of his sexually abusive behaviour. Notably, she criticizes him for this behaviour because it makes him a “slut” [2009a: 242].
A huge part of the conflict in Hunted is focused on trying to redeem Stark from the Darkness that hovers over him, altering his personality and influencing his actions. (It should be noted that, in Tempted, the characters determine that siding with/being influenced by Darkness is a choice and anyone who commits evil due to said influence is wholly responsible for it.) This means that, despite acknowledging that Stark attempted to rape Becca and has likely “been with a crapload of girls” in the same manner, [2009a: 242] Zoey insists that Stark “stop calling [himself] a monster” [2009a: 213] and pursues strong romantic feelings for him. I’ve already discussed her hostility toward and shaming of Becca for being brainwashed into feeling attracted to Stark. This is not an isolated incident — Zoey’s interest in Stark is a driving force throughout the book, and it culminates in him ultimately being forgiven and redeemed by swearing a Warrior’s Oath to Zoey.
Note: Stark’s redemption has absolutely nothing to do with his victims. He never apologizes to Becca, atones for his actions, or even does anything to demonstrate that he won’t commit similar abuses in the future. He is freed from Darkness simply by virtue of pledging himself to Zoey. Zoey is considered so inherently “good” that, as her Warrior, it is impossible for him to be “bad”.
But Stark’s abuses aren’t forgotten — not entirely. There are a few instances where they’re brought up in subsequent books, and the tone and context of these instances is… interesting.
For one thing, references to this past behaviour tend to be very casual in language and tone, referred to as “extracurricular biting” [2009b: 67] and how he used to be a “jerk” and has a “not-so-nice past”. [2009b: 189, 192] And later, when Zoey does actually call him out for his past behaviour during a fight, Stark is hurt and offended by her bringing it up, taking it as a sign that Kalona has “gotten inside [her] head, and with him there, there’s no room for [her] Warrior.” [2009b: 181] These types of comments paint Stark’s past actions as something mildly embarrassing, something that it’s unfair to continue holding him accountable for, when in reality, sexual assault can have a lifelong impact on its victims.
Moreover, Zoey looks back on Stark’s past violations with discomfort — but only because of jealousy and insecurity. Zoey “hated, hated, hated thinking about Stark drinking from anyone else”, even while acknowledging his aforementioned “extracurricular biting”. [2009b: 67] When their relationship becomes physically intimate in Awakened and Zoey is self-conscious about whether or not she performed well, she notes that she’s not as experienced as Stark is — and the only past sexual experience of Stark’s that she knows of is when he was assaulting other girls.
This redemption of Stark and dismissal of his victims isn’t even the worst example in the series, however. Because we still haven’t talked about Kalona.
Kalona provides the most egregious example of rapist redemption in the series. Originally, he served the goddess Nyx as her Warrior, protecting her from any Darkness that tried to enter her realm. Over a thousand years ago, he fell from her realm after she broke his heart and, upon reaching Earth, went down a path of violence and corruption. While living among the Cherokee, “he raped women and made men his slaves.” [2009a: 48] This went on for an unspecified length of time, but it’s implied to be very long — Kalona says “[he] searched and searched, century after century, trying to find something, someone to fill the bloody wound Nyx had left within my soul, within my heart.” [2009b: 215]
(We won’t get into how this misunderstands indigenous history and the fact that different tribes/nations would have existed over a thousand years ago, and that implying the Cherokee have been around for millennia paints them as timeless and unchanging, thereby oversimplifying their rich history and culture and ultimately dehumanizing them. That’s a discussion for another day.)
This sexual violence against the Cherokee led to the creation of the Raven Mockers, whose birth killed their mothers. Eventually, a group of Cherokee Wise Women joined together to create a woman named A-ya to lure Kalona into a cave and trap him underground, where he remained entombed for over a thousand years.
When Kalona is freed from his imprisonment by Neferet, he continues his predatory behaviour. This includes brainwashing everyone at the House of Night to enable Stark to rape as he pleases, entering people’s dreams (especially Zoey’s) to violate them, and just generally being very predatory and forceful in his advances toward Zoey.
An example of this is when, after Stark has redeemed himself and is in a committed relationship with Zoey, Kalona enters Starks mind, takes control of his body, and “settle[s] deeply within [Zoey’s] body” to “make love”. [2010b: 94] When his psychic connection to Stark by “pleasure” and a “shock so intense”, Kalona approaches Neferet with a “fully aroused body” [2010b: 95] and has sex with her on the balcony, fantasizing about “[Zoey’s] dark hair and eyes as he made [Neferet] cry out in pleasure over and over.” [2010b: 95]
Do note: Zoey is seventeen at this point, while he is thousands of years old.
But in the end, all Kalona has to do to redeem himself is turn from Neferet, be loving toward his son Rephaim instead of being distant and abusive, and accept Nyx back into his life. This culminates with his death and reunion with Nyx in Redeemed, the final book of the original series, where Nyx forgives him and tells him that she has always loved him. Much like Stark, Kalona swears a Warrior’s Oath to solidify his redemption. This true return to goodness is visually demonstrated by his black wings changing “to the luminous white of a full moon.” [2014: 208]
Kalona faces no permanent consequences for raping, murdering, and enslaving the Cherokee for centuries, nor does he face consequences for enabling the abuse of others when he was freed, nor does he even apologize or really express remorse for these atrocities. Thousands of women suffered and died at his hands and he barely had to say sorry.
In fact, the only male rapist who is thoroughly vilified and punished is Loren Blake, a professor and Poet Laureate early in the original series who deceives and seduces Zoey in order to help further Neferet’s plans. In the end, he dies a gruesome death by being beheaded by Neferet so she can frame the local religious community for attacking vampyres.
But even Loren isn’t acknowledged as a rapist. He’s a predator, yes, but he’s never called a rapist despite committing statutory rape. In an interview with National Post, P.C. Cast states that Zoey wasn’t raped because “she consented and actually enjoyed herself”, [Lipson 2009] even though it is impossible for a student under the age of twenty (Zoey is seventeen at the time) to legally consent to sex with a teacher at their school who is over the age of twenty (Loren Blake was in his mid-twenties). This constitutes second degree rape, or statutory rape. [Phillips & Associates] But that’s never acknowledged. Rather, Loren was deceptive and predatory, but ultimately it is framed merely as an inappropriate and regrettable relationship.
Authorial Intent vs Actual Execution
As I mentioned earlier in this essay, the authors have stated quite clearly that this series was meant to portray a world that is matriarchal and empowering to female readers. And I would be remiss not to mention that the authors have, in fact, spoken out against shaming women over sex and relationships.
In the Q&A section of Loved, P.C. Cast stated that she wanted to “[treat] Zoey’s love life realistically,” and that it is “ridiculous” to “[think] that a young person who isn’t even old enough to vote is old enough, mature enough, to choose a life partner”. [2017: 281] She describes the criticism Zoey faces for dating multiple boys simultaneously as slut shaming, while arguing that men in the same position are “hailed as studs and heroes”. [2017: 281] However, because the world of House of Night was designed to be matriarchal, “women aren’t judged for choosing their own way — and that often means they date more than one guy at a time, especially if they’re barely eighteen years old.” [2017: 281]
One need only look back through this essay to see how hypocritical a lot of these statements are, not least because the series is filled with women slut shaming each other and the demeaning language centering women is far from reflective of matriarchal ideals. The four Other World books alone, which were published between 2017–2020, uncritically uses the words “slut” and “whore” 4 times, and characters behaviour or outfits were presented in sex shaming/body policing tones at least 9 times. While that’s less than the original series, it still conveys a clear message: Women aren’t allowed to “choose their own way” or date whoever they please without judgement. As seen with Other Erin, promiscuity is still used as a tool for vilifying and generally demeaning female characters in the most recent books in the series.
Moreover, P.C. Cast herself has used slut shaming language to describe her own characters on numerous occasions, especially where Neferet is concerned. The House of Night Facebook page frequently sees fans posting photos of outfits asking if particular characters — usually Neferet — would wear them. From as early as 2017 to as recent as 2019, P.C. has responded to these photos by saying certain outfits are “trampy”, [Reyes 2019] “kinda slutty”, [Chacin 2018] “trampy” and “sleazy”, [Chacin 2017] and again “slutty”. [Loreine 2017]
Note that these comments were posted either in the same year as or after the anti-slut shaming statement was published in Loved, so they don’t reflect a viewpoint that changed by the time that book and that statement were released.
Ultimately, however, intention doesn’t count for much. The execution is what everyone else reads, the execution is what ideas you communicate with your audience, the execution is what determines what ideologies are perpetuated or challenged.
In this case, the execution tells readers that women who don’t behave in a certain way are sluts and skanks. Women who are overtly sexual are often evil, and the cure for their villainous ways is chastity. Women who are hurt or sexually abused are broken and cruel, but the men who hurt them can be redeemed if the right woman loves them.
If I haven’t made the point clear by now, let me state it plainly: These are not healthy or empowering ideas to perpetuate. Rather, these views are actively harmful to women. Supporting and encouraging people to think, speak, and act like the characters in this series is dangerous for the women in our lives, and thus these messages need to be critically analyzed and, ultimately, condemned.
References
Bierly, Mandi. 2011. “’House of Night’ Exclusive: P.C. and Kristin Cast Talk ‘Awakened,’ Three Upcoming ‘Minibooks,’ and Standing Up to Bullies.” Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 1, 2021 (https://ew.com/article/2011/01/04/house-night-awakened-pc-kristin-cast-interview/).
Cast, P.C., and Kristin Cast. 2007a. Marked. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.
Cast, P.C., and Kristin Cast. 2007b. Betrayed. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.
Cast, P.C., and Kristin Cast. 2008a. Chosen. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.
Cast, P.C., and Kristin Cast. 2008b. Untamed. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.
Cast, P.C., and Kristin Cast. 2009a. Hunted. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.
Cast, P.C., and Kristin Cast. 2009b. Tempted. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.
Cast, P.C., and Kristin Cast. 2010a. Burned. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.
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Cast, P.C., and Kristin Cast. 2011. Destined. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.
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Cast, P.C., and Kristin Cast. 2014. Redeemed. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.
Cast, P.C., and Kristin Cast. 2017. Loved. Ashland, OR: Blackstone Publishing.
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Heidi. 2009. “Girl Power: An Interview with House of Night’s P.C. Cast.” The Amazon Book Review. Retrieved December 2, 2020 (https://www.amazonbookreview.com/post/9aee457c-fa2e-4371-abbe-de1452749a2b/girl-power-an-interview-with-house-of-nights-p-c-cast).
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