Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Sexual Violence in Comics: The Ethics of Visualizing Trauma

Sexual Violence in Comics: The Ethics of Visualizing Trauma

Okan, Lee

Hardcover

Literary CriticismGeneral SociologyWomen's Studies

ISBN10: 1666929158
ISBN13: 9781666929157
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Published: Feb 5 2026
Pages: 280
Weight: 1.19
Height: 0.69 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English

An examination of how comics represent, confront, and sometimes perpetuate gendered violence.

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.

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