Elin Eriksson, School of English

Sad Girls and Feminine Rage: Escaping the Midwestern Suburbs (*Content Notes)

Women struck by tragedy have been a long-time staple in our literature and wider society. Melancholic women seem to have a grip on our popular consciousness. In more recent years, the Sad Girl has emerged as a subculture of young women embracing their sadness in what Audrey Wollen theorised as an act of resistance against neoliberal politics. The Sad Girl rebels against the Can-Do-Attitude and productivity expected of individual women within neoliberal capitalism. In my dissertation I seek to explore how the Sad Girl can also work to rebel against gender norms and expectations of women in the suburbs.
More specific to the presentation, I will be discussing how women turn to self-destructive sadness and rage to subvert the gender roles placed upon them, looking at the women characters of the Midwestern suburbs in Gone Girl and the Virgin Suicides. What is it about these suburbs that feel so oppressive and how can self-destructive behaviour be an escape? These are questions that my presentation will try to answer.
*Content Notes - might contain mentions of self-harm and suicide.

BA English & Sociology, Final Year (she/her)
I'm Elin, I would consider myself a reader and a writer, though I wish I did more of both. I love learning and talking about feminism and gender, especially as it relates to our modern online world. In my free time I obssess over Sims 4 and try my best to draw and paint 🙂