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A review by jugglingpup
Hothead Paisan: Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist by Diane DiMassa
3.0
To see more reviews check out MI Book Reviews.
Hothead Paisan is an angry homicidal lesbian who wants to destroy not only the patriarchy, but all men in general. The only one who is spared her anger and sees her as a sweet person is her cat, Chicken. This high dose of rage and violence at first attracted me to the Hothead series, but it in the end pushed me away. The author opens the book by saying that Hothead was her way of expressing anger and that she is not as violent as her characters, but my issue is the character is so violent and so much of a second wave separatist lesbian that it easily fuels the idea of feminazis.
Much of the reasoning behind Hothead’s views are sound and I can easily say that any sane person should agree that rape is bad, white privilege is bad, male privilege is bad, etc. The problem is the way she wants to deal with it by terrorizing people who may or may not be aware of their privileges and some that are just minding their business. She kills first and never bothers to ask questions. Her friend, Roz, is a much more sane version of Hothead. She sees the same issues, but she sees a different way of going about fixing them. Instead of killing all men and straight people, Roz would rather educate and deal with them in an intellectual manner. She often takes care of Hothead after an “episode” (word from the book that just makes Hothead seem more psychotic than before).
While I like that the views of the author and of many others are getting out there, I don’t agree with the violent or separatist message. I do however love Chicken and will continue to read Hothead and pass it along to friends. While I may have my issues about how Hothead handles situations or about the author herself that does not change that the comic is something I am glad is around as it shows many different ways to solve problems, feminism in many different forms, and has Chicken.
I am grateful for the author starting a dialogue on the issues raised by Hothead (though some of these discussions were started much earlier and have continued with no mention of Hothead). I would consider Hothead on the same level as S.C.U.M Manifesto and other angry though satirical lesbian writings that bring joy and solidarity to many of us feminists.
Hothead Paisan is an angry homicidal lesbian who wants to destroy not only the patriarchy, but all men in general. The only one who is spared her anger and sees her as a sweet person is her cat, Chicken. This high dose of rage and violence at first attracted me to the Hothead series, but it in the end pushed me away. The author opens the book by saying that Hothead was her way of expressing anger and that she is not as violent as her characters, but my issue is the character is so violent and so much of a second wave separatist lesbian that it easily fuels the idea of feminazis.
Much of the reasoning behind Hothead’s views are sound and I can easily say that any sane person should agree that rape is bad, white privilege is bad, male privilege is bad, etc. The problem is the way she wants to deal with it by terrorizing people who may or may not be aware of their privileges and some that are just minding their business. She kills first and never bothers to ask questions. Her friend, Roz, is a much more sane version of Hothead. She sees the same issues, but she sees a different way of going about fixing them. Instead of killing all men and straight people, Roz would rather educate and deal with them in an intellectual manner. She often takes care of Hothead after an “episode” (word from the book that just makes Hothead seem more psychotic than before).
While I like that the views of the author and of many others are getting out there, I don’t agree with the violent or separatist message. I do however love Chicken and will continue to read Hothead and pass it along to friends. While I may have my issues about how Hothead handles situations or about the author herself that does not change that the comic is something I am glad is around as it shows many different ways to solve problems, feminism in many different forms, and has Chicken.
I am grateful for the author starting a dialogue on the issues raised by Hothead (though some of these discussions were started much earlier and have continued with no mention of Hothead). I would consider Hothead on the same level as S.C.U.M Manifesto and other angry though satirical lesbian writings that bring joy and solidarity to many of us feminists.