Is Stephen King A Feminist?

Stephen King: author, screenwriter, and icon. He’s known as one of the best writers of our modern era, creating over seventy-one novels and even more short stories, novellas, and screenplays. Over the course of his career, he’s included many strong and memorable female characters in his tales, raising the often controversial question: is Stephen King a feminist?

Although there are hundreds of opinions out there, the short answer is relatively easy: yes. Through a variety of factors, such as strong characters and plot lines, King reveals his support for feminism in so many of his creations.

The Nature Of King’s Characters

What makes Stephen King such a powerful writer is the way he fully rounds out his characters. Although nearly all of his books are rooted in horror, none of them would be quite so great without the care and detail he puts into making each and every one of his personalities a whole person. For every great detail about them, there is a flaw. There are no invincible players in the world of Stephen King.

This definitely applies to his female characters just as much as the male characters, something that a lot of novels don’t tend to do. Women in fiction are either demonized or placed in this role of the perfect maiden in need of rescuing, especially in the realm of horror. Women in scary stories are often portrayed as “soft, romantic and sexy” (( Hackford )), so to have King reveal that, WOAH, women are people too is a grand statement of equality.

In short, Stephen King reveals the horrors within all of us. Any gender is capable of bad, of good, and of turning their lives around. He finds horror in the everyday circumstances of reality, rather than putting down women or men or focusing solely on the differences between the two.

Stories That Scream Support

Although most of his stories support the idea of Stephen King being a feminist, there are a few that stand out high above the rest as evidence.

11/22/63

In this novel, feminism is shown through Sadie’s dedication to her boyfriend despite the crazy antics he puts her through. And by dedication, I mean a willingness to assist assassinating an assassin style of dedication. This girl, Sadie, proves time and time again throughout the book that she can keep stride with her boyfriend. She is an equal player in the game, and she is willing to go to extreme lengths. She’s probably the strongest character in the book itself.

Sadie is an awesomely written persona because we are able to see both sides of her. We see the sweet, feminine girl who just wants to be happy and falls in love. We see a woman who has to deal with a mangled face and a boyfriend from the future. We see her dealing with the horrifying nature of man. We see her strength in doing what must be done. We see her sacrifice. Sadie is a good human being of the best caliber, and King does a great job of letting her shine.

Gerald’s Game

Gerald’s Game starts out as already weird and uncomfortable. A man and a woman, married, on a retreat, and the guy is just…overly dominating. Gross is what he is. It’s clear from the first few pages of this novella that Jessie, our protagonist, is not happy with her husband. So when she gets stuck chained to the bed after he falls dead of a heart attack, she must learn to deal with the trauma of abuse from the men in her life both present and past.

This might sound a little anti-feminist. It may be a little cliché to have women in horror stories dealing with trauma from abuse, and to be fair this does show up maybe a little too often in his works. However, Stephen King does an excellent job depicting a woman in agony and mental torment rising above it all and conquering her demons to be the survivor. Her abusive father didn’t survive. Her terrified husband didn’t survive. She did.

It

This might be a little controversial, but Stephen King’s It (specifically the character of Beverly) is an example of his tendency to lean towards feminism.

Beverly Marsh has gone through so much in her life. As a child, she grew up with an abusive father. She was bullied and tormented by kids at school and judged harshly by the adults in the small town of Derry, Maine. Later in her life, she fell into the same terrible patterns with her husband. To top it all off, she’s terrorized by a killer clown. In the end, however, Bev is an equal member in the fight against It, the fight against the horror of the past, and the fight against everyone and everything that she has faced in her life. She is resilient. She is a survivor.

Dolores Claiborne

The titular character of Dolores Claiborne is a woman who has been accused of murder. When further details are unfurled, it’s revealed that she may have committed it twice. Here’s the thing: Dolores was married to an abusive man thirty years prior. She’s been ridiculed and attacked. She’s had a long and hard life, and with the addition of this investigation of her breaking point, she loses it.

Dolores is an anti-hero, but Stephen King has an “uncanny ability to identify and zero in on primal emotions” (( Dutka )). Yes, we see the villain in her. But we also see the woman who just wants to be free. She’s a woman who’s being crushed by society with every step she takes. She’s frightening but sympathetic at the same time. It’s a huge take on sexism in society, and a big step into feminism.

The Choice Of Plot

The basic storylines of Stephen King novels are often constructed in a way that allows the female protagonist to be fully explored, rather than left underdeveloped. Many of his tales, including the ones mentioned above, revolve around the strength of their female protagonists or female supporting characters. The stories wouldn’t succeed without them.

In The Dead Zone, the main character, Johnny Smith, wouldn’t be the same without his counterpart, Sarah Hazlett. In 11/22/63, Jake Epping would be nothing without Sadie Dunhill. Gerald’s Game would be a terrible book without the strength and will of Jessie Burlingame, as would Pet Semetary. The strength and will of women has to be there in order for his plots to work. Without strong women, King’s books would be meaningless and his male characters would be left lost within the pages. Nobody would win.

What About The Other Stuff?

Stephen King does make his mistakes, yes. Like many male writers, he tends to go into a little too much detail when describing his female characters. It’s excessive to a point that doesn’t necessarily match when he describes his male characters. However, this doesn’t alter the strong personas and abilities they possess. It doesn’t change the fact that they are well-rounded, strong, and powerful human beings.

King also has a tendency to portray violent acts against women, and that is often the center of the story for many books with female protagonists. While it’s true that these violent acts don’t happen nearly as often to male characters, they’re reflective of reality. Violence against women is an all-too terrifying situation, and King depicts women in different phases of this struggle conquering all and overcoming their oppressors.

It’s not a fun subject, but art is reflective of society and society often tends to harm its women. While this may be detrimental to victims of abuse, it isn’t sexist. It’s real talk and in a way, it is extremely powerful. It’s what King often successfully portrays in his horror books: “…evil comes from real people and not the bogeyman” (( Rogers )).

So… Should You (Still) Read Stephen King?

Absolutely.

Stephen King is not only a great writer, but he manages to portray female characters as strong equals in a genre that normally treats women like weak sideshows. Through his characters and plots, he dives headfirst into controversial issues like abuse that women often deal with on a daily basis. He isn’t afraid to make his female personas people. They aren’t perfect, they have flaws, but they are an active part of the story and often determine how it will end.

King is an excellent writer. As our world continues to change, there is little doubt that we will see more and more sexist issues creep their way into the worlds of those characters. The way King writes, it’s certain that some amazing ladies will conquer them all with ease.