Beauty and the beast

Abstract

This article examines the romantic portrayal of men’s control of women in such popular cultural texts as Beauty and the Beast and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The author of this article has provided counselling services to abused women for many years. She describes the development of her concern in the meaning-making behaviours of abused women who engage with texts that romanticize abuse. A theoretical terrain is discussed, allowing for an unfixed positioning of both the writer and reader of the article, while considering the complex world of audience-text-academic.