I'd be sad if there wasn't at least one light ep in the season, but, yeah, I would be surprised if we saw a trickster again as a primary character.

::sits on hands so as not to spoil::

::for lo, I am a total whore for spoilers for this show::

To supplement with a couple of visual notes:

Pilot: female perp (ghost); male victims (Car Dude, Sam) - targeted for gender male perp (demon); female victim (Jess) - targeted for identity

The female perp was wearing revealing clothes, and shot so we could all look down her cleavage. Her power was explicitly sexual, which actually doesn't make that much sense, when you find out that the reason she's a perp is because she drowned her children.

(By contrast, the "male" demonic perp that got both Jess and Mary doesn't even have a body, much less a sexualized one.)

Dead In The Water: male child (ghost); mixed victims (two males, one female), mixed menacing (one woman, one man, one child) - targeted for relationship to spirit

The two female victims/near-victims were in a bathing suit and naked, respectively. (They were also shmuckbaited like whoa.) The male victims were all fully clothed.

Bloody Mary: female perp (ghost); mixed victims - targeted due to specifics of urban legend/ghost's specific MO

I actually kinda liked how this one was about the crazy initiation rituals of teenaged girls, and the girls managed not to be treated as sex objects throughout. Like, it let them be relatively early-adolescent, and not available sexual targets, despite the fact some of them were old enough to drive. There was a canyon of skeeve avoided, there.

Then again, the whole story of the perp is a story of female sexual violence. It's backstory, and it's treated as a Bad Thing, but.

Skin: creature, gender assumed male; female victims, mixed menacing - targeted due to gender

A lot of lingering shots of female suffering in this one. Mostly, shots of women you don't even know, so it's harder to identify with them.

the real world (at least outside of prison), adult men are rarely the victims of violence with a sexual component, whereas women are victimized in that way far too often.

But... this is a world of ghosts (&c.), and we've been shown that ghosts are equally snitty, male or female. There could easily be an episode about some dead matriarch who continues to rule her family with an iron fist; or a Long Island housewife, creamed in a car wreck, who comes back for revenge on her gossippy neighbors. We could have stories about the ghosts of girls who starved themselves to death, force-feeding the people they haunt. All three of these examples are feminine concerns -- family, gossip, dieting -- but they're not concerns that turn automatically toward sexualized violence. Also, they are plot bunnies.

(I'd also love to see more stories about children who are young enough to believe in the things that go bump in the night; although I imagine it's tough to cast that kind of role.)

I think that the visual component is also a big deal, for me. How the camera is situated; whom we're supposed to identify with; whether any given shot is necessary for the plot or pure tittilation. (This ties into a problem I have with scripting, i.e. the scripts are very flabby and constructed without enough thought for visual storytelling, but that is a gripe for another time.)

By contrast, the "male" demonic perp that got both Jess and Mary doesn't even have a body, much less a sexualized one

I thought he was wearing an overcoat - maybe he's a flasher.

That, Nutty, is where the "who" versus the "how" comes in for me. I was looking at it from a "who" perspective, which one might argue is stacked relatively evenly.

The "how" is a horse of a different color, and I'm not gonna argue with that.

Dead In The Water: male child (ghost); mixed victims (two males, one female)

I'd like to point out that one of those males was not a victim per se, but consciously sacrificed himself to save his grandson, thus possessing an agency that the other victims lacked. (Although, now that I think about it, that strikes me as a femininely-coded sacrifice - he didn't die defending his family, he just said, "Take me instead.") (Hmm - parallel to Dean's bargain at the end of s2?)

All three of these examples are feminine concerns -- family, gossip, dieting -- but they're not concerns that turn automatically toward sexualized violence. Also, they are plot bunnies.

Good point.

I was looking at it from a "who" perspective, which one might argue is stacked relatively evenly.

Would still love to see comprehensive aggregated census stats. Who was doing that on lj, mely?

The "how" is a horse of a different color, and I'm not gonna argue with that.

Maybe a horse of a different color, but they're pulling the same cart and better looked at together. IMHO.

Would still love to see comprehensive aggregated census stats. Who was doing that on lj, mely?

Mely was, at least for S2.

Maybe a horse of a different color, but they're pulling the same cart and better looked at together. IMHO.

Not disagreeing with that. Though I would say, just from the list I made from S1, there was far less specifically-targeted-toward-women-because-they're-women violence than I maybe expected.

As far as objectifying women, I'm not going to declare SPN blameless. Anyone who thinks that females are the core demographic for this show shouldn't kid themselves. And of course they could do better. All TV can.

Not disagreeing with that. Though I would say, just from the list I made from S1, there was far less specifically-targeted-toward-women-because-they're-women violence than I maybe expected.

You know what's funny? In a not funny way? I have this bullshit not-backed-by-data sense that the women ping me harder b/c their suffering and deaths are more drawn out and graphic. The men just... die. (Back to the HOW.)

Am I totally making that up? (Hmm. Not true in pilot. Needs more thought.)

Anyone who thinks that females are the core demographic for this show shouldn't kid themselves.

I'm sure we're not the targeted demographic. I'm less sure that we aren't the actual core demographic. Haven't seen data and we all know that lj/buffistas are heavily skewed female. But that's another tangent into the (white) male gaze as default and I will shortly be leaving the office again.

I'm sure we're not the targeted demographic. I'm less sure that we aren't the actual core demographic. Haven't seen data and we all know that lj/buffistas are heavily skewed female. But that's another tangent into the (white) male gaze as default and I will shortly be leaving the office again.

I didn't go to comic-con but the audio from the panel sounded like a female heavy audience. Was anyone there that could say? It doesn't matter, I'd just be interested because I think the audience is more of us women even though the CW would love to change that.