Popular romantic fiction dating back to the 1700s often portrays a submissive/virginal female character and an aggressive/beastly male character. This binary portrayal of heterosexual relationships is problematic because it presents a power imbalance within the couple as essential for romance. Although several scholars have described this phenomenon, it has yet to be named and applied to violence prevention work. In response, the purpose of this study is to develop the term “virgin-beast trope” to capture this relationship dynamic and situate this concept within the larger body of relationship violence research. We use three of the most popular romantic fiction films (Beauty and the Beast, Twilight, and Fifty Shades of Grey) to illustrate the virgin-beast trope and demonstrate its continuity from childhood to adulthood. We then use the Abuse Litmus Test to identify examples of relationship abuse embedded within the virgin-beast trope as evidenced in these films. Although unhealthy features of these three relationships are often masked in romanticization, the inherent disproportional power dynamic of the virgin-beast trope results in the male partners using their ‘beastly power’ through threats, intimidation, isolation, and stalking to control the subordinate and virginal female partner. In response, the female partners try to ‘tame the beast’, but ultimately suffer harm as a result. The prominent virgin-beast trope across romantic fiction could be added to existing media literacy education to support more engaging conversations that address relationship violence prevention across developmental stages.

可以追溯到1700年代的流行浪漫小说经常描绘出柔和/处女的性格和好斗/野兽的男性性格。这种异性恋关系的二元化描述是有问题的，因为它提出了夫妻之间的力量失衡，这对浪漫至关重要。尽管有几位学者描述了这种现象，但尚未将其命名并应用于预防暴力工作。作为回应，本研究的目的是开发术语“处女兽”，以捕捉这种关系的动态并将这种概念置于更大范围的关系暴力研究中。我们使用了三部最受欢迎的浪漫小说电影（《美女与野兽》，《暮光之城》和《五十度灰色》）。）以说明原始兽的trope并展示其从童年到成年的连续性。然后，我们使用“滥用石蕊测试”来确定这些原始影片中所证明的处女兽比喻中嵌入的虐待关系的例子。尽管这三种关系的不健康特征经常在浪漫中被掩盖，但处女兽的内在不成比例的动力动态导致男性伴侣通过威胁，恐吓，孤立和跟踪来利用其“兽力”来控制下属和处女女性伴侣。作为回应，女性伴侣试图“驯服野兽”，但最终遭受伤害。