Women in Refrigerators

The term women in refrigerators was coined by comic-book author Gail Simone in 1999 to describe a plot device that she noticed as being particularly common in superhero comics. This plot device uses the victimization of a female character in order to advance the dramatic arc of a male character. The female character may be raped, killed, de-powered or otherwise injured; the male character then takes over the story and uses her tragedy as motivation, usually for broody manpain, violent revenge, or simply to become the best hero he can be.
==Some Instruction==
A fan, Ima Fool, parodies It is uncertain how much of a parody of the trope surreallis's Stargate Atlantis classic zombiefic Sestinas is, as although Elizabeth does literally end up dead in a freezer, the story may be read as gen rather than (pre-)slash. the trope: 
==The WiR site==
Simone created a page on her website (also called Women in Refrigerators) where she listed many female characters she felt had been the victim of "fridging." It displays several panels from the Green Lantern story for which the trope was named (Green Lantern #54 - 1994), in which hero Kyle Rayner comes home to find his girlfriend, Alexandra DeWitt, has been gruesomely murdered and left in the refrigerator by a minor villain. 
The site also included pages listing responses from fans and other comics pros, both disagreeing and agreeing with her original premise. 
Many fans disagreed with Simone's argument. A popular criticism or counter-argument was that, after all, bad things often happened to male heroes as well. For instance, DrZombie posted: ''I'm also not fond of her "Women in Refrigerators" site. While there may be a willingness for male writers to be crueler to female character's. Her site has made it impossible for anything to negative to happen to a woman in comics without someone shouting that she was "fridged". Never mind how silly I think listing things like "depowered" or that there powers were affecting their health and/sanity as I can name just as many male characters that have done the same. DrZombie, Comics confessions Posted July 26, 2008. Last accessed, October 24, 2010. (It is perhaps notable that this quote dissing the WiR site was found in a thread specifically for posting unpopular opinions about comics, such as "I've never read Watchmen" or "Preacher sucks.")
To counter the arguments that "Bad things happen to men too!", comics fan John Bartol wrote the essay Dead Men Defrosting to point out: In cases where males heroes have been altered or appear to die (i.e., hit that part of the karmic Hero Wheel that says "Fall, then Rise to the Challenge!"), they usually come back even better than before, either power-wise or in terms of character development/relevancy to the reader. 
Another fan, Rob Harris, argued similarly: Yes, male characters die, as do female characters - but my classic example is Flash and Supergirl, two beloved characters who were both killed off in the Crisis. But Flash remained "in continuity," remembered and revered for his heroic sacrifice even as Wally West took on his mantle; Supergirl was forgotten, and within several months was wiped from continuity completely - no memorials, no flashbacks, no legacy. 
==As shorthand==
It is common for fans, especially fans on livejournal, dreamwidth, and other such sites to talk about TPTB "fridging" characters, or a character having been "fridged." nevermore999, Thoughts on Wolverine: Origins and other things. It's interesting how they fridged Wolvie's gf, then subverted the fridging, then re- fridged her. .... Of course, it was all a fake out and the reason she didn't drive away she was because she was in on the plan, but is says a lot about the sad state of Hollywood and superhero fridgings I believed they'd actually make the fridging that pathetic. Posted May 14, 2009. Last accessed October 24, 2010. Goshawk, Comment on Firefly Re-watch: "Heart of Gold" Now, I happen to think that Mal and NANDE would have made a FANTASTIC pairing, mostly because Nande would have called him on his sh*t far more directly than Inara, and I am Extremely Annoyed that they fridged her. Posted June 16, 2010. Last accessed October 24, 2010. Meroko, Comment on Technovore She was fridged in 2004. And it was a really, really bad one, too. Tony angsted about it for like, one issue and cried about how they were going to get married and live happily ever after...and then he promptly never mentioned or thought about her ever again. Posted October 19, 2009. Last accessed October 24, 2010. These terms are generally used to describe the death of a female character which happens in order to provide cheap emotional depth and/or motivation for a male character.
A particularly offensive example is in the film Patch Adams, which was allegedly based on the life and work of physician Hunter Adams. https://www.patchadams.org/ In the film, the fictional Patch develops a romantic connection to a woman named Carin Fisher, who falls in love with him only after admitting she was molested as a child, and is then murdered by an unstable patient. The real Hunter Adams had a male friend who was tragically murdered. So in essence, the man's actual history was altered to create a love story for the film, with the original female character brought in solely to be killed off and give the male lead romantic angst.
==Other meanings==
This term is also occasionally used for the standard doomed love interest effect that happens on many tv shows that don't have strong story arcs. (See BOTW and 42-Minute Reset.) Some characters suffer from this frequently; see The Cartwright Curse of the Cartwright family on Bonanza, or Samantha Carter from Stargate: SG1, nicknamed the "Black Widow" for her multiple dead love interests. The term black widow is often used for women who directly contribute to their lovers' deaths, either by murdering them or intentionally leading them astray. In this case, fans are just referring to how frequently Carter's love interests die.
==Fan Response==
==Fridging vs. Anyone Can Die or Heroic Sacrifice==
Because stuffing women into the fridge is unfortunately still much too common in media, it's become a kneejerk reaction among parts of fandom to see all female character deaths as such. This unfortunately leads to incorrect labeling or even accusations of sexism from the creators and has even led to backlash from fans who see these protests as "removing women from the human experience" in a series where literally anyone can and has died, white men included. Okay, so.
Heroic sacrifices performed by female heroes have also been mistaken for fridging, such as Princess Allura's decision to ascend to a higher plane of existence to repair shattered realities in Voltron: Legendary Defender. Fans of the character who were hurt by the loss declared her "fridged" and accused her sacrifice of being solely to motivate the male team members and sole white female despite Allura having shown many indications of being willing to sacrifice herself for her ideals previously in the series. Additionally, the creators confirmed she can return once her "work" is done.
Characters like Katara and Sokka's mother in Avatar: The Last Airbender are seen as skirting the line. Kya heroically sacrificed her life to protect Katara, who would go on to become one of several who ended the century-long war and save the world alongside the hero. However, she is only seen once during that flashback, and her death is a motivator for Katara's need to help others and her long-standing grudge against the Fire Nation.
==Related Links==
*Gail Simone's website: Women in Refrigerators 
*Additional examples on the TV Tropes Wiki
==See also==
*Misogyny in Fandom
==Notes==
Category:DC Comics Fandom Glossary
Category:Tropes & Genres
Category:Social Media Feature