The concept of female solidarity is something I’ve always struggled with because of my relationships with the damaged women in my life. But sometimes the camaraderie I pine for (however guardedly) sneaks up on me, and it becomes apparent that watching these [rape revenge] films, and writing about them, is an act of solidarity in and of itself; a provocative means of dispelling the threat their subject matter poses to us. I also think that my interest in them, and my determination to talk it out, is a vicarious means of revenge for what my mother experienced in front of me all those years ago. Like the little girl in Defenceless, the keeper of the secrets, I want to tell her that she’s not a monster because something monstrous happened to her.