Knowing things about one’s character(s)—even things that never make it onto the page—will keep those imaginary people in character, consistent, well-rounded, and flexible so that new plot twists and turns don’t leave the reader feeling like an entirely new person has been introduced.
A worldwide pandemic is definitely an unexpected turn (unless your character is a historical tracking epidemiologist)! And rich with complexities. For the sake of better knowing your character(s), consider what the current pandemic would reveal. Remember that traits revealed by current events can be applied by authors to characters dealing with any historical, fantastical, futuristic, or imaginary setting.
Masks
This isn’t as singular as it first seems. What is your character’s attitude/ behavior regarding masks? And why? Here are several possible choices. The Why is up to you!
Refuses categorically
Complies reluctantly
Will wear only when visiting nursing homes or vulnerable family
Embraces masks a good thing
Sees masks as just another opportunity to accessorize
What do your character’s masks look like? What quality or grade? Would your character confront someone about wearing/not wearing a mask?
Social Distancing
Easy or difficult for your character?
Ignores physical distance
Meticulously maintains a 6’ distance
Social distances in public places only
Feels safe being closer when outdoors
Hugs and kisses family
Hand Cleaning
Pays no particular attention, i.e., washes when hands feel/look dirty
Cleans hands when entering or leaving a building
Sets up a hand washing/sanitizing schedule, e.g., every hour
Preference for soap and water or sanitizer?
Safer at Home
Does not leave residence at all; everything is distance communication and delivery
Goes out only for medical reasons and food
Travels locally in own vehicle
Travels locally in someone else’s vehicle, just driver and character in back seat passenger side
Comfortable traveling by taxi, bus, train, or plane with appropriate precautions
Travel whenever and wherever, damn the consequences
Alone or Together
Does your character live alone? Is that a good thing or bad?
Does your character alone get lonely?
Does your character living with others experience increased tension and conflict? With partner and/or children.
What if your character’s friend/loved one dies?
How would your character handle home schooling?
(If s/he has no children, consider a distance learning tutor or a character educating him/herself via online resources.)
Crowds
Avoids them like the plague (pun intended)
Braves them only for a “good cause” such as civil rights demonstration
Would go to a family reunion
Would address a crowded room for work reasons
Happy to party down
Work
Would your character be able to work from home?
Is your character an essential worker?
Could/would your character be furloughed?
Is your character a business owner, responsible for others?
Would your character’s workplace be shut down?
Would money/loss of income be a problem for your character?
With But Not of COVID-19
Name Changing
Would your character have a singular or varied response, depending on what’s being renamed? Consider the timing and speed of public opinion shift in the setting: immediately renaming provinces, shops, schools, and cities per government mandate during China’s Cultural Revolution versus the gradual shift of the capital of Kazakhstan from Astana to Nur-Sultan.
Rename schools, named for Confederate “heroes”
e.g., Stonewall Jackson Middle School, Washington and Lee University
Rename roadways, bridges, etc.
e.g., Lee-Davis Highway
Rename Washington Redskins team
Rename towns/cities
Public Memorials, Symbols
Confederate flag, paintings, statues displayed on public property.
Leave them alone. It’s history.
Leave them, but provide context.
Remove them to Civil War battlefields or museums.
Remove and destroy.
Bottom line for writers: Remember that you are describing your character(s), not yourself. The “why” is important. Did you learn anything about your character(s)?
In Friday’s blog I talked about the most dangerous jobs in terms of actually dying from accident or injury. These are acute incidents. But exposure over time—what I’m calling chronic hazards—can be just as deadly, often with prolonged pain and suffering.
In truth, it isn’t always an either/or situation. If they are combined, being President of the United States is the deadliest job in the country. To date, 8 of the 45 presidents have died in office: 4 were assassinated and 4 died of natural causes.
The ill effects of exposure over time is the focus here.
Heavy metals
Not that kind of heavy metal
“Heavy metals” and metal compounds are notoriously harmful to people’s health. Some toxic, semi-metallic elements, including arsenic and selenium, are as well. In very small amounts, many of these metals are necessary to live. However, in larger amounts, they become harmful by building up in the body’s systems. People were dying from such exposures long before they knew the causes or had explanations. Of the 35 metals that are of concern because of residential or occupational exposure, 23 are heavy metals. Here’s a partial list.
Arsenic
Common sources of exposure to higher-than-average levels of arsenic include working near or in hazardous waste sites or in areas with high levels naturally occurring arsenic in soil, rocks, and water. Arsenic released by human activities is triple the exposure from natural sources. Most paints, dyes, soaps, metals, semiconductors, and drugs contain arsenic. Some animal feeding operations, pesticides, and fertilizers also release arsenic to the environment.
High arsenic levels in drinking water causes health problems in areas of India, Bangladesh, China, and other countries.
Symptoms of lower arsenic exposure include nausea and vomiting, reduced production of erythrocytes and leucocytes, abnormal heart beat, pricking sensation in hand and feet, damage to blood vessels. Prolonged exposure leads to skin lesions, internal cancers, neurological problems, pulmonary disease, peripheral vascular disease, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes mellitus (Type 1 and 2). Many of the effects are irreversible. There is no effective treatment for arsenicosis. Exposure to high levels of arsenic can cause death.
Beryllium
Beryllium Strip Mine
Elemental beryllium has a wide variety of applications. Occupational exposure most often occurs in mining, extraction, and in the processing of alloy metals containing beryllium.
Beryllium causes sensitization and lung and skin disease in a significant percentage of exposed workers.
Cadmium
Chocolate sometimes has dangerous amounts of cadmium. I’m going to cry.
Cadmium is an extremely toxic metal commonly found in industrial workplaces, particularly where any ore is being processed or smelted. Several deaths from acute exposure have occurred among welders who have unsuspectingly welded on cadmium-containing alloys or with silver solders. Beware jewelry makers!
Green snow caused by leakage from a an old slurry tank in Pervouralsk in Siberia.
When chromium is in a valence state (+6 oxidation), it becomes hazardous to health. Calcium chromate, chromium trioxide, lead chromate, strontium chromate, and zinc chromate are known human carcinogens. An increase in the incidence of lung cancer has been observed among workers in industries that produce chromate and manufacture pigments containing chromate.
Such exposure is likely in these jobs and industries:
Welding and other types of “hot work” on stainless steel /other metals that contain chromium
Use of pigments, spray paints, and coatings
Leather tanning
Operating chrome plating baths
Besides cancer: when broken skin comes in contact with any form of chromium compound, a deep hole will form; also targets respiratory system, kidneys, liver, and eyes.
Lead
The brain is most sensitive to lead poisoning. Symptoms may include abdominal pain, constipation, headaches, irritability, memory problems, inability to have children, and tingling in the hands and feet. It causes almost 10% of intellectual disability of otherwise unknown cause and can result in behavioral problems. Some of the effects are permanent. In severe cases anemia, seizures, coma, or death occur.
Occupational exposure to lead is one of the most prevalent overexposures. Industries with high potential exposures include:
Construction work
Most smelter operations
Radiator repair shops
Firing ranges
Outside the workplace, the main sources of exposure to lead occur from contaminated air, water, dust, food, industrial emissions, and soil, or consumer products such as paint, gasoline, toys, and cosmetics. Lead-based makeup was used in Ancient Greece, but became especially popular when Queen Elizabeth I started using it to hide her chickenpox scars. It killed her. Symptoms prior to death include hair loss, skin welts, and inflammation of the eyes.
As far as I can find, all forms of mercury are hazardous. Common occupational sources of mercury exposure include:
Mining, production, and transportation of mercury
Mining and refining of gold and silver ores
High mercury exposure results in permanent nervous system and kidney damage. Depending on the specific form of the mercury, symptoms include shyness, tremors, memory problems, irritability, and changes in vision or hearing; lung damage, vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, skin rashes, increased heart rate or blood pressure; depression, memory problems, fatigue, headache, hair loss, etc.
Mercury poisoning—a.k.a. mad hatters disease—wasn’t nearly as fun as the tea parties in Alice in Wonderland. Mercuric nitrate, used to make felt, is extremely toxic, and breathing the fumes all day, every day resulted in uncontrollable twitches and tremors, as well as emotional changes, mental decline, kidney trouble, and respiratory failure. As early as 1757, a French physician noted that hat makers seldom lived beyond 50 years, and suffered ill health long before that.
Pregnant women are advised to limit their consumption of fish, especially fatty fish because of mercury buildup.
Toxic Exposures That Aren’t Metals At All
Anthrax
The bacterium Bacillus anthracis causes anthrax, usually lethal to humans. Inhalation anthrax is caused by breathing in spores and has an especially high fatality rate. Person to person spread is rare.
Bacillus anthracis is an unfairly pretty bacterium
Anthrax infections occur naturally in wild and unvaccinated domestic animals. It is contracted primarily from livestock—which is another way farming, ranching, and large-animal veterinary practice can be hazardous to your health.
Asbestos
Asbestos Miners
Asbestos is actually a group of naturally occurring minerals that are resistant to heat and corrosion. Things made of asbestos will not burn—and therein lay its appeal.
Ancient Greeks and Romans knew about it. By the 1850s, French firefighters wore uniforms of asbestos cloth. In the period of hoop skirts, asbestos fabric seemed the perfect solution to skirts ignited by open flames.
Men who mined the ore, women and children who prepared and spun the raw fibers into cloth, all developed asbestosis, scarring of the lungs. This led to chronic shortness of breath, increased risk of some cancers, and eventual death.
Asbestos Lady was a Marvel villain who frequently fought the Human Torch
Asbestos is a heat-resistant fibrous silicate mineral. Besides being woven into fabrics, it is used in fire-resistant and insulating materials. Brake linings, pipe insulation, and house shingles were common uses for asbestos.
NBC caught this image of the Dominion building imploding.
Heavy exposures tend to occur in the construction industry and in ship repair, particularly during the removal of asbestos materials due to renovation, repairs, or demolition. The recent implosion of the Dominion building in Richmond is one example. It was in need of renovation and building a new building was less expensive than trying to remove the asbestos.
Lung cancer from asbestos
Asbestos is well recognized as a health hazard and its use is now highly regulated by both OSHA and the EPA.
Formaldehyde
Naturally occurring formaldehyde in pears is not enough to make you sick.
Previously mentioned in the context of harmful clothing, formaldehyde is a chemical (composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen) formed when burning methane. It is used to make other chemicals, as a disinfectant, and as a preservative. In spite of numerous adverse effects, it’s still widely used.
Formaldehyde poisoning is caused by breathing the fumes, either by working directly with it or using equipment cleaned with it. It can also be absorbed through the skin. Short-term effects include eye, nose, and throat irritation, headaches, and/or skin rashes. Long term, it is well known to be a human carcinogen. Workers exposed to formaldehyde, such as funeral directors and embalmers, are at increased risk of leukemia and brain cancer.
Inhaling above 50ppm concentration of formaldehyde can cause severe pulmonary reactions within a short period: pneumonia, bronchial irritation, and pulmonary edema. Lower concentrations cause coughing, wheezing, and bronchial asthma, sore throat, and red irritated eyes.
Ionizing Radiation
Natural sources of ionizing radiation include radon and uranium. Types include alpha- and beta-decay, X-rays, and gamma rays. They can strip atoms of electrons, damaging DNA. At high enough levels, it kills instantly.
All isotopes of radium are highly radioactive. Radium, in the form of radium chloride, was discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie in 1898. It glowed, and quickly became popular in Europe. Various companies produced radium-based luminescent paint. It was used to make glow-in-the-dark instrument panels and watch dials, among other things. Women and girls (as young as 11) were hired to paint the watch faces, and were encouraged to twirl the brush tip between their lips to get the finest, most precise point—and with each lick of the brush, they swallowed radium.
Some of the girls had a bit of fun with it, painting their nails, teeth, etc. just because who wouldn’t want to glow in the dark? Between the paint ingested and applied and radium dust in the factories, soon the workers glowed as they walked down the street. Radium was in their clothes and under their skin.
Early research using radium to kill cancer cells had been a success, and soon the public thought radium was a cure-all. Doctors started experimenting with it for everything from tuberculosis to lupus, and quacks started touting products for acne, baldness, impotence, and insanity.
LD Gardner began marketing a health water he called Liquid Sunshine. The market was flooded with radium toothpaste, cosmetics, children’s toys, and theatrical costumes. Fortunately for consumers, radium was so expensive that many products didn’t contain real radium.
X-rays of radium poisoning patients
When workers got sick, they got sick slowly. Most of the girls became truly ill in their 20s. Radium is absorbed into the bones just like calcium, and then the rot starts. Some suffered chronic exhaustion first. But for many, it started with teeth falling out one by one. When rotten teeth were removed, their gums wouldn’t heal. Sometimes the jaw disintegrated at the dentist’s touch. Not surprisingly, bad breath was common. Skin became so thin that the slightest touch would cause open wounds. Skin ulcers formed for some. Pregnant women had stillborn babies. Death came slowly and painfully. Bones became honeycombed and crumbled, limbs were amputated, the girls became anemic, bedridden, and unable to eat.
By the late 1930s, enough were dead or dying that they got national attention—but never did they get compensation. One controversy was over whether all of this was caused by radium: how could one element cause such diverse problems?
Because it is so good at killing cells, today the Royal Society of Chemistry says the only appropriate use for radium is targeted cancer treatments.
VISCOSE
Viscose is a thick orange-brown solution made by treating cellulose with sodium hydroxide and carbon disulfide. It’s used as the basis for making rayon and transparent cellulose film.
It was developed in the early 1900s. Fumes emitted during manufacture drove workers insane. They suffered horrific bouts of mania. Historian Alison Matthews David said that one factory put bars on the windows so “workers, demented from carbon disulfide exposure, would not jump out.” Such exposure also leads to Parkinson’s disease.
Many household products contain chemicals which may be harmful to the environment or hazardous to your health if inhaled, ingested, or absorbed through the skin. They should be used and disposed of according to instructions on the packaging. Common examples include:
Writers: Consider all the ways occupational exposure to these products could be harmful to janitors, maids, housecleaners, etc. Consider how they might be used to cause intentional harm. And consider how they might bring serious harm to toddlers.
Self-Destruction
Sometimes the job does not cause death in a direct way but by creating such stress that the employee turns to self-destructive behaviors.
Suicide
Edouard Manet – Le Suicidé
Nothing says self-destruction like taking one’s own life. From 2000 to 2016, the suicide rate in the U.S. population of working age (16-64) increased by 34%. Suicide rates for employed men are three times higher than for women. FYI: the occupations with the lowest suicide rates are education, training, and library. The Bureau of Labor Statistics uses only 23 classifications of occupations; thus, for example, college teachers and library archivists are lumped together.
Among the BLS categories, the one with the highest suicide rates for men was construction and extraction. This includes everyone from boilermakers to electricians to hazardous materials removal workers.
For women the category was arts, design, entertainment, sports and media. This category includes everyone from artists to singers to athletes to court reporters. I find these categories too broad to be helpful. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a more refined basis for comparison.
In 2018, according to an article in PhRMA, American health-care workers were committing suicide in unprecedented numbers. Some are expecting a tsunami of suicides caused by the COVID-19 crisis.
Police officers and firefighters are more likely to die by suicide than in the line of duty. Their depression and PTSD rates are five times higher than within the general civilian population.
Alcohol Abuse
No construction workers were inebriated in the making of this photo. That’s water.
The top three professions with heavy alcohol use are (1) mining, (2) construction, and (3) the accommodation and food services industry. Arts, entertainment, and recreation are 4th.
A 2012 study in JAMA found that 25.6% of female surgeons and 13.9% male surgeons showed symptoms of alcohol addiction. These surgeons were more likely to report feeling burned out or depressed, and/or to have made a major medical error within the previous three months.
Among lawyers 29% in their first decade of practice report problem drinking behavior; 21% of lawyers in their second decade of practice have alcohol use disorders. Lawyers in law firms abuse alcohol at the highest rate. Overall, 33% drink problematically, 28% suffer from depression, and 19% exhibit symptoms of anxiety.
Drug Use/Abuse
An estimated 10% of health care professionals abuse drugs, about the same as the general population. However, doctors are more likely to abuse/misuse prescription drugs than their patients. They use prescription drugs to manage physical pain, emotional distress, and stressful situations. Psychiatrists and emergency room doctors used drugs most, surgeons and pediatricians the least.
Accommodation and food service workers leads all other industries in past-month illicit drug use and past-year. There is no one drug these workers abuse most, including both depressants and stimulants.
Miners are more likely to use illicit drugs (5%) than opioids (1%).
Smoking
The highest prevalence of smoking was among workers in the accommodation and food services industries (28.9%), followed by construction (28.7) and mining (27.8%). The lowest rates were in education services (9.2%).
COVID-19 Adds Hazards
Current circumstances have made already hazardous jobs worse; professions that used to be relatively safe now carry a constant risk of infection. Similar shifted dynamics have occurred with pandemics throughout history, though the specific risks and professions vary.
Workers With Added Risk
Many professions already at risk for acute or chronic health problems are experiencing even more danger. Here are a few of the workers society has finally started to recognize as essential to function in the face of
Healthcare: Nearly every member of the healthcare profession has added stress now, whether from direct contact with infected patients or from increased workload as their colleagues shift to other departments or fall ill themselves. Separation from family and friends to avoid spreading infection adds to the mental strain as well as removing one of the major sources of relief. Add in longer hours and the very real threat of becoming infected, and it’s no wonder mental health experts are predicting a sharp increase in suicides and PTSD among healthcare workers. These extra health hazards are affecting everyone from home health aids to hospital janitorial staff.
First Responders: Paramedics and Emergency Medical Technicians face all the risks associated with healthcare work, but they also have to work in extremely high-stress situations. Firefighters, police officers, medical pilots, National Guard, dispatchers, emergency chaplains, etc. now face the additional risk of infection in every interaction they have with the public. Budget cuts in many areas have caused layoffs, adding extra stress and longer hours for other employees. Firefighters, who often double as medics, generally spend 24-48 hour shifts in close quarters when not responding to calls.
Food Production: Employees at every stage of the chain producing food for tables are facing added risks of infection and added workload. The people who harvest crops (already backbreaking work in its own right) often face the additional health threats of close living conditions, lack of access to regular medical care, and frequent moving among regions.
Employees at meat processing plants face similar external health risks, with the additional infection burdens of longer shifts in close-packed factories, and a lack of sufficient personal protective equipment. Some of these people have been ordered to continue working in the face of Health Department concerns and their own fears for their health.
Cargo Transportation: Relatively empty roads reduced the risk of vehicle collisions temporarily, but drivers faced added risks from longer hours, longer routes, and additional delivery pressure. For every driver who becomes sick or stops driving to take care of family members, other drivers take on additional work to cover routes. In addition, drivers now face a risk of infection at every pick-up, delivery, and rest stop.
Workers With New Risk
Many careers formerly considered relatively safe now come with risks entirely the result of the pandemic. Massive layoffs have put extreme performance pressure on remaining workers as well as adding the constant risk of economic uncertainty. Those deemed “essential” to the continued functioning of society as we know it often face threats of retaliation if they don’t remain at work. And still, these careers tend to be among the lowest-paying jobs in the US economy. They often lack proper safety equipment, paid sick leave, adequate health care, childcare options, and numerous other ways to mitigate risk and stress for themselves and their families.
Food Preparation
Retail Grocery
US Postal Workers
Mass Transit
Warehouse Employees
Home Delivery
Proxy Shoppers
Poll Workers
Food Bank Distributors
Pharmacists
Facility Sanitation
Utilities Maintenance
Teaching
Elder Care
Bottom Line: Many people/characters have little or no idea of the hazards their jobs hold for their health, both short and long term. Tension, illness, and death possibilities are nearly limitless! Consider an entire family’s suffering.
Deadliest Job in the Galaxy: Red Shirt Crew in Star Trek
Although necessary for the economic (and possibly mental) health of most people, working is more-or-less bad for your physical health. This two-part blog explores the most unhealthful jobs. Jobs can be unhealthful in two basic ways: acute incidents and chronic conditions. In Part 1, I’m focused on acute incidents that take workers’ lives. Next time, I’ll explore chronic work conditions that injure people with repeated exposure, over time.
Writers Note 1: All of these jobs provide opportunities for murders that look like accidents–and when occupational deaths are so common, sliding in a murder would be more likely to be missed.
Killer Jobs
There’s a very good reason they put these signs up.
The rate of fatal work-related injuries overall is 3.5 per 100,000 workers. More than any other big category, transportation-related accidents killed workers (more than 2,000 of 5,250 deaths, 40%). The second-most common workplace fatalities was contact with objects and equipment, 13%. These numbers come from cnbc.com, 12/27/2019.
Although exact rankings vary somewhat from year to year, there seems to be consensus that the following jobs are the ones most likely to have workplace fatalities, based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The parenthetical numbers are fatal injuries per 100,000 workers, giving you a comparison metric
Loggers (109.3) most often die because of logging equipment or logs. In addition, they work outside, in isolated areas, exposed to dangerous weather conditions.
Deep Sea Fishermen (74.2) as well as other sailors (55.1) most often die by drowning. They also face risks from icy decks, working with heavy equipment, being sick or injured too far from land to get medical treatment in time. ISHN: “And to top it all off, this [deep sea fishing] is about the only profession where you can be swallowed whole.”
Aircraft Pilots and Flight Engineers (50.4) most often die in transportation “incidents.” The majority of fatalities result from crashes of privately owned planes. About 20% of fatal U.S. crashes happen in Alaska, where 82% of the towns and settlements can only be reached by plane.
Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators (46.7) most often die from getting hit by construction equipment or crashes involving other motor vehicles.
Dredging, Excavating, and Loading Machine Operators (42.4) die by contact with objects and equipment. Unstable dredging equipment can sink.
Roofers (39.0) die in ways you might expect: most often falling off the roof, but also slipping and tripping: 34% of falls from roofs are fatal.
Machine Maintenance (37.4), Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders (35.9) are most likely to die from contact with equipment.
Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners (34.3) die from contact with objects and equipment.
Refuse and Recyclables Collectors (31.9) are most likely to die after being hit by the truck or another vehicle. Garbage collectors’ mortality rate is 100 times higher than is considered acceptable risk. By comparison, police offers suffer 15.8 deaths per 100,000.
Structural Iron and Steel Workers (28.0), like roofers, are most likely to die from falls, slips, and trips.
Delivery and Other Truck Drivers (26.0) die most often in traffic crashes. Long-haul trucking accounts for about one out of every four fatal work accidents. Although other jobs have higher fatality rates, truckers have the largest number of deaths on the job.
Farmers, Ranchers, and Other Agricultural Managers (25.6) die most often in crashes, including tractor crashes. However, there are also falls from roofs or multi-story barn lofts, trampling by farm animals, and suffocation in grain silos.
Children (16 and younger) working on farms die more often than all other industries combined. “Farmers are nearly twice as likely to die on the job as police officers, five times as likely as firefighters, and 73 times more often that Wall Street bankers.” (INSH.world)
Taxi Driving is the lowest-paying career on these lists of the most dangerous jobs, with an average annual income of $23,500 in the US. Taxi drivers are twice as likely as police officers to be a victim of homicide while working, and 20 times more likely to be murdered while working than the average American. Compared to other workers, they have an increased risk of such deaths because they work with cash, with the public, alone and during nighttime hours. Black and Hispanic drivers are more likely than white drivers to die on the job, and male drivers are six times more at risk than female drivers.
Writers Note 2: These rankings apply primarily to jobs in the US. Differences in labor laws, environmental conditions, and record-keeping around the world means that characters in other countries have an even wider range of ways to die at work!
All the biggest stars have doubles film the dangerous scenes.
Stunt work – doing dangerous activities on purpose for pay
Tourist attractions, street theater
Doubles for actors in dangerous roles
Stage magicians, escape artists, circus performers, etc.
Shipbreaking – stripping retired ships for reusable materials
Open welding torches around explosive gasses
Sheets of metal falling without warning
Falling from multi-story heights
HuaShan Mountain Pass is one of the most treacherous trails in the world,
Sherpa – guiding hikers up mountain trails
Carrying incredibly heavy packs
Falling off mountains
Avalanches
Mining – many countries have far less stringent safety protocols
Tunnel collapses
Toxic fumes with little or no ventilation
Heavy, sharp, dangerous
Bottom Line for Writers: deaths, whether accidental or intentional, are great plot points, tension builders, and revealers of character.
And you don’t have to take my word for it. Whole books have been written on the subject!
But in case you don’t want to read three books—or even one—here are some highlights.
Undergarments
Bras
Underwire bras can kill you by acting as conductor if you are struck by lightning. Not likely, but possible. On the other hand, underwires digging into your body is common, and can be painful, cause skin irritation, even bruising.
Regularly wearing a push-up or padded bras, on the other hand, constantly pull the breast against gravity and put pressure on the delicate tissues of the lower breast. If these tissues separate from the main body tissues, it causes sagging.
Ill-fitting bras, especially for the well-endowed, can lead to pain in the neck, shoulders, back, and chest. Research by Rouillon on women 18-35 showed that women who did not wear bras developed more muscle tissue to provide natural support. Hmm… One study in 1991 suggested that premenopausal women who went bra-less had half the risk of breast cancer.
Thongs/ G-Strings
To avoid another embarrassment, remember that UNDERwear is meant to be worn UNDER.
Thong panties increases the likelihood of getting urinary tract infections. Thongs that have a tendency to slide forward transfer bacteria to the genitals. And these panties have been linked to the development of hemorrhoids. (To avoid embarrassing confusion, remember that “thongs” in Australia are flip-flop shoes. Scanty panties are called “G-strings.”)
Boxers or Briefs?
In 2018, NPR reported on research that showed that men who wear tight-fitting briefs had sperm counts 17% lower than boxer wearers. This is probably an effect of heat: men’s testicles hanging below the torso stay cooler by 4-6 degrees. By extension, should men who want to father children wear no pants at all? Kilts or kimonos?
Corsets
Available in Maternity and Children’s Sizes!
“Corset” probably brings to mind the lace-up garment of the 1890s, in ads that claimed they could reduce a 27-inch waist to 18 inches. The resulting displacement of internal organs caused constipation and weakened a woman’s back muscles, sometimes to the point of being unable to remain upright without the support of the corset.
Cathie Jung had a 15 inch waist after years of corset training. She eventually had to sleep in a corset to prevent her spine from snapping.
This style of corsets today are mostly relegated to dress-up, sex play, or limited to occasional use.
A modern version would be shape wear. When worn daily, it puts unwanted and unnecessary pressure on internal organs, resulting in acid reflux because of pressure on the stomach, and possible nerve damage by constricting your sides and thighs.
As an interesting historical side note, both lace-up and compression corsets have been marketed to men as well as women.
Petticoats and Slips
Even back then, people thought they were silly.
In addition to trying to shrink their waists, American and European women wore big cage-like devices under their skirts to make their waists look even smaller. The hoop skirt (aka, a cage crinoline) was made of a fabric petticoat with channels to hold thin strips of wood, whalebone, or other stiffenings, and a tie to secure it at the waist.
The bigger the hoop, the more it inhibited women’s mobility. In addition, they were very flammable, making them particularly dangerous around candles, lanterns, fireplaces, and all those other commonly burning things found in the average 19th Century household. In England in the 1860s, as many as 300 women a year died this way.
Bathing Suits
By exposing large amounts of skin to sunlight, a bathing suit can contribute to some types of skin cancers.
For women, the lack of support in bathing suit tops can contribute to the same problems as ill-fitting bras.
Sitting around in a wet bathing suit for hours on end may lead to a yeast infection or UTI, plus anything associated with bacteria in the water.
Advice: change out of wet suits ASAP and use plenty of sunscreen. Swimsuits with long sleeves or pants provide better sun protection but increase the risk of fabric filled with bacteria.
Yoga Pants
For all that they are comfortable and versatile, yoga pants are susceptible to all the problems listed for compression clothing. You might get chaffing from running, inflamed hair follicles (from bacteria) or ingrown hairs (from compression), as well as fungal infections.
Shoes
High Shoes
High heels misalign one’s posture, often leading to long-term damage to knees, spine, hips, and leg muscles. They also increase the risk of tripping, falling, and rolling one’s ankles, sometimes with fatal results. Wearing designer shoes (e.g., Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik, or Christian Lououtin) that cost a fortune still inhibit a woman’s mobility.
Chopines
In 16th century Italy, aristocratic women wore tall platforms called chopines, made of wood, covered in leather, and decorated. The women were essentially walking on short, fat, stilts and unable to move freely. But then, there were few occasions for them to go out, unless it was to display the wealth of the family.
Tengu Geta
British wooden pattens
Similar footwear has been worn for practical or ornamental purposes in many areas. Variations of Japanese geta kept fancy aristocrats and peasant farmers out of mud and snow. Sudanese Nuba wooden sandals, Dutch klompen, Korean namakshin, Cantabrian Spanish albarcas, and British pattens were all variations of risers worn over or clipped to the shoe.
Platform shoes are still with us.
Low Shoes
Flip-flops have been linked to foot, ankle, and knee pain. In addition, the exposed foot is vulnerable to falling objects, getting stepped on or rolled over, an well as tripping or hitting one’s toes into whatever is around.
Crocs, rubber slip-on shoes, are very popular at the moment but with their own dangers. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, nearly 200 wearers (mostly kids) have been injured when their Crocs were snagged between the moving treads of an escalator.
Flat shoes that don’t offer proper support can cause abnormalities in how one walks and runs.
Small Shoes
Marathon Feet
Shoes that are too small in any way are likely to cause discomfort, even if only worn briefly. Wearing shoes that are too small for extended periods of time can cause serious damage to feet. Marathon runners are advised to buy shoes one to one-and-a-half sizes larger than normal to account for swelling caused by hours of pounding the pavement. Not doing so is likely to cause ingrown toenails, lost toenails, cysts on top of the foot, and nerve damage in the toes and arches.
Pointy-toe shoes harm feet by squeezing and molding the foot into an unnatural shape. They distort individual toes, and swelling between toes three and four can pinch a nerve most painfully.
Pointe shoes
Kabuki dancer wearing tabi
Dancers frequently suffer foot problems caused by shoes. Some dancers deliberately wear shoes slightly too small to allow for better grip with the floor or so the material conforms better to the shape of the foot. Tabi (somewhere between shoes and socks) worn by traditional Japanese dancers and ghillies (soft shoes) worn by Irish dancers are often worn a half size too small. Ballet pointe shoes, no matter how well fitted, force the foot into a cramped position while dancers balance their entire weight on their toes.
Bleeding through your socks is always a good sign
The Chinese practice of foot-binding is the most extreme example of shoes mangling women’s feet. Lotus feet were highly valued. For one thing it denoted wealth: the woman didn’t have to work in the fields and/or being carried everywhere implied she would always be rich enough for such service. Walking at all involved a sway of the hips that was thought to be sexy.
No toddlers were harmed in the making of this image. This is a display from the Foot-Binding Museum in Wuzhen.
Foot binding began in infancy or toddlerhood. It was painful at best, and if the feet became infected, could cause septic shock. The last factory producing lotus shoes didn’t close until 1999.
Accessories
Jewelry
Big, heavy earrings may lead to inadvertently stretching or tearing one’s earlobes. They can get hooked onto objects or clothing, and even tear the earlobe.
Nickel allergy rash
Chunky, heavy necklaces and chains put pressure on your neck, back, and chest.
Oversized bracelets can cause wrist, arm, hand, and finger pain. Avoid nickel, found in many pieces of clothing and accessories: it is the cause of one of the most common allergic reactions. Stick with stainless steel, silver, gold, or platinum, depending on your taste and budget.
Hats
Not the proper way to wear a helmet
Wearing a hat per se probably doesn’t cause hair loss, but any tight headgear could break hair follicles, creating bald patches known as friction alopecia. Wearing a hat while sweating can irritate your scalp.
Nothing says high fashion like a boat on your head.
In 1600s France, aristocratic women wore a “pouf,” something between a hat and a hairstyle. Elaborate piles of flowers, feather, ribbons, gauze, or whatever. At least one woman died when her enormously tall pouf hit a candle in a chandelier and caught fire.
Not exactly a hat, but a headpiece nonetheless, in the 1800s men shaved their heads and wore perukes. The lice lived in the wig rather than on the body, and the wig could be sent to the wigmaker to be boiled and deloused.
Neckware
Isadora Duncan, shown here before her scarf got caught in the wheel of her car. The after-photos aren’t quite so graceful.
Wearing scares may lead to strangulation, either intentional or accidental. (Think Isadora Duncan.) Thirty-five people a year are choked to death by their own scarves.
Edwardian dandies
Around the turn of the 20th century, men wore stiffly starched collars that were nicknamed “father killers.” They were so high and stiffly starched that if a man passed out wearing one, it would cut of his air supply.
Neckties are to men what scarves are to women, only less so: ten deaths per year are attributable to neckties.
Bags
On the other hand, a heavy purse can be very useful for beating up neo-Nazis, as photographer Hans Runesson showed in 1985. Beware the wrath of little old Polish grandmothers with very heavy handbags!
Heavy shoulder bags, handbags, and purses are typically carried on the same shoulder or arm, causing neck, shoulder, and back pain as well as throwing the body out of balance, forcing the other side to compensate, leading to all-over discomfort.
Heavy backpacks without a waist strap and book bags can also cause neck, shoulder, and back strain, as well as long-term damage to one’s posture. Advice: lighten the load!
General Hazards in Clothing
Skin-tight clothing —everything from skinny jeans to shape wear and compression clothing—has been linked to all sorts of health problems: heartburn/acid reflux, testicular damage, and compartment syndrome (in which pressure builds up in constricted muscles, potentially life-threatening), and nerve damage. Such clothes can cause tingling in and numbness in feet and legs.
Any clothing that is excessively large presents a danger. A train on a skirt can be caught under bystanders’ feet, wrapped around wheels, or snagged by anything on the ground. Trailing sleeves have a tendency to knock things over or catch any open flames. Extra padding anywhere can put uneven weight on the body or cause the wearer to bump into things. Trouser legs or skirts that are too long are a tripping hazard. Tails always seem to have a tendency to be caught in doors.
Fabrics (including shoes) that don’t breathe often cause general discomfort, as well as dermatitis and fungal overgrowth (e.g., athlete’s foot). Stiff fabrics or scratchy ornamentation can cause chafing and abrasions.
Chemicals in Clothing
Skin is the largest organ of the body, and it’s capable of absorbing substances—not only from skincare products and makeup, but also from clothing. Chemicals absorbed through the skin go into the blood stream, which has access to all the internal organs.
This isn’t the woman in the story. This is Jenny Buckleff, a bride who made quite an entrance at her wedding. (Don’t worry: everyone survived for the reception.)
Warning: the following story is disgusting on many levels. A woman bought a black dress at an upscale shop in Fredericksburg, but returned it a few days later. Another woman bought the dress, and developed such serious health problems that she nearly died. It turns out that the first woman’s mother had died and the black dress was put on her for her viewing. It was thoroughly contaminated with formaldehyde. Formaldehyde and p-Phenylenediamide (in black clothing and leather dies) are in the products of 14 big-brand clothing manufacturers.
Daldykan River in Siberia after an apparent chemical leak from a textile factory
Formaldehyde—used to prevent mildew growth and inhibit wrinkling—is particularly harmful, and the U.S. does not restrict its use. (Sri Lanka and China two of the worst offenders, and major sources of inexpensive clothing.) Formaldehyde has been linked to an increase in lung cancer, difficulty breathing, and itchy eyes/nose/throat.
Side effects run from mild dermatitis to disruption of the endocrine system to cancer. However, different chemicals can affect different organs.
Green dye, made with lead and mixed with arsenic
The U.S. doesn’t require disclosure of any of the chemicals used during production even though, according to Emma Loewe of MindBodyGreen, (How Worried Should You Be About Chemicals in Your Clothes), “…by some estimates there are upward of 250 ‘restricted substances’ used in textile manufacturing that pose potential health concerns.’”
Avoid Being Poisoned by Your Clothes
Be especially careful of irritating or poisonous chemicals in children’s clothing.
Because synthetics carry a heavier load of harmful chemicals, necessary to produce them, choose organic, natural fibers such as cotton, linen, jute, silk, and hemp.
Also avoid clothing labeled flame retardant or as wrinkle, stain, odor, or water resistant because these effects are achieved through chemical additives.
If you need synthetics, choose brands that use “rPet” or recycled polyester (e.g., Adidas and Athleta do this).
Choose clothes colored with natural dyes. If you don’t know, go for lighter colors, which contain less dye.
Wash before wearing to remove any surface chemicals picked up during packaging and shipping.
If you notice any kind of reaction to your clothing, discontinue wearing and consult a medical professional as warranted.
And last but not least: don’t wear anything that makes you feel self-conscious or nervous just because it is “in.”
Writers Note: Surely at least some of your characters make hazardous clothing choices!
A cunning murderer who makes it look like an accidental suffocation or poisoning
An advocate on behalf of someone who has suffered long-term effects of harmful dyes or chemicals
A character knowingly wearing harmful clothing in an effort to look fashionable
A character who refuses to wear harmful clothing and is shunned
A lower-class or impoverished character without the money to wear organically made or custom fitted clothing
Consider arming your character(s)! If for no other reason, sometimes a little self-defense could come in handy. And consider the reasons that character might not want to look armed. And then consider your weapons of choice, based on the character’s character and lifestyle.
Rings
Knife Edge
Secret Compartment
Single Shot Revolver
Hidden Spikes
Secret Compartment
Concealed Knife
Poison Capsule
Secret Compartments
Pepper Spray
Secret Compartment
Poison Capsule
Hidden Spike
Hidden Spike
Secret Compartment
Single Shot Revolver
Poison rings (also called pill box rings): an oldie but goody, the oldest examples date back to ancient Asia and India, popular in Europe starting in the 16th century; an empty space under or in the bezel could contain poison or other substances; a favorite with both assassins and generals
Knife blade ring: the top of the band is sharp enough to cut
Hidden spike ring: take off the top guard (rose blossom, ball, etc.) to expose a sharp, pointed blade weapon capable of ripping skin, drawing blood, and collecting the DNA of an attacker
Last shot revolver ring: ring looks like a six-shot revolver chamber seen from the back side; one 14K bullet chambered; these may not be effective as a weapon
Stealth cat ring: double-spiked ring that poses as a harmless pair of cat ears
Secret compartment ring: part of the band or top of the ring opens to reveal a small space in which correspondence, cameras, etc.
Nails or Claws
Bear Claws
Finger Gauntlet
Spiked Nails
Extended Nails
Traditional Chinese Wedding Ornamentation
Extreme Nails
Spiked Bracelet with Extended Nails
Ancient Chinese symbol of wealth and status, showing that people did not need to use their hands
A variation is a finger gauntlet, a jointed metal cover for one finger, usually with spikes or blades attached
Claws can be attached like a ring on the smaller knuckles of the fingers or slid over the tips of their finders
Blades could be attached to the top of the claw, or the tip of the nail itself can be a blade
These can be worn as a singular ornament or as an entire set on all fingers
They’re not exactly hidden, but they are easily overlooked as weapons
Bracelets
Hidden Compartment
Poison Capsule
Hidden Blade
Hidden Rapier
Spiked Bracelet
Dragon Chain
Buddhist Mandala
Hidden Clasp Blade
Chakram Cracelets
Secret Garrote
Dragon Chain in Use
Hidden compartment bracelets can hold a variety of helpful ways to kill people, including poison, lockpicks, keys, correspondence, etc.
Bracelets can easily conceal knives, either in the clasp, inside the band, or in a hidden compartment
Garrote wires can be covered with ornamentation
Chakram bracelets are a traditional Indian Sikh weapon, requiring skill to use effectively as a thrown, bladed weapon
Buddhist mandala (meditation) beads are effective blunt ended weapons
Really big Rosaries can be used the same way, if a character is very determined
Dragon chains are effective wrist guards and can be used as ranged attack weapons (this requires a great deal of training)
Spikes can be hidden among decoration on the edges or tops of bracelets
Necklaces
Secret Compartment
Hidden Blades
Secret Compartment
Kunai Blade
Rosary
Garrote
Poison pendant: functions like poison rings (above)
Hidden compartments in pendants can hold many other useful objects, such as lockpicks, photos, computer chips, explosives, correspondence, lights, etc.
Almost any shape pendant can disguise a blade
Kunai Blades: particularly useful in hand-to-hand combat, but they can also be used for traction when scaling the sides of buildings
Pendants designed with spikes can stab
Garrote necklace: handheld chain strong enough to strangle a person
Rosaries and Buddhist mandalas can also be worn as necklaces and used as described above
Brooches
Design Blade
Hidden Compartment
Poison Capsule
Detachable Spike
Poison hidden inside
Secret compartments can hold almost anything
The pin itself can be used to stab
Spikes or ridges in the design itself can be used as weapons
Prominently displayed brooches often carry hidden meanings
Earrings
Small Spikes
Small Blades
Hidden Compartments
Poison Capsules
Lockpicks
Handcuff Shim
Being so close to exposed skin on the neck limits the use of earrings as pointed or edged weapons
Carefully designed earrings can have small spike or blades
Lockpicks can be hidden within the design of earrings
Some earrings can contain specially designed shanks for breaking out of handcuffs
Earrings can contain hidden compartments for holding poison or other items helpful for maiming
Sunglasses
Hidden Blades
Hidden Camera
Secret Dart Gun
Knives in Earpieces
Blades can be hidden in the frames
Concealed tranquilizer or infectious darts can be hidden in the hinges
Being at eye level makes them ideal for concealing cameras
Hats
Blade Clipped to Bill
Spiked Back Clasp
Slappy Hat
Odd Job’s Razor Hat
Garrote Wire Concealed Under Flowers
Tactical cap with self-defense clip-on-bill
Spikes or tasers can be hidden on the back clasp
Perhaps the most famous is Odd Job from James Bond, who had a notoriously deadly hat with a razor-sharp brim
“Slappy Hat” has a weighted top to deliver extra punch when used as a weapon
Almost any hat or head covering can conceal a garrote wire
Hat Pins
Victorian Hat Pins
Edwardian Hat Pins
Designed to pierce through the hat and secure it to the head
Hat pins made ideal stabbing weapons
Head of the pin was large enough to conceal poison or other items
Could be used as lockpicks
There is ample newspaper evidence of women using and being encouraged to use hat pins as defensive weapons in public
Hair Pins
Antique Kanzashi
Tiny Child Armed to Kill
Antique Chinese Hair Pins
Hidden Dagger
Modern Hair Pin
Victorian Comb
Antique Chinese Hair Pins
Japanese kanzashi hairpins were originally designed for personal defense and as good luck charms
Fancy pin heads could conceal many useful things, depending on how ornate the hair pin
Poison
Lockpicks
Blades
Garrotes
Poisonous flowers
Throwing knives can be easily disguised as hair pins
Could be tipped with poison
Used in formal hairdressing in almost every culture in the world, by men and women, depending on the time period
Shoes
Stiletto
Gun Heels
Hidden Blades
Spikes for Shoelaces
Hold Everything
Hidden Blade
Crush Everything
Strike Fear Into the Hearts of Your Enemies
Blades can be concealed in the toe
Actual stiletto blades in the stiletto heel
Shoes have been designed with guns in the heal, but they are not very useful as weapons
Spikes on sides, backs, and tops
Laces can have spike woven in
Heavy, steel-cased boots can crush or break bones
Provide holsters for knives, guns, brass knuckles, etc.
Undergarments
Concealed Corset Holster
Metal Defense Corset
Knives in Corset Stays
Bulletproof Underpants
Underwire Gun Holster
Hidden Knife Sports Bra
Hidden Knife Pocket
Concealed Gun Holster
Bra Clip for Hidden Knife
Concealed Holsters
Corset stays can be designed to be removed and double as knife blades
Corsets had steel or bone stays (or were made entirely of steel) and served as defense
Holsters for knives, guns, and mace can be hidden in undergarments
Padded undergarments can provide some protection from knives
Kevlar underpants are bulletproof garments specifically designed to protect the femoral artery
Miscellaneous Concealable Weapons
Knife Pens
Spiked Grip
Spike Keychain
Coin Purse Cosher
Umbrella Sword
Stun Gun Grip
Hidden Blade Carabiner
Credit Card Knife
Knife Belt Buckle
Comb Knife
Lipstick Knife
Monkey Fist Keychain
Tactical Flashlight
Highlighter Knives
Stun Gun Lipstick
YooGo Defense Keychain
Walking Stick Sword
Key Knives
Telescoping Rod Keychain
Pepper Spray Lipstick
Hidden belt knife: knife is concealed in buckle area, can be pulled faster than from a pocket or sheath.
Comb knife: slide the teeth off to expose the knife blade
Hidden knife keychain
Lipstick tube concealing pepper spray
Hidden knife pen
Hidden Knife highliters
Hidden credit card knife
Hand grip concealing spikes
Coin purse that doubles as a blunt weapon when full
Walking stick or umbrella with a sword inside
Carabiners with flip-out knives
Bottom line: whatever the occasion, there’s a weapon for that!
If you’re a superhero, concealing weapons isn’t such a concern.
Scribe Amennakhte wrote the Turin Strike Papyrus (c.1157 BCE), believed to be the first written record of workers’ strikes and sit-ins. Tomb artisans in Deir el Medina sat down on the job and refused to work until Pharaoh Ramesses III agreed to pay their food wages.
Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counteract ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.
Saul Alinsky
Marching against injustice or striking for improved work conditions, pressing for suffrage or civil rights, playing music or writing books to increase public awareness—throughout history, all sorts of causes have moved people to seek change. The definition of a protest is both vague and nebulous, depending on the speaker. For the purpose of this blog, I’m going to limit my definition to a conscious attempt by people in a society to change some part of the status quo.
Part of the Bayeux Tapestry, depicting the Battle of Hastings
The Battle of Hastings in 1066 was not a protest by William the Conqueror against the policies of King Harold of England. A toddler throwing mashed peas on the floor is not protesting in an attempt to change the household policies on vegetable consumption.
A very British protest
Swan Lake meets the Red Lady Army
A protest is an expression of objections, disapproval, or dissent regarding an idea or action, typically a political one. The intention is to publicize opinions in an attempt to influence public opinion and/or government policy or to alter conditions so that the change results directly. The categories listed below can have a great deal of overlap: a rally may include protest music; a hunger strike may be accompanied by a vigil; a march may end with delivering a petition, etc. Nearly any type of protest can end in violence, either on the part of the protesters or from opponents trying to stop the protest. Today’s blog will be limited to protests intended to be peaceful.
Rally: People in the affected group gather together, often with other allies from the community, to improve solidarity, boost morale, and demonstrate the size of the affected community.
Rallies often include speeches, speakers, singing, preaching, and other attempts to raise awareness in the general community and encourage people to continue to campaign.
Crowds of people rallied together are more likely to attract media attention, providing a platform for the message to be spread further.
Russians protest 2019 election results in Moscow
Roman plebians were occasionally allowed to gather in a few public spaces to make their grievances against behaviors and unmet expectations of the princeps heard, primarily outside theaters, bathhouses, and the circus.
Students rallied at Tiananmen Square in 1989 to call for more freedom and government transparency.
Turkish women rally to protest violence against women and police apathy
Georgians rally in Tbilisi to legalize marijuana
The M’ikmaq people of the Elsipogtog First Nation took a stand against fracking in 2013 in New Brunswick.
March: Affected people and supporters move from point A to point B, often beginning or ending with a rally. Marches often include prayer walks, chants, and singing, as well as signs and banners detailing demands.
Though most protests are relatively short, a few miles or circling around and around the same area, some are extremely long.
In 195 BCE, Roman women came from all over the country to march on Forum in protest of the Senate refusing to repeal the lex Oppia, a law funding the Punic Wars by forbidding women wearing jewelry.
Mary Harris “Mother” Jones led the March of the Mill Children from Philadelphia to New York in 1903 to protest working conditions, especially child labor conditions.
Marches for racial justice and equality have taken place around the world in the past few weeks
Opal Lee, who is 93, is walking from Ft Worth, Texas to D.C. to protest for racial justice and deliver a petition to Donald Trump.
Vigil: Banners, placards, candles, and/or leaflets are displayed quietly so passersby know what the vigil stands for even if those standing vigil say nothing.
Many vigils are accompanied by music and symbolic lighting or extinguishing of candles or lights to symbolize lost lives or spreading hope, among other statements.
A vigil can also be held to raise morale for someone who is unable to be there, to let someone confined in hospital or prison know that others in the community are aware of their plight, or to bring awareness to authorities or the community at large.
UCI nurses held a candlelight vigil protest the lack of personal protective equipment for health care workers treating COVID-19 patients and to honor health care workers who have contracted COVID-19. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Vigils have been held outside prisons to ask authorities too release at-risk, nonviolent prisoners so they won’t die of COVID-19.
A candlelit vigil is held every year to mark the anniversary of the massacre at Tiananmen Square.
Jenny Holzer staged a lightshow vigil to remember victims of gun violence and to spark conversation on how to prevent it in the future.
Art – Creativity of every kind is put to use in support of various causes.
Sections of the Berlin Wall left standing have become canvasses for murals calling for peace and freedom.
Songs – Strange Fruit became one of the most well-known anthems of the American Civil Rights Movement.
Music -The Brothers of Brass play Louisiana-style jazz at racial justice protests in Denver.
Dance – Young ballerinas in Richmond, VA dance to protest monuments to Confederate generals in 2020.
Grafitti – Tahrir Square in Iraq has been surrounded by murals painted in support of equality.
Theater – “The Other Shore” was written by Gao Xingjian in 1986 to protest government censorship and lack of individuality. It has never been performed in mainland China.
Poetry – Sextus Propertius the poet wrote several poems highly critical of Caesar Augustus’ warlike nature, generally decrying militarism as a policy.
Petition: Having a written record of multitudes who support a cause is an effective way of getting the attention of authorities.
Activists deliver 400,000 signatures on a petition against changes to the NHS in England.
King John was petitioned by his barons to sign the Magna Carta at Runnymede in England in 1215, reducing the power of the monarchy.
Human Rights Campaign gathering signatures to present to legislature in support of a bill supporting equal right
Satire: Rather than attack an authority directly, undermining credibility or gravity by mocking is sometimes a more effective method of advancing a cause.
Protesters shed their clothes to protest the clothing industry’s reliance on sweatshop labor
Vikings historically have been portrayed as uncivilized barbarians without culture or intelligence by the people who left written records of them – literate monks whose monasteries had been burned.
Lysistrata is a comedic play by Aristophanes about women trying to end the Peloponnesian War by withholding sex until their husbands agree to stop fighting.
Environmental protesters in London protesting corporate interests putting profit over humanity.
Across the street from Westboro Baptist Church, a notoriously anti-gay religious sect, the home owners have painted their houses in the colors of Gay Pride and Transgender Pride.
PETA activists often demonstrate in public by dressing ridiculously to illustrate absurdities in the meat and fur industries.
Ester Hernandez created this illustration to express anger at the human and environmental costs of commercially grown agriculture.
“Doxxing” (or doxing) is a destructive variation of this type of protest, more common since the spread of the internet. Protesters widely publish contact details and sensitive information about people with whom they disagree in an effort to endanger their careers, social lives, families, and personal safety.
Lewis Hine’s photographs of child laborers showed the terrible conditions in which they worked, creating a public outcry
White Rose Society students in Germany protested Nazis by secretly printing anti-Nazi pamphlets and leaflets with information about prison camps and SS atrocities.
Incorrect doxxing nearly ruined the life of Kyle Quinn after he was mistakenly identified online as having taken part in a neo-Nazi rally. He was not involved in any way and was not even in the same time zone.
Lawsuit: A social movement or group can sometimes use the legal system to advance their aims.
A recent US Supreme Court ruling allows immigrants brought to the country as children to stay.
The Sumerian Code of Ur-Nammu, one of the oldest recorded legal systems, provides methods for women to sue for divorce, for slaves to be set free or re-enslaved, for everyone to be punished, and for property disputes to be resolved.
Elizabeth Freeman was the first woman to win her freedom in court in America, having successfully sued for her freedom from her former owner in 1781.
Richard and Mildred Loving took their case all the way to the US Supreme Court in 1958 to defend their right to marry, opening the way for all other interracial marriages.
Symbols: Pictures are worth a thousand words, and actions speak louder than words… The same is true when protesting. There are many ways to call attention symbolically to a cause
A die-in for eight minutes and 46 seconds in memory of George Floyd, to call for police reform
Shoes left empty to stand in place of people being killed by climate change
Indian students bandaged their eyes to echo the injuries inflicted on a fellow student and to protest safety for Jamia students
Indian farmers stood in chest-deep water for days to call attention to rising floods ruining their farmlands
Puerto Rican protesters erected a guillotine against government corruption
South African women taped their mouths shut to protest community silence about rape
Chinese students against government propoganda education
Colin Kaepernick knelt during the playing of the National Anthem before football games to protest police murder of Black people
Activists in Pamplona, Spain painted themselves red and staged a die-in to protest the Running of the Bulls
A Syrian migrant sewed his mouth shut in protest of the lack of safety or empathy in the world for refugees
Tommie Smith and John Carlos bowed their heads and raised a Black Power salute during the medal ceremony at the 1968 Olympics, in support of the Civil Rights Movement. Peter Norman, the Australian sprinter who won the Silver Medal, had his award stripped as punishment for his support of his fellow athletes.
Protesters put plastic bags on their heads to demand clean air and action against climate change
Bicyclists dumped yellow paint on the roadways around the Arc d’Triomphe, causing motorists to spread the paint into the shape of the sun, raising awareness for solar energy
Toni Smith turned her black on the flag during the Pledge of Allegiance to protest racial inequality.
Taiwan workers blocked a highway with a die-in, bodies spell out “raise our salaries”
Clothing, or lack thereof, can send a strong yet silent message. People can call attention to their message by wearing clothing considered socially unacceptable, wearing acceptable clothing in an uncommon way, or wearing clothing that is strongly linked with a particular cause.
Because women have traditionally been excluded from the sphere of public discourse, many women brought attention to their causes through fashion.
Writing on clothing allows a protester to make their voice heard without actually speaking.
Refusing to wear a particular garment or any garments at all can also send a message.
A model for Gucci made a surprise statement on the runway to protest the designer’s use of glamorized straight jackets in a fashion show. “Mental Illness is not fashion” is written on her palms.
Amelia Bloomer popularized the garment allowing women more comfort and freedom
Women dressed in antique costumes to highlight old-fashioned, sexist laws
London protesters showed their almost-everything to protest the unsafe and unrealistic body standards used by Victoria’s Secret
Girls from Lincoln High wore trousers to school in 1942 to call for an end to the double standards of the dress code
Boys from Clovis High School wore dresses to protest continuing, sexist, double standards in student dress codes
Congressional Black Caucus members wear Kente cloth to display pride in their African heritage.
Saudi Arabian women wore their abayas and niqabs inside out to protest laws requiring women to be fully covered in public
During a protest against sexual assault, this woman wore clothes documenting all the ways men have touched her inappropriately against her will.
IRA political prisoners on Block H refused to wear prison uniforms and wrapped themselves in blankets to protest the British government revoking their status of political prisoners in 1978.
Burkinis on French beaches have become a contentious issue, with the French government banning them and women demanding to wear them.
Jadon Sancho took off his jersey after scoring a goal to reveal a shirt calling for Justice for George Floyd.
Andrew Hawkins wore a shirt emblazoned with the names of men killed by police
LA Lakers players wore shirts echoing George Floyd’s last words in support of Black Lives Matter
US Women Soccer players wore inside out jerseys to protest pay gap
Women dressed like Handmaid’s Tale to protest anti-abortion laws
Indigenous dress to protest racist team names like Redskins
The 2016 Women’s March on Washington featured thousands of women wearing pink hats in protest of Donald Trump.
Slutwalk to protest victim blaming
French men protest gay marriage by being… naked
Philipino naked protestors against Ferdinand Marcosa buried in hero cemetary
Strike, slow down, sick-outs to protest work issues: often follows a failure of negotiations.
Chilean workers on strike in support of popular protests for government change
Pullman car operators on strike in 1894 clashed with union-busters
Factory workers in St. Petersburg, Russia went on strike in 1905, but the Nicholas II sent in the military to break it up.
Shipyard workers in 1942 staged a sit-down protest to call for wage increases
Workers at the Oracle Korea plant on strike
Employees at Woolworth staged a sit-down strike for a regular 40-hour workweek.
Inmates in US prisons went on a hunger strike and refused to work in 2016 and 2018 to call for better conditions and voting rights.
AIIMS- doctors protest racism being treated like terrorists by going on strike for one day
Boycott: Organized refusal to buy or use a product or service in protest of the owners, the vendors, the production, or another aspect that is in need of changing.
Customers and employees call for a boycott of WalMart to push for higher wages and better HR policies.
Employees at a stocking factory opposing a boycott of Japanese goods, including silk
American consumers were told to fight Nazis with their wallets during World War II
After Rosa Parks’s arrest in 1955, the Montgopmery Bus Boycott led to thousands of people walking and bicycling to work in protest of bus segregation.
Picket: hold signs, placards, or banners and walking around circles, with or without singing, chanting etc., point is to impede access to a place or to address the people going into that place, there are legal lengths now to how long a picketer is allowed to physically impede someone trying to cross the line
Miners on strike picketing in 1984
Women working in clothing factories went on strike for safer working conditions and better wages following the deadly fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory.
Sanitation workers on strike picketing to protest segregation during the Civil Rights Movement.
Verizon employees on strike form a picket line.
Civil Disobedience: Deliberately breaking laws (often seen as unjust) is a way to protest their enforcement. The laws broken are typically not violent ones (such as those against murder or driving drunk) and are usually broken with the deliberate intention of being arrested, possibly causing a scene and raising attention while being arrested.
Leshia Evans stood to be arrested in defiance of police orders trying to break up protest after the deaths of Philando Castile and Tamir Rice.
Henry David Thoreau went to jail rather than pay taxes going to support the Mexican American War.
Students sat at the lunch counters in defiance of segregated Whites-Only rules.
Civil Rights protesters deliberately entered spaces marked for segregation, such as the Azalea Room.
Flower arranging without a license in front of Louisiana courthouse
Protesters kissing outside the DUMA in Moscow to push back against new laws against public shows of affection in same-sex couples
Kristen Stewart was disgusted by a dress code requiring women to wear high heels at Cannes Film Festival, so she took off her shoes and went barefoot.
Irish protesters kissing outside DAIL in support of gay marriage
Lebanese protesters for government reforms used multiple means to block roads, including burning tires, practicing yoga in intersections, and setting up living space in the middle of highways.
The Kiss of Love Campaign in India is a protest against moral policing forbidding public affection.
Protesters blocked traffic to the courthouse in Kansas during a Black Lives Matter rally.
Graffiti artists are illegal in most areas, but protesters like this woman send messages of solidarity with suffering and demanding government action.
As everyone should know by now, given recent events and news coverage, who you are and how you look makes a difference across the spectrum of American life. Writing (and publishing your writing) is no exception. I want to thank Kathleen Corcoran—friend, colleague, and occasional guest blogger—for suggesting this topic. In case you missed the photos on the header of my blog, I should clarify that I am a white woman and thus am relying on outside resources.
Surprise, surprise! (Hear the sarcasm dripping.)
Black Authors Get Fewer and Smaller Advances Than Their White Counterparts
L.L. McKinney
Take a look at the author photos on the shelves of just about any bookstore, and you’re likely to be confronted by an overwhelmingly pale gallery. The science fiction and fantasy shelves tend to be even more monochromatic.
The disparity in pay is one reason Black authors are less likely to be full-time authors. Through the magic of Twitter, people were shown just how wide that disparity is. Here are a few instances from #publishingpaidme, started by Black fantasy author LL McKinney.
White American sci-fi author John Scalzi wrote that to the best of his recollection: he received $6,500 for his first two books in 2005 and 2006, then several five-and six-figure advances before a $3.4m deal for 13 books in 2015.
N. K. Jemisin accepting the Hugo Award
In comparison, Hugo-winning Black sci-fi novelist NK Jemisin said that she received $40,000 for each book of the Inheritance trilogy, $25,000 for each book of the Dreamblood duology, and $25,000 for each book of the Broken Earth trilogy, each of which won a Hugo award.
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Black American literary novelist Jesmyn Ward said that she wrote her second novel, Salvage the Bones, before securing an advance. “Even after it won the [National Book Award], my publishing company did not want to give me 100K for my next novel.”
Black American author Roxane Gay’s opinion: “The discrepancy along racial lines is very real. Keep your day job.”
Possible explanation: according to a survey earlier this year by Lee & Low Books (publishers of children’s books), 76% of workers in U.S. publishing identified as white.
In that podcast Wilkinson noted that in spy novels, from James Bond and John le Carré on, the super spies look very male and very white. So she wrote American Spy featuring a Black woman, Marie Mitchell.
Japanese American author and literary critic David Mura has written extensively about the race, gender, and identity the world of publishing. In his article about changes in the traditional path to publication, Mura identifies another challenge facing Black science fiction and fantasy authors.
The divide between the way whites and people of color see the social reality around them is always there in our society…. Creative writing involves the very description of that reality, and so the gulf between the vision of whites and people of color is very present right there on the page. And so, conflict ensues.
Traditional wisdom held that making a main character a person of color will change the focus of the story. The advice was to substitute some sort of alien for the minority human. These things were actually taught in creative writing classes! Butler maintained that if a writer can see minorities for all their humanity—faults, skills, problems, aspirations—writing minority protagonists won’t derail the plot. Butler’s essay still seems spot-on to me, and I recommend reading it!
[R]emember when men represented all of humanity? Women didn’t care much for it. Still don’t. No great mental leap is required to understand why blacks, why any minority, might not care much for it either. And apart from all that, of course, it doesn’t work.
Ramón Saldívar is a professor of English and comparative literature at Stanford University whose scholarly work is with ethnic literature. Stanford News, January 17, 2017 profiled Saldívar prior to the publication of his book The Racial Imaginary: Speculative Realism and Historical Fantasy in Contemporary Ethnic Fiction.
Nichelle Nichols – Lieutenant Uhura Not a well-known writer, but she broke many science fiction barriers
He studied works by African, Asian, Mexican, Dominican, and Native Americans. All were born after the civil rights movement of the 1960s. His overall conclusion is that these writers find new ways to imagine and talk about race through fiction. “They are combining representations of race and racial identity with the wildest literary experimentations one could imagine.” And this is across all genres.
If you want to read what he’s talking about, here are examples of authors he studied, including several prize winners.
African Americans: Colson Whitehead, Perciival Everett, Touré Neblett, Darieck Scott
Asian Americans: Sesshu Foster, Karen Tei Yamashita
Native Americans: Sherman Alexie
Latinos/Latinas: Marta Acosta, Michele Serros, Yxta Maya Murray, Salvador Plascencia
Dominican American: Junot Diaz
April 17, 2018 The New York TimesMatch Book replied to the following query: “I’m hoping you can save me from the literary doldrums. I’m looking for black authors who can both get me excited about reading again and inspire my own writing.” The writer then gave examples of writing she likes, following with, “I need to know that there is an audience out there for mystery, suspense and science fiction written about black characters by black authors, so I don’t feel like I’m writing in vain.” Here are The New York Times recommendations. If you want descriptions of each, check out the post online.
Bottom Line for Writers: the time is long overdue to break the molds and end systemic bias in publishing.
Why Do So Few Blacks Study Creative Writing?
Always the same, sweet hurt, The understanding that settles in the eyes Sooner or later, at the end of class, In the silence cooling in the room. Sooner or later it comes to this, … And she has to know, if all music Begins equal, why this poem of hers Needed a passport, a glossary…
Below you will find facts, maybe useful in your writing, definitely fun—IMHO. As the title says, this is just the facts. If something catches your eye, you can find more about it online. (Most of these are on multiple websites, so list is just for your convenience.)
Five of the ten deadliest poisonous snakes are native to Australia
Many dogs have served US military campaigns, even earning medals, awards, and combat ranking.
Sergeant Stubby served in the 102nd Infantry Division in World War I, the only dog to be promoted through the ranks by serving in combat. He was awarded several medals alongside his handler.
Rags was a stray terrier mutt picked up by an AWOL soldier who used him to bluff his way back into the 1st Infantry Division commander’s good graces. He delivered messages in the trenches, warned of incoming shells, and replaced field telephone wires. After being injured in a gas attack, Rags and his handler were both honorably discharged and sent home. Rage is buried with full military honors.
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Smoky the Battle Dog was found abandoned in a foxhole during WWI and earned eight battle stars in Papua New Guinea and the Philippines, despite weighing only four pounds. In addition to running radio cables, alerting soldiers of incoming shells and gas, and delivering messages, Smoky is unofficially recognized as the first military therapy animal.
Chips was part of the Dogs for Defense program initiated in World War II. He was awarded the Silver Star for Valor and the Purple Heart for being injured in battle. (Those medals were later taken back by higher-ups who claimed Chips was “equipment” rather than a soldier, despite the fact that Chips took out several German pillboxes and disabled all the enemy soldiers within entirely by himself. He is buried with his medals, but don’t tell the generals.)
Nemo A534 was wounded in combat during the Vietnam War but still guarded his handler long enough for the man to radio for help and receive a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. Nemo was one of the first dogs given an honorable discharge from Vietnam and sent home to retirement.
Lucca lost her leg while clearing IEDs in Iraq on her second tour of duty. She was awarded the Dickin Medal by the PDSA and a (unofficial) Purple Heart by one of the hundreds of service members whose lives she had saved.
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The longest wedding veil was the length of 63.5 football fields (6,962.6 m or 22,843 ft 2.11 in)
Superman didn’t fly until 1943 — before that, he could jump 1/8 mile high
The first mechanical computer was invented in the 1822 (by Charles Babbage, not Superman) — the first electrically programmable computer was invented by Tommy Flowers in 1943 (also not by Superman)
in 1998, twelve hundred human bones were found in the basement of the London house where Benjamin Franklin lived, dating from the time when Franklin was staying there. Whether the constantly curious and observant Benjamin Franklin knew what was in his basement… the world may never know.
Abraham Lincoln’s bodyguard (John Frederick Parker) left his post at Ford’s Theatre to go for a drink — he told family members that Lincoln had dismissed him with the valet
Dolphins have been trained to be used in wars: Russia, Ukraine, Iran, and the US have all had Military Marine Mammal divisions at some point
Playing the accordion was once a requirement for teachers in North Korea
Bee hummingbirds are so small they are sometimes mistaken for insects (only 0.056 – 0.071 oz)
Sea lions can dance to a beat (though I can’t say much for their taste in music)
The legend of the Loch Ness Monster goes back nearly 1500 years, first spotted in 565 AD
Two-three teaspoons of raw nutmeg can induce hallucinations, convulsions, pain, nausea, and paranoia that can last for several days, and rarely, death
For 100 years, maps (including Google Earth) have shown Sandy Island off the north-west coast of Australia, though cartographers have been demonstrating that it does not actually exist since at least 1974
A Lone Star tick bite can make you allergic to red meat by transferring a sugar molecule called alpha-gal into your blood
It is illegal to allow a dog to fight a pig in an enclosed space in Florida, but perfectly legal to use dogs to hunt wild pigs
If a pickle doesn’t bounce, it cannot be called a pickle, according to Connecticut law
The English Monarchy owns at least two private properties, one in the Moors of Shropshire and one in London near the Royal Courts of Justice, addresses unknown
Note to writers: plot lines and/or esoteric knowledge for characters, use as you will!
Snopes.com is an excellent resource for making sure your fun facts are actually factual, and it can also be an inspiration for plots or characters from urban legends. My favorite is the one about the bodies hidden under the motel floorboards!
You are likely to recognize at least some of these tips. They turn up in writing classes, critique groups, and books on writing well. Still, a review never hurts.
People have speech patterns, habitual gestures, familiar facial expressions, and characteristic ways of walking. Writers also have writing habits–favorite words or expressions that often seem apt. Maybe you like voices that rumble like thunder. Perhaps you are partial to jettison for flummoxed. Take care that you don’t over-use these darlings. Once in any short story is sufficient, unless their repetition is part of the story. Think twice before repeating them even in a book-length manuscript.
Is it possible to have too much cheese?
Other words aren’t necessarily favorites, just so common – so universal – that they slip in unnoticed. Probably your readers won’t notice, either. But they are so insipid that they deaden your writing. I’m talking about words like smile, frown, scowl, laugh, sigh. I’m talking about faces that flush, eyes that fill with tears.
Make a list of words that you use a lot – that you suspect that you use too often. Use the edit function of your word processing program to find each instance of each of these words. Consider which can be replaced with more precise and/or more vivid alternatives.
To take an example familiar to most people reading this blog: if you have a child narrator/POV for telling the Biblical story of Noah’s ark, stop when the child is out of the story. Do not then add an authorial note about global warming, animal evolution, or anything else that is modern. If you have a mother narrating the loss of three children in a natural disaster, don’t add an authorial note after the mother’s death that tells how the one remaining daughter became a nun and devoted her life to working with children following natural disasters.
These examples are blatant, but beware of more subtle wrap-ups as well. If you have a wrap-up at all, as opposed to an ending, ask yourself whether it takes the reader out of the story itself, whether it adds anything relevant, whether you can do without it.
Keep a notebook/journal/folder – whatever suits your style – in which you record your especially vivid or disturbing subconscious ramblings. Record the dream as soon after the event as you reasonably can, and include as many details as you remember, however bizarre, disjointed, or impossible they may be. You can make use of these dream records in at least two ways.
The most obvious way to use these dream records is when you need your character to have a dream. You can either lift it in total or use it as a starting point. Much easier than creating a dream out of whole cloth.
Because dreams often contain odd juxtapositions, they also are useful when you are writing something that calls for a supernatural, mysterious, or merely unexpected series of events.
Once you are in the habit of collecting your dreams – and maybe the dreams told to you by family or friends – you may find yourself using them in surprising ways.
Uncomfortable words are perfectly correct and not obscene. Nevertheless, they often surprise – or even shock – the reader. Sometimes they make the reader uncomfortable. These latter words can simply be highly personal. My high school English teacher was bothered by the word “bother.” She said it made her think of dirty old men. One of my personal preferences is to use “it isn’t” rather than “it’s not,” the latter sounding too much like “snot”–which is an uncomfortable word for a lot of people.
Kiwi?!
Consider succulent, flaccid, penal, ovoid, horehound, hump, abreast, coldcock, excretion, floppy, fondle, globule, goiter, lipid, niggardly, onus, rectify, and more.
Choose uncomfortable words for effect. Use them sparingly.
There’s something about listening to the pizza original that just seems to get lost in CD or digital files.
Pay attention to the sounds around you – speech and non. Think of how to describe that bird call – or the rainfall, or the traffic, or the crowd at the game – really sounds, and write it down. But also listen to what people are saying. Pick up on strong phrases such as “plucking my last nerve” or anecdotes containing disturbing images, such as a man on a bus with a dead rabbit in a paper bag. Jot these things into your writing journal for later inspiration.
You probably have a vague recollection that sometime in the past – perhaps in high school – someone told you that when writing a newspaper article, you need to cover all five Ws: Who, What, When, Where, and Why. That is good advice in general, including fiction–and even memoir.
Where is this pizza and how can I get some?
The Who covers both the character(s) and the Point of View.
What is generally what the POV character is striving for – anything from making the team to becoming the richest person in the world.
When can be as specific as April 19, 1945 or a vague as once upon a time…
Where is, of course, setting.
Why? Really, just… why?
And Why is motivation – what is driving the character. Much depends on Why, and within the context of your story it must be both believable and sufficient to justify the act. If your character kills someone to secure a spot on the team, the stakes for making/not making the team must be very high indeed, and fully developed in the story.
Burned pizza and raw pizza should both be outlawed!
Characters who are either too good or too evil are too flat! Settings – whether rooms, cars, or countrysides – that are unmitigated beauty are likely to be unbelievable. Pick and choose the good and the bad, especially for your protagonist.
Bottom line for writers: Good tips for good writing will never grow old!
If you feel stuck, try approaching your writing from a different angle.
And who isn’t, these days? But a pandemic isn’t the only trigger for defense mechanisms. For example, the death of a loved one, loss of a job, life-threatening illness, relocation, demotion . . . the possibilities are endless. So, for you reading pleasure and maybe your writing of believable characters, here’s a quick overview of ways people cope with thoughts, feelings, or acts that are too psychologically painful to tolerate.
Acting Out Performing an extreme behavior when a person cannot otherwise express thoughts or feelings. A child’s temper tantrum would be one example. Hurting oneself is one form of acting out—cutting or burning oneself, literally banging one’s head against a wall.
Aim Inhibition Rather than admit to failure, a person accepts a more modest goal. Think of someone who had hopes for a career in the NFL who becomes a high school coach.
If he can’t be the Flash, at least he can be Whizzer!
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Altruism Rather than admit having no control over a situation, a person copes by helping others, perhaps compulsively. This is a person who needs to be needed and may promote helplessness in those close to him/her.
The Angel had such a strong compulsion to help everyone that Dr. Charles Xavier of the X-Men diagnosed him with “heropathy” (not an actual disease).
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Avoidance Refusing to deal with the situation. In the current pandemic, choosing not to watch the news, read the newspapers, or respond to online postings.
Deadpool has been using running and laughing to avoid his horrible life situations since he was a child.
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Compartmentalization Keeping different parts of one’s life in separate compartments, often with different moral guidelines. For example, someone who lies, cheats, steals, or hurts others to make a living but is unfailingly kind, helpful, and loyal to family and loved ones. Another example would be someone who enjoys extramarital sex but would never have “an affair” because that involves emotional intimacy and thus would be “cheating.”
Matt Murdock is a blind defense lawyer by day and the superhuman illegal vigilante Daredevil by night.
Compensation Overachievement in one area because of failure in another. For example, throwing oneself into professional achievement because of failure of a marriage or intimate relationships. Or the opposite: not making it professionally and then becoming a helicopter parent.
Hartley Rathaway was born deaf and became obsessed with sound manipulation, eventually becoming the Pied Piper.
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The Amazons on Themyscira spent centuries denying the existence of any world outside their island paradise.
Denial Basically, this is saying it isn’t so. “There is no pandemic. It’s all a hoax—or an exaggeration.” “It isn’t that dangerous.” Addicts often deny that they have a problem.
Displacement Taking out frustrations, feelings, or impulses on people or objects that are less threatening. It usually applies to displaced aggression. The classic example is the boss criticizes the employee, the employee yells at his/her spouse, the spouse scolds the child, and the child kicks the dog. Of course, the person might just abuse the child or pet. Or one might smash a fist into the wall or break something.
Reed Richards “Mr. Fantastic” frequently expressed his frustrations with the world by beating his wife and children. This panel occurred immediately after such an outbreak.
Dissociation Mentally separating oneself from one’s body or environment in order to keep an overwhelming experience at a distance. An example would be someone unhappy with his/her job has trouble concentrating at work, frequently “daydream” or finding his/her mind wandering.
Trance used her astral projection ability to escape the demonic Limbo pocket dimension and get help.
Fantasy Retreating to a safe place in one’s mind. If one can’t find relief in fantasizing about being turned into a movie star or whatever, you can get much the same effect by binge reading or tv watching or gaming.
Michael Jon Carter hated his life in the 25th century, so he traveled back in time with stolen gadgets to live out a fantasy life as the superhero Booster Gold in the 20th century.
Humor Seeing the funny or ironic side of any situation. This is actually a pretty adaptive way to handle stress and anxiety. For example, wearing a face mask with giant mustache attached or creating silly photo shoots of pets in quarantine.
Spiderman is a master of using bad jokes to torture his enemies.
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Dr. Manhattan is so brilliant that he loses all touch with humanity.
Intellectualization Focusing on the problem/problematic thoughts in a cold, factual way. For example, putting the current pandemic into the context of pandemics through the ages, how devastating they were, how they were transmitted, how they were dealt with, etc.
Passive Aggression This is often the refuge for someone who can’t express anger or aggression directly (by scolding, hitting, etc.). For example, a teenager who is assigned a chore, such as mopping the kitchen floor, who begins by asking a gazillion questions about where to find and how to use the necessary equipment, then doesn’t sweep before starting, then mopping around the table rather than under it, and finally leaving soap scum behind.
Emma Frost generally straddles the line between passive-aggressive and aggressive-aggressive, depending on her allies.
Projection Ascribing one’s unacceptable qualities, thoughts, or feelings to others. Think Donald Trump accusing reporters of being rude.
Harley Quinn projected her brainwashing and Stockholm Syndrome onto Flash and tried to “cure” him.
Rationalization Basically, this is making excuses. You did it, you aren’t denying that you did it, but you give rational or logical reasons for it. What makes this a defense mechanism is that the stated/acknowledged reason isn’t the real motivation. For example, you pawned your mother’s wedding and engagement rings and claim you needed the money when you really wanted to hurt her—or you hated your dead father and don’t want the reminder around.
Gin Genie can create seismic shock waves in direct relation to the amount of alcohol in her system. To be a powerful superhero, she also has to be an abusive alcoholic.
Kamala Khan wants to fit in and avoid trouble but goes out of her way to stand up and confront super villains and terrorists when she shifts into Ms. Marvel.
Reaction Formation Replacing an unacceptable feeling, impulse, or behavior with the opposite. For example, subconsciously wishing a sibling would fail and so going out of one’s way to be helpful and promote success — the perfect fan.
Regression A person reverts to a pattern of behavior that worked when one was younger. Think thumb-sucking, crying, sulking, or temper tantrums.
Zatanna feels such guilt over using her powers to erase the memories of her enemies and friends that her powers revert to a level she had when younger.
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Repression I like to think of this as motivated forgetting. Things that are too painful are kept out of consciousness awareness, but may have a powerful effect on behavior. For example, a victim of early childhood sexual abuse who doesn’t remember the event(s) but has difficulty becoming intimate.
Jessica Jones has years of repressed memories thanks to brainwashing and mind control.
Suppression Much like repression, but one consciously decides not to think about or remember something. This is fairly tough to pull off! Every time it comes to consciousness, one distracts oneself with something else. One example: having an obsessive thought running through one’s head is a way to block other scarier or more stressful thoughts from surfacing.
The Red Room training forced Natasha Romanoff to remove all empathy and mercy and become the Black Widow. She had to retrain herself to join the Avengers.
Sublimation Act out unacceptable impulses by transforming them into a more acceptable form. For example, aggressive impulses channeled into martial arts. Someone who likes looking at naked bodies takes up figure drawing.
Batman has turned the anger and grief from watching his parents’ murder into a drive to fight crime.
Undoing Closely related to Reaction Formation but usually on a more conscious level; trying to make up for unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or behaviors — sort of like an unstated apology. For example, a child who is jealous of a younger sibling and wishes s/he were dead might make a point of giving that sibling toys, one’s cookie, etc.
Tomorrow Woman is an android created to destroy the Justice League. She achieves artificial consciousness and sacrifices herself to destroy her creators instead.
BOTTOM LINES FOR WRITERS: Everyone uses defense mechanisms. It’s how we cope. Choose defense mechanisms for your characters that are in line with his/her character in general. So, for example, a scientist is unlikely to use denial and more likely to use intellectualization.
Although using defense mechanisms is natural, normal, and helpful on an episodic or “acute” basis, long-term or “chronic” use can lead to emotional problems because the underlying threat or anxiety is never actually addressed.
The most emotionally stable superhero out there seems to be Zephyr aka Faith Herbert, from Valiant Entertainment. We should all be as awesome as Zephyr!
