tw: discussion of rape and sexual abuse

"Before it was even over, writers began to pick the case of Peter Sutcliffe apart, searching for interesting perspectives.. New angles. Cultural fascination with violent males leads them to being celebrated through the arts in documentary and fiction: books, films, TV dramas, theatre, comics, and songs. So many popular cultural monuments to Sutcliffe have been built by men. Perhaps it's easier to see it as just another story, if you don't belong to the group of people the Ripper wanted to kill?"

Becoming Unbecoming is a haunting and honest discussion of trauma, sexual abuse, and violence against women & girls. Using original drawings paired with quotes from interviews and broadcasts covering the string of Peter Sutcliffe's murders, Una weaves a story about what it means to endure sexual abuse as a child and grow up during Sutcliffe's murdering spree. Una is an unflinching narrator, who doesn't shy away from the difficulties of talking about buried trauma, the "brave survivor// poor victim" dichotomy, and how society's language and portrayal of sexual violence can be as dangerous and insidious as the violence itself.

After I've unexpectedly finished reading certain books, watching certain series, and turned off several movies once the (all male) directors resort to rape and sexual abuse of women as a plot device, this graphic novel was an incredibly well-timed outlet for me to let go of some of my anger about men seeing rape as a story, or something that literally builds character(s) and feel deeply validated by Una's resentment.