Let’s take a look at the plight of the Untouchable Girl, how the limitations imposed upon her mirror society’s contradictory expectations of women, and the ways this trope has evolved into something surprisingly empowering.

The superhero genre explores otherness and how it fits into our world, specifically those with mutations and extraordinary abilities. But as we often see, having superpowers can come at a dire cost. This is especially true for those with uncontrollable tactile powers. They have to build barriers between themselves and everyone else. And until they gain some control, they’re a liability – often with little to no agency. And being a superpowered female with power incontinence adds another layer of unfair responsibility and oppression.


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CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
01:03 Legion's Syd Barrett
02:40 Live action Rogue
03:42 X-Men: The Animated Series Rogue
04:59 Good Girls, "Bad" Girls, & Gatekeeping
06:13 Misfits' Alisha
08:31 AHS: Coven's Zoe
09:23 Modern versions looking at the trope in new ways
09:46 Gen V's Cate
11:31 The Haunting of Hill House's Theo
12:32 Frozen's Ela
13:24 Why the 'untouchable girl trope' still speaks to audiences


The Take was created by Debra Minoff & Susannah McCullough
This video was written Cassondra Feltus, produced/narrated by Jessica Babineaux, and edited by John Tod