It's rare that I enjoy the sick-to-my-stomach fear that comes from a thriller, but when I do, it's usually because it's fear I recognize. The psychological thriller of the moment concerns the "unhinged" woman, and I can't get enough. Finally, audiences have decided that woman as victim is tired and Woman as an uncontrollable force is believable enough to be capture the imagination and keep you on the edge of your seat.

These stories appeal to me for two reasons. The first, as a young woman living on my own, I don't need to be reminded of my physically vulnerable status. A threatening woman is not a weak woman, nor is she a "good woman" and both are a refreshing change, and a release. The second reason is that these women featured are not simply unhinged, their violence becomes an expression of years of repressed frustrations and internalized misogyny. "You told us what to do and who to be," they tease, "How is that working for you?"

Have you read Gone Girl yet? I won't spoil it for you, but she's CRAZY right? Conniving and relentless and self righteous... (Note possible synonyms: intelligent, driven, and confident in her abilities). How dare she think she could be the driving force of her own life? This character, Amy Dunne, still keeps me up at night, primarily because I can't explain away her lucid and relatable expressions of anger as crazy. Extreme as her actions are, I recognize in myself her bubbling resentment of unfair standards and frustrations with a lack of acknowledgement of the positive qualities she does posses in abundance. When we brush our double standards aside, is she really any worse than her husband?

Girl on the Train

If Amy has no guilt, Rachel from this latest best selling book turned movie Girl On The Train is overrun with it. Her inability to conceive and a ex-husband that lives with his mistress turned second wife and new child drive Rachel to severe alcoholism and dangerous obsession, making her capable of anything. Because all women are just a precarious step away from completely losing it, amirite? Pick up the book, or buy a ticket to learn how absolutely devastating that widespread belief can be to a woman's mental health.

Lemonade

And by now you must have seen or heard Lemonade. In her autobiographical film, Beyoncé creates in her own image the alluring and unpredictable star of her psychological thriller based on he own life experiences. Gone are the days of her haunting plea "Why don't you love me when I make me so damn easy to love," she's ready to make her message a little more forceful. The epic video-album has received plenty of criticism for being too violent and too militant, and even anti-feminist, but surprise! The Queen. Don't. Care. She knows she's so untouchable that even heartbreak can't make her weak, and so she's unleashed her unbridled pain and fury on the world, leaving her audiences to deal with all the uncomfortable feelings it surfaces. Most uncomfortable of all? She dares to be angry, powerful, and black, all at the same time.

Why is it that women must be traumatized and worn down to their breaking point to be powerful? Why are narratives of betrayal and heartbreak the only times woman can believably tap into the potential to do incredible (if horrifying) things? If you believe that men and women are equal, if you believe that men are given access to the same world, you need to spend some time with one of these works. They simply could not exist if that were the case.