Countless retrospectives have noted the psychological violence of this standard. Women who dress as Jessica for Halloween are often shamed for being "too confident" or "asking for attention." The character, who never actually sleeps with anyone in the film, is punished by audiences for looking like she might.
In Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Jessica is introduced as the femme fatale, a trope designed to be ogled and suspected. The narrative immediately weaponizes her sexuality against her. She works at the seedy Ink & Paint Club, a venue where she is objectified nightly, singing "Why Don’t You Do Right?" to a room of leering, anthropomorphic wolves and human gamblers. jessica rabbit facialabuse
However, the more insidious abuse is . The entertainment press within Toontown constantly insinuates that Jessica is unfaithful. She is gaslit by the system: no matter how she acts, she is assumed to be a "cheater." When she is finally revealed to be helping Roger by hiding the will (the famous "patty-cake" scene), the film presents it as a twist—but it is actually the story of a woman forced to lie to protect her vulnerable husband from a society that hates him. anthropomorphic wolves and human gamblers. However