The controversy moved beyond newspaper reviews and into organized protests. During the film’s initial release, the Iowa City National Organization for Women and other feminist groups picketed a University of Iowa screening, distributing leaflets condemning what they viewed as the transformation of violence against women into stylish entertainment. Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media circulated a particularly pointed leaflet arguing that the film’s depiction of a “psychotic male transvestite” falsely made sexual minorities appear sick and dangerous. Critics also objected to the camera’s eroticized treatment of the murder sequences, especially the elevator killing of Kate Miller, arguing that De Palma’s elaborate visual style blurred the line between suspense, sexual spectacle, and misogynistic violence. Decades later, the film was revisited in the documentary Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen and in new criticism that described its gender politics as “retrograde.” De Palma himself acknowledged in a 2016 interview that associating transgender identity with psychopathic murder was damaging, even while defending the film’s flamboyant cult reputation.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 1980s
Women’s Groups Picketed Dressed to Kill Over Its Graphic Violence and Transphobic Horror
Dressed to Kill / 1980s
The controversy moved beyond newspaper reviews and into organized protests. During the film’s initial release, the Iowa City National Organization for Women and other feminist groups picketed a University of Iowa screening, distributing leaflets condemning what they viewed as the transformation of violence against women into stylish entertainment. Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media circulated a particularly pointed leaflet arguing that the film’s depiction of a “psychotic male transvestite” falsely made sexual minorities appear sick and dangerous. Critics also objected to the camera’s eroticized treatment of the murder sequences, especially the elevator killing of Kate Miller, arguing that De Palma’s elaborate visual style blurred the line between suspense, sexual spectacle, and misogynistic violence. Decades later, the film was revisited in the documentary Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen and in new criticism that described its gender politics as “retrograde.” De Palma himself acknowledged in a 2016 interview that associating transgender identity with psychopathic murder was damaging, even while defending the film’s flamboyant cult reputation.
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