Reproductive body (horror) in Beth Hetland’s Tender (2024)

This talk focuses on Beth Hetland’s “Tender” (2024) and its representation of the reproductive body and its horror(s). “Tender”’s protagonist Carolanne is happily married and dedicated to her role as a housekeeper. The visual sequences which show her preparing meals for herself and her husband are elaborate and detailed – cooking and feasting represent love and care but also desire, hunger for something else. Carolanne needs one more thing to make her life complete, that is to start a family. Unfortunately, her pregnancy ends in miscarriage. Unable to come to terms with the loss of her baby and ideal(ized) life, Carolanne begins to consume herself. First, her nails, hair, peeling skin, and then her actual flesh. Consumption of the self represents self-destruction paired with a dream of reproduction (excess weight mimics pregnancy belly), giving rise to a bodily presence that is both monstrous (Coody and Langsdale 2020) and vulnerable. A close reading of the comics through the lenses of body horror (Huckvale 2020), and gynaehorror (Harrington 2017) is meant to demonstrate how the sequential hand-drawn visual medium presents consumption and reproduction within a tender framework, where pain, care, and flesh intertwine.