The Psychology of the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Robin S. Rosenberg

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Unless you're someone who avidly avoids advertisements, you've probably seen some ads for the upcoming American film adaptation of Stieg Larsson's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo." The film's protagonist, Lisbeth Salander (played by Rooney Mara), is a strong female character and is the focus of Larsson's three published novels. In the books, Salander is commanding and competent, resilient and powerful. She's also unusual and quirky in many respects, among them her general lack of concern for other people's feelings, her emotional shell that protects her from others and her utilitarian view of relationships.

This view extends to the sexual arena where Salander is generally not portrayed as sexy, though she isn't sexless either. Her character appears to enjoy consensual sex, but she doesn't exude sexuality. The Swedish film adaptation of Larsson's first novel, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," did a lovely job of illustrating this aspect of her character; the few scenes in which she was nude were not titillating (based on an informal survey I conducted for this post) and faithfully conveyed her utilitarian sense of sexual desire and behavior.

For the rest of the post, click here at Huffington Post (or cut and paste the URL below).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robin-s-rosenberg-phd/what-happened-to-the-girl_b_1115656.html

And thanks to Gina Misroglu and RedRoom for their help!

Robin S. Rosenberg, Ph.D., ABPP is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Stanford, Calif.  Rosenberg is a clinical psychologist and author. Her most recent book is the edited anthology, The Psychology of the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

Copyright 2011 Robin S. Rosenberg