Stop Idolizing Harley Quinn

Psychiatrist. Vigilante. Landlady. Criminal. These are the occupations, former and present of Harley Quinn. A fan favorite, Harley Quinn is a character many love and some even idolize. While I have enjoyed the character in the 1992 cartoon Batman: The Animated Series I find myself in the minority of thinking her such a great character. In fact, I find her idolization quite disturbing.

Why? That is simple. Dr. Harleen Quinzel was once a promising psychiatrist and intern at The Arkham Asylum. When given the opportunity to put her skills to work when allowed to get up close and personal with The Joker himself. This encounter ended badly, yet Harleen became obsessed with The Joker. She somehow found herself falling in love with him and that closed the chapter of a promising career for Dr. Quinzel.

This is one of the many reasons Harley Quinn is anything but a role model. She was intelligent with so much potential but something inside of her was manipulated and transformed into her own form of love for the greatest psychopath the fictional world has ever known. She left her life, her career, for a man. A man who would ultimately abuse her physically, psychologically, and mostly likely sexually as well.

Now many will argue that one version of Harley Quinn did leave The Joker when she realized what he was doing to her and that he was also holding her back. Some will say that she is in her own right a hero for being in an open romantic relationship with Poison Ivy. The problem here that is that Harley never got any kind of mental help, any therapy for all the years of abuse. The Joker manipulated Harley. He found new and creative ways to keep her close, to use her, abuse her, and make her a tool in his schemes against Batman.

I would be lying if I said I knew a lot about the Harley Quinn character development over the years, but all I can go on is what I see. When she was first introduced she wore a skin tight body suit and hat reminiscent of the harlequin jester she took her name from. I loved this look, I loved this Harley Quinn because it suited what she was. She complimented the Joker perfectly and was nothing more than a doll, toy for the Joker to play with.

As time went on though, she became more sexualized. Tight nurse costumes, leather pants and corsets, roller derby, short shorts, ripped up leotards, low cut leotards, low cut and open vests leaving little to the imagination. Not only did she lose her whole identity for a man but she became a sexualized creature. She became a psychopath all her own accord.

If the "new" Harley Quinn was one that could be claimed as changed, then she would have accepted what had happened to her. She would try to repent for her crimes or at the very least seek out help. Instead she hides her trauma and uses quirky antics and crazy demeanor to continue a life of crime. Her days as a vigilante are anything but welcoming. She is a dark girl, a girl who needs help. She needs to stop being so idolized and loved. She makes it seem like it is okay to have trauma as long as you don't talk about it or recover from it. She makes it seem like it's okay to have an abusive partner, one who manipulates you and grooms you until you don't know who you are without them, as long as one day you leave them and find some new love that's healthier.