Another Example of Violence Against Women in Heroes

       Another example of violence against women in Heroes is Jessica/Niki. The example of Jessica/Niki is a very interesting in several aspects. The example of her is much more ambiguous in several respects. Her profession is that of an internet striptease artist which makes her look not as innocent as Claire does. Also she is a thief and a killer. She is stereotyped as a "psycho woman" who has no control over her superpower or her surroundings. Her superpower is she can become her dead sister's persona. We find out later that that her father was sexually and physically abusive to both her and her sister which caused a break in her psyche in order to deal with the trauma. Jessica/Niki is not in control of her own body which makes her vulnerable to abuse by other men.

       In the very first episode of the show she is under attack by two men who are hired to retrieve money from Jessica/Niki for a loan she borrowed to pay bills and send her child to school. Because the two men know what her profession is they think they can collect some of the money in kind and attempt to gang rape her. She is forced to undress for them and that is when she loses control after being hit several times. She wakes up some time later to be surrounded by the two men who have been ripped apart and are dead. She doesn't know what happened and she acts a little hysterical. This superpower is more like a mental illness and doesn't benefit her in any meaningful way. It is a detriment to her psychological health and to her family because she can't control herself.

        Like Claire, Jessica/Niki have no power over their lives and their superpowers are stereotypical to their sex those being a healer and a psycho-woman. Their powers cause them grief and leave them exposed; to having  power acted upon them in the form of physical and psychological violence perpetrated by men.