Paranormal Pajama Party

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Episode 29: Monsters and morals

Stephanie Summar

Vengeance, virtue, and emotional labour



What do a trickster forest goblin, a horse-faced seductress, a desert phantom, and a deer-footed avenger have in common? They’re not just the stuff of nightmares – they’re symbols of women as society’s moral guardians.

Tonight, Paranormal Pajama Party introduces you to the shishiga from Slavic folklore, Central and South America’s siguanaba, Umm al-Duwais of Emirati myth, and the Deer Woman from many Native American traditions. These female monsters have a shared duty: They warn, protect, and punish, embodying the moral and cultural anxieties of their times.

Women have long been cast as society’s moral guardians – expected to nurture, guide, and uphold the social fabric. Whether as “angels in the home”, temperance advocates, or today's workplace peacemakers, this expectation persists overtly and more subtly. But when we step into this role, we’re paradoxically demonised or ridiculed, our efforts dismissed or maligned, or, in the worst cases, making us targets of lethal violence.

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[Episode transcript 👻]

This paradox lies at the heart of tonight’s episode. We’ll talk about its cultural roots through the lens of folklore and connect this paradox to history, from the Cult of True Womanhood to suffrage and temperance campaigns, and explore its modern manifestations in figures like Greta Thunberg and Senator Katie Britt. The result? A clearer picture of how women’s moral guardianship has been weaponised – and why it’s still so hard to escape.

Meet the monsters: The Shishiga, the Siguanaba, Umm al-Duwais, and the Deer Woman

The shishiga: The trickster goblin from the forest

The shishiga, from Slavic folklore, is a mischievous trickster who frequents bars, playing pranks on inebriated men. If a drunk man catches sight of her, it’s considered an ominous warning of his impending death. She acts as a supernatural check on those who indulge too much.

The Siguanaba: A warning to wayward men

The siguanaba goes by many names across Central and South America, but in nearly every story, she lures drunk and unfaithful men with her beauty, leading them astray before revealing her grotesque, horse- or skull-faced form. Her punishments go beyond a scare – she drives her victims to madness or leads them off cliffs, a literal fall from grace.

Umm al-Duwais: The desert phantom

The umm al-duwais, a figure in Emirati folklore, functions almost as a religious enforcer, targeting men who violate Islamic laws by drinking alcohol or committing adultery. Known for her intoxicating beauty, she seduces these men, only to unleash her monstrous true form as a reminder of divine justice.

Deer Woman: avenger of the abused

The Deer Woman, prominent in Native American traditions, is a protector of women and a punisher of abusers. Often described as a beautiful woman with deer hooves, she confronts predators and ensures justice for their wrongdoings.

It’s pretty tempting to read these figures as feminist avengers, dispensing justice against bad men. But these monsters are absolutely tools of the patriarchy, enforcing societal norms and keeping all genders in line. Even as they punish male misbehaviour, they are cast as villains for doing exactly what society expects of women – policing morality.

From angels in the home to the temperance movement

The expectation that women act as moral guardians has deep roots. As we discussed in Part 2 of our “The Fall of the House of Usher” series, the Cult of True Womanhood in the 19th century idealised women as virtuous angels in the home, responsible for the spiritual and moral health of their families.

This ideal coexisted in direct contradiction with the widespread belief that women were morally weaker than men – more susceptible to temptation and hysteria, requiring constant guidance and protection. Despite this, they were tasked with embodying and enforcing society’s moral standards.

And this wasn’t just a private role – it became a public one. Women leveraged this moral authority to lead campaigns for suffrage and temperance. Figures like Carrie Nation, infamous for her hatchet-wielding attacks on saloons, embodied this paradox. Her crusade against alcohol was rooted in protecting families from harm, yet she was mocked as a madwoman for her righteous fury.

This pattern repeats throughout history. Women who step into public moral leadership often face scorn and ridicule, even as their causes succeed. Their work is necessary but unappreciated, and their authority is questioned even when society benefits.

The new face of moral guardianship: emotional labour

Victorian ideals may have faded, but the expectation that women shoulder society’s moral burden hasn’t. Today, it’s rebranded as emotional labour – the unspoken responsibility to manage emotions, resolve conflicts, and maintain harmony.

This labour often falls on women, from navigating workplace tensions to bearing the emotional weight of relationships. It’s the same expectation in a different guise: women must fix what others break, smoothing over rifts while keeping their own feelings in check.

Public figures like Greta Thunberg and Alabama Senator Katie Britt are modern examples of how this burden plays out on the global stage. Thunberg’s relentless advocacy for climate action has made her a target of misogynistic attacks, from mockery of her age to deliberate antagonism by figures like Andrew Tate. Similarly, Britt’s emotional, maternal framing during her Republican Party response to the State of the Union was ridiculed across political lines, even as she performed the moral labour expected of her.

Why the paradox matters

This paradox has persisted for centuries, shaping how women are perceived and treated. Whether we’re mythical monsters, temperance crusaders, or modern-day activists, we’re expected to be kind mothers to society – and punished when we embody that role too effectively.

But by understanding the roots of this expectation, we can begin to dismantle it. Moral responsibility shouldn’t rest on women’s shoulders alone, nor should it come at the cost of their humanity. Instead of perpetuating outdated ideals, we must share the burden of creating a just and caring society.

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