Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn are seen as more villainous at times because they wish to help each other. Combined with Joker’s gaslighting of Harley and her Stockholm Syndrome, Harley Quinn is a formidable opponent for Batman, but she is not given her own agency a lot of the time. “Joker’s girlfriend” is thrown around quite a bit and even with Poison Ivy, Harley is sometimes referred to in the context of “Joker’s girlfriend.”

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This is a stigma that surrounds Harley Quinn. Erving Goffman explains in his book Stigma that “The term stigma, then, will be used to refer to an attribute that is deeply discrediting… A stigma, then, is really a special kind of relationship between attribute and stereotype, although I don’t propose to continue to say so, in part because there are important attributes that are almost everywhere in our society are discrediting.” Harley Quinn is stigmatized for her relationship to the Joker, her craziness as a result of her Stockholm Syndrome and the fact that she commits crimes with women on occasion.

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Harley was eventually retconned (where they reset continuity) to be bisexual and is considered to be in a non-monogamous relationship with Poison Ivy. Poison Ivy, is a formidable Batman villain and eco-terrorist gifted with pheromones and a “poisonous kiss” who was promoted after the rise of feminism. But we don’t really see her in a positive light unless she’s with Harley Quinn. Poison Ivy is well aware that Harley is being abused and gaslighted by the Joker. She constantly tries to save Harley, convincing her to leave him, because unlike most supervillain alliances, this one is built on actual friendship and understanding.

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Along with Ivy and Harley, Catwoman is part of their little band known as the Gotham City Sirens. On these adventures, Harley and Ivy’s friendship is put to the ultimate test when Harley betrays Poison Ivy to release the Joker. Ivy tries to convince Harley that the Joker is evil, but she loses the argument as Harley knocks her unconscious, a sign of her love for him despite everything he’s done to her. Later, Ivy wonders if she should kill Quinn for betraying her like that, but their friendship escapes intact with valuable lessons that young girls can learn from. Even Catwoman shows leniency for the two and helps them escape Batman.

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One thing that abuse can breed is depression and suicidal thoughts. In 2013, DC comics announced a contest to draw Harley Quinn in four different suicide scenarios as a talent search for artists, the announcement was met with controversy. Some artists did not like how over-sexualized Harley was when submissions requested her naked in a bathtub trying to kill herself.  The description for the contest was "Harley sitting naked in a bathtub with toasters, blow dryers, blenders, appliances all dangling above the bathtub and she has a cord that will release them all. We are watching the moment before the inevitable death. Her expression is one of 'oh well, guess that’s it for me' and she has resigned herself to the moment that is going to happen." The problem here is that Harley is already sexualized and the announcement came very close to National Suicide Prevention Week; three days before, in fact. DC Comics apologized for the scenes, explaining that the contest did not include the full scope of the story.