Horror Movie Misogyny
2 MarWe talked about RomComs and the subtle ways they show who deserves to be loved by society’s standards. One type of couple are romanticized: Conventionally attractive, white, cis, straight, and adhering to strict gender norms. POC are absent or unfairly portrayed, LGB are stereotypically tokenized and rarely get the same centered treatment or happy ending. Trans people are absent, showed via shame-allegories, or mocked. And women and men have to walk a very thin line of acceptable femininity and masculinity (meant to be prescriptive to the viewer). Of course, the heteronormative courtship, relationship, and outcome are upheld as the only way to be, and anything less is failure.
Horror movies are a mirror of society: What we fear at the time, prevalent misogyny, and attitudes about race and sexuality. While romcoms show who deserves to be loved, horror movies show who deserves to survive (and who should be punished).
“What’s the point? They’re all the same: Some stupid killer stalking some big-breasted girl who can’t act who is always running up the stairs, when she should be running out the front door. It’s insulting.” Any horror film enthusiast can relate to Neve Campbell’s line from “Scream.”
Popularity of the Horror Genre:
Horror movies are a part our pop culture landscape. We grew up with films such as “Chucky” or “I Know What You Did Last Summer.” We watched these movies and began developing our attitudes about gender roles. Women are weak and vulnerable. Men are brutal and powerful. The slasher-horror films emphasize these sexist stereotypes about men and women.
There have been many criticisms of the genre, from the representation of women, explicit violence against them, and ongoing sexual objectification. A frequent argument against the genre is that it is problematic to enjoy watching women be killed in graphic and violent ways.
The problem started with misogynistic film writers and directors who saw women being killed as a great way to capitalize on their hatred for women. “I like women, especially beautiful ones. If they have a good face and figure, I would much prefer to watch them being murdered than an ugly girl or a man,” stated Hitchcock. [Major incel vibes-yikes to the nth power!] True to his word, Hitchcock was the first director to have a woman being gruesomely murdered on screen in his 1960 “Psycho.”
Horror films can be a reflection of the still-too-pervasive “slut shaming” we see in our daily lives. The virginal (at least, that’s the presumption), sweet, and/or pious woman is the one “worthy of saving” while her sexually active women counterparts should die. The messaging is clear: you “get what you deserve,” whether that’s an unwanted pregnancy or a sexually transmitted disease in real life or a knife to the breast in a horror film for having (and enjoying) sex. The “loose” girls are not worthy of protection and empathy.
Profitability of the Horror Genre:
Definition:
Society’s Fears:
If you dig past the monster makeup, horror cinema becomes vividly unique. Horror has an innate ability to reflect larger cultural anxieties — anthropomorphized through demons, clowns, or flesh-eating zombies.
Take Godzilla. Throughout its various incarnations, the terrifying Japanese creation is often viewed as a metaphor for the Atomic bombs dropped during WWII. Zombies from The Night of the Living Dead (1968) are a critique of American consumerism. Slasher movies are often seen as an attack on white American suburbia. Terror is more visceral when it reflects a deep-seated fear within a society. And as society changes, so too do our fears. The recent horror renaissance has begun to skewer different evils, like racism in Get Out or depression in The Babadook.
You can loosely see the pattern of real world fears translating into that type of horror movie in the following graph:
There was a peak in drama-horror during each World War.
During prohibition and high mob activity, crime-horror had peaks.
During the Cold War when fears of an atomic bomb were rife, Sci-Fi horror spiked.
After 9/11 action-horror peaked, when we all traumatized by a larger than life attack, and wished for a super hero to protect us.
Considering all of this, there’s no wonder that many antagonists are either male or male coded while the main target in their pathway is a woman or girl. Most slashers’ general framing is about a woman’s fear, loss, and suffering. It’s an unfortunate reflection of the horrors we face in society. And, the woman who goes on a journey of rising up against an antagonist and reclaiming her power doesn’t win either.
Women See Themselves in Horror Movies:
Women often find ourselves in real-life situations where we lack agency or fear for our safety. We have to quell our actions and responses. We don’t want to evoke the wrath of a potentially dangerous man, many of whom seem to appear out of thin air. When we “run for help,” we are labeled hysterical and easily dismissed until the violence sharply escalates.
This gaslighting is the crux of many slasher narratives. People start going mysteriously missing as the killer picks them off. Someone (usually a woman) points out that something isn’t right only to be met with derision. A disturbing amount of men use those social politics to their advantage. They hurt women and girls because of their sense of entitlement and superiority… and they can get away with it. And women have encountered these types of men at the grocery store, the workplace, the nightclub, and sometimes in our own homes. According to Clover, slasher films let us experience this unthinkable evil through aligning with the survivor.
Ariel Smith states that “by forcing the subconscious fears of audiences to the surface, horror cinema evokes reactions, psychologically and physically: this is the genre’s power.”[26] The genre holds a great amount of potential to not only explore violence against women and minorities, but also inform the public and show the extents of that violence in a powerful way.”[26]
Horror has never shied away from metaphors and commentary about social issues and that isn’t a bad thing. But it becomes a problem when stories center women and they are not directly involved in crafting them. Those elements can easily get lost in the need to show women partially naked and/or enduring much strife before their brutal demise.
The Bechdel Test:
Used to measure the depth of female characters in movies.
A film will pass the Bechdel test if it meets all of the following 3 criteria:
1) has more than one named female character
2) if they speak to each other
3) if that communication is about something other than men
With a staggering average of around 43% of all movies failing, we can see that women’s representation in films are often either only through men or revolving around male character’s stories. But in a ranking of genres, Horror came second only to Music, passing the Bechdel test with 70% films meeting all 3 criteria. Next were romance, musicals, and dramas. Out of the 22 genres tested, the worst were war, film-noir, and at the bottom — western movies, with just 25% passing. While the Bechdel test does not measure the quality or success of an individual film, it does highlight patterns of subtle sexism and allow one to compare genres.
Timeline:
But this subset really began to build its own place in horror during its ascent in the 1970s. Films like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Halloween established characters, tropes, and narratives that provide foundational concepts for slashers today. One of those crucial slasher film elements is having women as central characters.
Of course, it is nearly impossible to do an official tally of all the men versus women who died in every slasher film in existence. But we can pull a few well-known examples to get a general gist. Let’s go back to the slasher genre’s Golden Age between the late 1970s and early 1980s.
In Halloween (1978), three of the four named character deaths are women. Sadly, two of them meet their fate after a sexual encounter. This isn’t shocking for this era.
The “promiscuous” women die while the “good girl” survives (hello, Laurie Strode) reigns supreme. It seems like a pushback of sorts to the time period. Women’s revolutions raged against patriarchal double standards and inequities in favor of women gaining autonomy over their bodies and lives.
The original Friday the 13th (1980) film, however, piles up the bodies with more men dying than women. Some of those male deaths come in the form of them occupying the “traditional” male role of a protector.
Let’s move on to another popular time period for horror: the ‘90s and 2000s. The original Scream (1996) might distract you with its covert sexism as the amount of sexual shaming and victim blaming heaped on Sidney and her mom is astounding. But that film actually takes out more men than women! There’s Steve Orth, Kenny the cameraman, and Principal Himbry’s deaths versus Casey Becker and Tatum Riley. (Maureen’s death takes place prior to the events of the film.)
However, the men are either killed off-screen (like Steve) or have less violent deaths. Meanwhile, we get a lengthy opening scene of Casey’s psychological torture. Even people who are only mildly familiar with the franchise recognize this scene. It ends with a close up of her swaying from a tree with her insides hanging out. And, although Ghostface doesn’t directly kill Tatum, she too goes through a short game with the killer before being crushed in a garage door. The women’s deaths are definitely more memorable. But it is worth noting: The Scream franchise as a whole (including its last two installments of this era) has more male victims than women. (Yes, I actually counted.)
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) is a slasher film sequel that evens the score with two men and two women dying. features Karla and Julie running around in the rain with their bras showing for far too long. Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Helen gets quite the chase scene and build up to her death. Meanwhile her boyfriend gets a quick hooky hook that she witnesses.
Films of the 2010s and 2020s (so far) haven’t really had the infamy of the aforementioned ones. But in a lot of slasher films, men are just as likely to end up on the wrong side of a slasher weapon as women. However, the framing of women’s deaths seems to be quite different. There’s a deep focus on the sheer terror and emotional upheaval. Why is this the case?
Men reigned supreme behind the cameras and scripts. They got to tell a woman’s narrative from their perspective, inserting their own thoughts about morality into the mix, whether consciously or subconsciously.
I certainly don’t think all male directors and writers have been using their craft to “teach and preach” or satisfy some inner sadistic urge to torture/hurt/kill women. However, it is not farfetched to say that the subjugation of women in slasher films speaks to how some men, especially those fueled by power, influence, and money, treat and perceive women. The movies show that men see women as sexual vehicles, yet demonize women for being sexually liberated. Misogyny and the male gaze are two rather obvious culprits, particularly in earlier slasher offerings.
What is the Male vs. the Female Gaze?
The concept of the male gaze affects many forms of media, such as movies, television shows and literature. The male gaze is the idea that heterosexual men make up a majority of audiences for these forms of visual media, usually coupled with sexualizing and objectifying women. Horror movies often fall victim to this trope with recurring themes of sexual, physical and emotional violence against the female characters in the films.
Test 1: Do you see the difference in male vs. female gaze?
One of these pictures was taken from a catalog aimed at a female audience and one was taken from a magazine edition aimed at men.
Everybody is dry-no oily bodies. Smiles and tamed hair. Upright posture, but no arching. Arms are relaxed. Everyone’s legs are crossing, obscuring crotch.
Glistening, wet bodies and/or hair. Shoulders are pulled back more. More breast showing (pulling on the suits to show more). More unnatural poses
The leftmost gal isn’t standing straight, she’s sort of hanging from the railing. The Middle gal, has here head and neck back and twisted upwards. It looks like she could be running, but her arms aren’t in a running position. The rightmost woman has the most closed off pose at first glance, but her legs are spread wide, and that closed arm is actually pulling the suit to reveal more skin.
Test 2: Is there still a difference in gaze when the swimwear is more revealing?
Male Gaze- The women are all touching. Hips are right up next to butts, boobs touch backs or boobs touch boobs. Everyone’s back is at least a bit arched, which sticks chest and butt out more. Hips are rotated so some butt is visible. Everyone’s shoulders are somewhat pulled back.
Female Gaze- Everyone is touching, but more friendly side to side. Shoulders are more relaxed and nobody is arched. The picture is cropped higher on the lower body so no crotch or upper thigh is visible. No part of any butt is visible.
It’s a horror movie. So what? While they’re just horror movies, they do say a lot about our culture. It may not seem like they do because they’re hidden with plot twists and chase scenes, but a lot of the context is relevant to society. The films tend to portray what is going on in society.
At its core, horror films are enjoyable because of the fear factor. Many fail to realize that there have been harmful tropes implemented for decades that hurt women and erase a large portion of society in favor of the straight, white female that survives til the end.
Representation:
Race-
By constantly reusing and creating trope images/plot devices like the “Indian burial ground” and “Mythical Negro”[28] these films trap an entire minority in a set role in cinema while also rendering the reality of their cultures invisible.[24]
Castañeda is studying films that date back to the 1920s where minorities are depicted as the monster, or things to be afraid of and comparing them to today’s movies, where the goal is to subvert this.
The infamous slasher survivor girls are overwhelmingly white and presumed heterosexual. Now there are more non-white women characters who get to be more than the disposable best friend or backgrounder.
Many horror films cast women, specifically women of color, as background characters, making them the targets of violence or even the villain of the film. Over time, these constant narratives in movies push the film industry backward when it comes to representation, according to media studies and Ph.D. candidate Ana Ponce Castañeda.
“It seems to me that women of color in movies always get killed off first or die in some horrible way that no one else did like the producers have some weird aggression towards them,” Newland said in an email. “I think it gives minority kids a horrible representation of themselves. They only ever see themselves as unwanted and second best to other characters.”
Scream (2022) gave us the Carpenter sisters and Mindy, a Black girl who gets to be the horror geek expert. American Horror Story: 1984 let a Black woman become a slasher final girl after starting off as a tertiary antagonist. And we got Deena, an emo Black girl protagonist in the Fear Street series who takes down generational trauma. This is a vital shift because, in society, women who aren’t white face stereotyping in monolithic ways that strip away their humanity. To have a non-white woman be the protagonist opens up a completely new avenue of examining our world. That is, if the creators let it happen.
This deeper rooted misogyny exposes further problems with the horror genre and its catering to a white audience.[24] It also exemplifies issues of racism within film making and how, according to Harry M. Benshoff, “the vast majority of those films use race as a marker of monstrosity in ways generically consistent with the larger social body’s assumptions about white superiority”.[25]
Women-
As Monster-
the female monster is unable to control her emotions when pain occurs, whereas male monsters are unable to feel pain.[5]
Another big concern is the role of the female as a villain. However, she’s only powerful when she seduces her male counterparts. In “Jennifer’s Body,” for example, the villain seduces men, making them vulnerable and then kills them. Embracing one’s sexuality isn’t a bad thing by any means, but if it’s the only way you can destroy your male counterpart, there are some serious problems.
Audiences are not supposed to identify with Carrie White whilst she becomes the monster, instead they are supposed to be scared of her ability and destructive potential. Carrie is purposely portrayed in this manner because she demonstrates what happens when women gain power and are no longer repressed. Carrie ultimately tells its audience that they must live as a patriarchal world and if they do not then this is what will come of it.[10]
As victim-
One of the biggest cliches in horror films is this idea of “the virgin” versus “the slut.” One of the ongoing themes in horror films is “virginal” women stand a good chance alive at the end of the film and the “whorish” women end up dead. This is true in “Scream,” “Sorority Row” and “Halloween.” Virgins are portrayed as pure and innocent and non-virgins as slutty sinners. If you have sex, you will die, just like Coach Carr said in “Mean Girls.”
The horror film emphasizes the idea of female sexuality being something that needs to be punished or come with negative consequences. It shows that once a woman acts in a sexual way she will be killed. Sex is considered to be a masculine trait because it is a form of power over someone, and if a woman tries to take control of this power, she will instantly be punished. Her sexual freedom is not within gender-norms, and the patriarchal society does not accept it.[17] Only “male domination is natural and follows inevitable from evolutionary…or social pressures”.[18]
The Chase often consists of a sexualized and degraded woman running for her life as an assailant hunts her down and kills her. The Chase will feature the woman in various states of undress and lecherous camerawork that focuses on her body before she is killed in an attempt to mix sex and violence. The “male gaze,” a term coined by Laura Mulvey in “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”, describes the depiction of female characters in a sexualized, de-humanizing manner. Female victims in slasher films are shown to be in a state of fear five times as long as males, specifically occurring during “the chase”.[19] women largely appear on screen for men’s erotic pleasure.[21]
Female characters are likely to experience sexual violence, particularly in the rape-and-revenge subgenre.
As Hero-
it is virtually always a female character who survives and beats the evil force. This is essentially the main framework of the horror genre. There is a type of ‘evil’ threatening a person who is ‘good’. In the end, the ‘good’ always destroys the ‘evil’. This could be argued to be empowering, as the woman rises up to victory and becomes a survivor rather than a victim. In the same way that rape revenge films are seen as a female survivor getting back at her attackers, many horror films, which follow this framework, could then be interpreted as the female gender responding to male violence as a whole.
On the surface, the idea of a strong female protagonist who outsmarts and escapes the antagonist all on her own seems like an inspiring empowering story. However, there are a few traits in every final girl that point to an unhealthy form of women empowerment. These films seem to have decided what is a pure, respectable, and smart woman. The most compelling trait is that every final girl is a virgin. Although the girls and other teens around them engage in sexual acts, she refrains even if she has a boyfriend. She is also socially awkward which leads to her not partaking in any parties where there can be drugs or alcohol. This leads her to be clear-headed and ready to fight. These traits point to an undercover harm being done to this seemingly innocent trope.
The only way the final girl is able to kill or escape the monster is by taking on male characteristics. The final girl is one of the most commonly seen tropes in horror films. The final girl is always female, usually a virgin and according to Carol J. Clover, who first identified this trope in 1992, she is typically seen as “the embodiment of what a woman should be.” She does not smoke, drink or engage in other illicit behavior though most, if not all, other characters in the film do. She is the lone survivor of the slasher villain, and often bests him by taking on masculine characteristics and engaging in her own form of brutality to kill or escape the antagonist in the end. Clover notes that the final girl is almost always brunette, modestly dressed and seemingly naive in comparison to her friends and other film characters.
Men-
Sexism against men in horror films happens quite a bit, and it’s often undetected.
Many viewers would reject a film that showed abject terror on the part of a male” said Steven Casey Murray, horror movies editor at BellaOnline. This response from the audience is delusional and highlights what is warped about our culture. Men can experience abject terror, too.
Probably one of the most offensive trends in horror films is how men are depicted. The male is often seen as a brutal, merciless and untrustworthy. In “Scream,” the boyfriend betrays Sydney’s trust, kills her mom and “steals” Sydney’s virginity. In “Halloween,” Michael Myers kills his teenage sister and later attempts to kill his other sister. You also need to pair this with this idea of the “weak” female as portrayed in horror films. The “evil” male chases after the “weak” female. Men are somehow always the predator and female will and forever shall be considered the prey.
Pigeonholes men into the villain role and perpetuates the standards of rape and the “boys will be boys” culture.
A recent societal fear, as famous men with traits of toxic masculinity have recently been exposed for the dangers they pose to society. In horror cinema, this fear is less abstract, manifested as a physical menace.
Survivors:
Physiological Response to Horror:
Horror movies since their early days in the 1930’s have a history of people fainting, reliving traumatic experiences, having seizures and even dying from heart attacks while watching them. Although your brain is aware that the threats aren’t real, your body simultaneously registers them as if they are. Sally Winston, licensed psychologist and executive director of the Anxiety and Stress Disorders Institute of Maryland, explains, “[When watching horror films], your heart pumps and the adrenaline flows, and your attention narrows in, even as you know you are at home or in the theatre and there is no real danger.” Horror films are designed to elicit certain emotions such as tension, fear, stress, and shock. These can cause the release of the hormones in the body such as norepinephrine, cortisol, and adrenaline from the autonomic nervous system. You may notice a physiological response from these hormones by way of pupil dilation, increased heart rate, and muscle tension.
“Even the post-horror euphoria some feel is activating, not relaxing. Thus, even for those who enjoy the emotional roller coaster, horror and suspense films can make it harder to sleep,” says Dr. Pamela Rutledge, director of the Media Psychology Research Center. Although adrenaline contributes to the overall experience of the movie, the elevated states can make it harder to sleep. Rutledge notes that “for sensitive individuals, sleep can also be impaired by internalizing the images [from movies] into dreams.”
Binge-watching horror movies also increases the regularity of adrenaline in the body, worsening issues with sleep. ResearchTrusted Source has shown that sleep loss or poor quality sleep can negatively affect how the brain processes emotions the following day and can intensify negative emotions. Trusted Source. Poor sleep has also been linked to mental health issues. It’s estimated that 90 percentTrusted Source of people with depression experience poor sleep quality. Some researchTrusted Source suggests poor sleep in older adults increases the risk of death by suicide.
People who suffer from anxiety are more likely to be negatively impacted by horror films. As Rutledge explains, “Chronic anxiety increases the sensitivity to startle-eliciting stimuli, thus making people who are already stressed and anxious more likely to respond negatively.” Anxiety sensitivityTrusted Source is the fear of the bodily sensations associated with anxiety and a misinterpretation of these sensations as being real threats. Those that suffer from anxiety sensitivity are more likely to experience a negative impact from watching horror films. The tendency to fear intrusive thoughts and images may be triggered and increase levels of anxiety or panic.
Horror Movies Betray What’s Going on in Society:
It’s a morality tale-
“There are deniers who say these tropes are not harmful but they are. Women are portrayed this way because our society has always put women at the bottom. It is how society keeps women down.
Final girls have recessive traits. Only praising women who are virgin, tomboyish, and cunning shames women who are expressive of their sexuality, okay with their femininity, and lack masculinity,” Tauberg said.
It’s this kind of psychological representation,” Castañeda said. “You see something in the movies, and then you act on it, even if you’re not really conscious about it. Movies represent reality; it’s kind of a cycle.”
Stereotypes like these lead many people to believe this kind of behavior is OK – that it’s OK to treat somebody like crap because she “had it coming,” or that men deserve to get the shit beaten out of them if they show any sign of weakness.
These stories and stereotypes exist in slasher films to inform us in the style of a parody. They take these themes we see in everyday life and show us how ridiculous they are. It makes fun of the fact that women have to be weak and stupid or that men are brutal and emotionless.
Conclusion:
There are equally valid reasons to point out that many elements of misogyny are present in all genres, with horror perhaps actually being more progressive in some essential ways.
Watching horror films can also be an opportunity to confront one’s fears as the viewer withstands the horror and gets to enjoy the payoff of resolution. opportunities to face one’s fears and develop the confidence that you can, in fact, endure unpleasant distress, and that it’s not dangerous to you,” Winston explains.
Many women such as myself enjoy horror films, but it is apparent that most women would not survive the high standard male film directors have laid out for us:
Still, it is rather hard to find many slasher films that don’t have men controlling the narrative off-screen in some way. And that needs to change if we want to see the future we deserve: A woman wielding the axe while a man runs, trips, and cries in the woods wearing his underwear. (I’m kidding… but not really.)
Sources:
https://www.uatrav.com/opinion/article_720e5f20-7dc9-11ee-8288-73b1568b0e1d.html
https://www.healthline.com/health/how-do-horror-movies-affect-your-mental-health#takeaway
https://bjornjohann.medium.com/toxic-masculinity-in-modern-horror-films-c6d490f26755
https://prezi.com/vyjy8kkujdzk/the-history-of-horror-films
https://threemenandalittlelady.weebly.com/further-research—horror-genre–target-audience.html
More Progressive than RomComs [Horror Movie Misogyny final]
1 MarWe talked about RomComs and the subtle ways they show who deserves to be loved by society’s standards. One type of couple are romanticized: Conventionally attractive, white, cis, straight, and adhering to strict gender norms. POC are absent or unfairly portrayed, LGB are stereotypically tokenized and rarely get the same centered treatment or happy ending. Trans people are absent, showed via shame-allegories, or mocked. And women and men have to walk a very thin line of acceptable femininity and masculinity (meant to be prescriptive to the viewer). Of course, the heteronormative courtship, relationship, and outcome are upheld as the only way to be, and anything less is failure.
Horror movies are a mirror of society: What we fear at the time, prevalent misogyny, and attitudes about race and sexuality. While romcoms show who deserves to be loved, horror movies show who deserves to survive (and who should be punished).
There are equally valid reasons to point out that many elements of misogyny are present in all genres, with horror perhaps actually being more progressive in some essential ways.
Watching horror films can be an opportunity to confront one’s fears as the viewer withstands the horror and gets to enjoy the payoff of resolution. Facing fears can aid in developing the confidence that you can, in fact, endure unpleasant distress, and that it’s not dangerous to you,” Winston explains.
Many women enjoy horror films, but it is apparent that most women would not survive the high standard male film directors have laid out.
Still, it is rather hard to find many slasher films that don’t have men controlling the narrative off-screen in some way. And that needs to change if we want to see the future we deserve: A woman wielding the axe while a man runs, trips, and cries in the woods wearing his underwear (can you imagine?)
Sources:
https://www.uatrav.com/opinion/article_720e5f20-7dc9-11ee-8288-73b1568b0e1d.html
Click to access 1990%20Cowan187-196.pdf
https://www.healthline.com/health/how-do-horror-movies-affect-your-mental-health#takeaway
https://bjornjohann.medium.com/toxic-masculinity-in-modern-horror-films-c6d490f26755
https://prezi.com/vyjy8kkujdzk/the-history-of-horror-films
https://threemenandalittlelady.weebly.com/further-research—horror-genre–target-audience.html
A Surprising Twist [Horror Movie Misogyny 7]
29 FebWell known horror movie tropes like the Black character dies first for example, or the slut gets it normalizes harmful stereotypes. Showing who deserves to live (and not) leads many people to believe this kind of behavior is OK – that it’s acceptable to victimize these types because she “had it coming,” or that men deserve to get the shit beaten out of them if they show any sign of weakness.
Luckily, research showed some surprising things:
Survivors
These stories and stereotypes that exist in slasher films can inform us in the style of a parody. They take these themes we see in everyday life and show us how ridiculous they are. It makes fun of the fact that women have to be weak and stupid or that men are brutal and emotionless.
Kit10Phish Explains it all __has moved! https://tinyurl.com/bdad9vdm 
Catty Remarks