It's Women in Horror Recognition Month! This will be the sixth year that I've participated in this joyous month full of highlighting the women of horror and the eighth year of the event itself. I always look forward to February because of the promise of kickass women and bloody horror. The horror genre hasn't really been known to treat women the best. Their bodies are torn apart for the bloodthirsty audience; their breasts are bared for the presumably male dominated audience (which really isn't the case anymore). They are relegated to stock, barely written characters only to be killed off not too long later. They have to choose if they want to be completely virginal or promiscuous with nobody in the middle and suffer the deadly consequences if they choose incorrectly. In some cases, their rape is filmed to titillate instead of horrify the audience. These unfortunate tropes and conventions of the horror genre are not dead, but fast declining.
A rising number of films show that women are merely people with different sides and flaws. Women can be delightfully psychotic villains like Lola Stone from The Loved Ones, brave fighters like Erin from You're Next, awkwardly sweet like May Canady from May, desperately ambitious like Sarah from Starry Eyes, or stoic surgeons like Mary Mason from American Mary. These films expand and change women's roles in horror. Of course, others cling to the past and still pigeonhole their female characters in flat caricatures or stereotypical roles, I will be examining films from both camps and in the middle as well as spotlighting actors, directors, and authors in the horror genre.
If this movement interests you, please check out the Women in Horror Recognition Month website to submit your own event, find events of interests, or visit their merch store.
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