Guest Column: The bloody truth about what it means to be a woman: why everyone should watch more female-centered horror
Netflix is offering “Poltergeist” and “Sleepy Hollow” and “The Addams Family.” On Amazon Prime Video, it’s “The Village” and “Sweeney Todd” and “The Amityville Horror.” And over at Hulu, it’s “Pet Sematary” and “Child’s Play” and “Ghost Stories.”
‘Tis the season for scary movies. And sure, it can be easy to mindlessly curl up and watch whatever streaming services are pushing. But why watch dismembered people and demonic possession when you can watch a more terrifying subject: womanhood.
The horror genre has historically been cruel to women, but within recent years it has begun to redeem itself with female representation, showcasing complex female roles while also commenting on what it means to be a woman.
And so it’s time for everyone to watch more horror. But not just any horror: female-driven horror.
Considering horror is the only genre in which women even come close to men in both speaking time and screen time, according to research by Google and the Geena Davis Institute, it only makes sense that time should be worthwhile.
The genre takes on subjects that others often won’t touch, unafraid to get messy with their significance. From menstruation to sexuality, horror movies provide unconventional takes on coming-of-age themes and turn the fear associated with them into something powerful.
“Despite the outrageousness of horror movies, a lot of times they do invoke the inevitable, the hard-to-describe aspects of everyday experiences,” said Julia Elliott, a professor at the University of South Carolina. Elliott teaches a course at USC entitled “Monstrous Mothers, Diabolical Daughters and Femme Fatales.” During the course, students watch a select number of contemporary, female-led horror films (often female-directed) and analyze them from a feminist perspective.
Jess Weixler in Teeth (2007).
Horror movies also depict actions that women are victim to, like sexual violence, and provide repercussions for the perpetrators that are arguably more cathartic than the efforts at criminal justice we see today.
Knowing that 1 in 3 women have experienced physical or sexual violence in their life, as estimated by the World Health Organization in 2017, and that 99.5% of sexual assault perpetrators walk free, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network’s statistics on cirminal justice, is pretty harrowing knowledge to live with.
As a 21-year-old woman, who has worked jobs where I walked home in the dark and who wants to feel comfortable riding public transit alone, this can make it hard to imagine a life where I feel confident in my safety.
Enter horror movies and female victims metaphorically or literally castrating their violators. And by the time I leave the theater or close my laptop, I feel a little less scared and a lot more empowered.
Though there is little that can be done — and often little being done — to lower statistics, I know I can look to horror movies to reassure me that my fears are known and are capable of being turned into badass art.
And why should non-female movie watchers care about female-driven horror? In a nutshell, there are two things that you can potentially walk away with: a victim-turned-protagonist that you can empathize with and find empowerment in, or a foreshadowing tale about the power women hold, especially when pushed to the edge, that hopefully makes you a better person after watching.
So this spooky season, get over your internalized misogyny and watch a female-driven horror movie. Even better, watch one that is female-directed. You might gain new insight regarding the female experience, or you may at least become so scared you never give a second thought to messing with a woman.
Lydia Velazquez is a senior studying English with a minor in journalism. She is from Brookeville, Maryland and misses the narrow east coast roads. Her only personality traits are liking oatmeal, wearing Doc Martens, and using Letterboxd.
@lydmvel