Sterotype of women - horror genre

Female victims within horror films are portrayed as needy, vulnerable characters who need to be saved. In most horror films, they need a man to save them. This relates to the popular stereotype that a woman needs a man in her life to complete her, or that she relies on her male partner in tough situations. Horror films play off this stereotpye and cast the female characters so they get saved my males, insinuating that they cannot save themselves. Even director Eli Roth described female charaters within horror films as "marinal, pathetic figures". Sapolsky also said that "slasher films victimize women more than other film genres". Even 'final girl's need saving, as they are often rescued or picked up by someone to take them away from the carnage.

Females are also seen as highly sexualised in horror films, and this is often shown in a negative light. For example, the film Sorority Row is based on a group of females who openly talk about their sex life and are clearly sexually active. They get killed one by one, showing that this lifestlye is shown in a negative light. It could be said that sexual indulgences are seen as harmful to females in horror films. However, it is necessary to show females as high sexualised in order to attract the male market, as males often watch movies to see females dressed in little clothing. They lust for the female characters within horror films, as the killer often lusts for the female vicitm.

In order to survive in a horror film, female characters often have to lose their feminity. For example, Jamie Lee Curtis's character in Halloween had short hair, didn't care about boys and she worked hard at school. She survived the movie, showing that this unfeminine lifestyle was shown in a positive way by the film. Female characters often have to take a masculine approach to violence in order to survive. Any female character who survives may have had to kill someone or fight with someone, or at least carry a weapon with them. These are actions usually associated with males, and as males usually survive in horror films, this masculine perspective to the situation has therefore saved the female. These surviving females also have to question authority, and not be seen as unintelligent in order to survive.
Interestingly enough, research has shown that when the antagonist of a horror film is female, she often has underlying issues and a male is her source of anger.