of, and ask the question – have I ever seen the things that are happening to this woman perpetrated against a male character in the same way? The answer will invariably be ‘no’ because - unless it's the Alien franchise - male characters are not sexualised in the same way, nor brutalised in the same way, nor terrorised in the same way. Why do you think that is?

Ultimately, the message that the use of women in horror sends us is that women are living in a world dominated by men with fragile egos, and we must be careful, lest we find one to be a monster (or to have a monstrous, vengeful female relative). Only the strong will survive, and those that do will be forever changed – because it is simply not possible for a woman to remain herself while besieged by misogyny.

...

Please subscribe to keep reading.