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Personally, I don't care who the hero is in any particular movie as long as the movie is enjoyable and believable (as far as believable can go in such realms). I've never been one to believe that there is some deep seated Freudian metaphor going on in movies when is came to women defeat the bad guys. Maybe if the movie in some way leans towards it (i.e. I Spit on Your Grave), but other than that its just how its written.
It is true, for an unimaginable amount of time the male protagonist was a very dominant trait in the movie world and that probably did arise from a sort of sexist view that, while being looked down upon today, was definitely in the majority at the time. I just don't think that if it happened now, it would be due to the same mindset as back then. However, I personally feel it is an odd preference to lean towards the idea of a weak female in a horror movie intentionally.
When I watch a horror, there can be many opinions, but I'd prefer to keep the metaphors to the plot (I.E. Frankenstein representing a fear of the unknown effects of science/Rosemary's Baby representing the proverbial "witch hunt" for the enemy next door). I did, however, enjoy the explanation in "Behind the Mask: Rise of Leslie Vernon" why the female protagonist tends to use a large solid object when attacking the killer. Reasoning being it was a very phallic symbol and so on and so forth.
No one can absolutely know what the motivation behind a writer's choice of protagonist besides the writer. It could be convenience, to avoid cliche, draw of the hat or who knows what else. We can settle with speculating on the idea, but I personally see no evidence that a modern dominant female lead in a horror movie is any sort of statement against the idea of a modern dominant male lead.
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