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Old 04-01-2013, 09:39 AM
Setimir92 Setimir92 is offline
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Does Gender Impact The Kind of Horror You Like

Hi,

I was wondering, does anyone feel like their gender impact the kind of horror you like? Although this is probably aimed more towards women, I mean both ways, so do you feel like you don't like slashers because as a woman you find them mysogenistic or any guys don't like Gothic horror (Interview With a Vampire) because the romance element in it is too strong.
Or is your gender ever commented when you mention the fact that you like horror or it's certain subgenres?
For example, a few times people have told me I look like a horror fan and by me being a guy in my early 20s, they expect me to love slashers, body horror etc but I never felt like any of my tastes were influenced by me being a guy.
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Old 04-01-2013, 10:05 AM
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realdealblues realdealblues is offline
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I don't think Gender impacts my viewing.

Although, I'm not sure that I'd want to see something like I Spit On Your Grave with a male lead getting raped by other men.

As far as being gender specific. Typically guys like Horror movies and women don't. That is of course a complete generalization, but I've taken a young lady or two, to a movie before and had her say you'd probably rather see "some Chainsaw movie" instead of "Dirty Dancing 7: Latin Love in Cuba". And if I say yes, I get, "ugh, typical guy".

Also most normal guys like Slasher movies. I can't think of any friends from high school who didn't like Freddy or Jason, Michael Myers or Leatherface in some way, shape or form.

If you didn't you were probably the 15 year old kid whose parents wouldn't let him see anything rated higher than G or PG. I just felt sorry for those guys.
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Old 04-01-2013, 10:47 AM
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Kandarian Demon Kandarian Demon is offline
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I'm female, almost 36 years old... I don't think it has THAT much of an influence, except... well, I'll get to that in a minute :)

I always liked the gory slasher stuff, I was never bothered by nudity - I never cared much for "Interview with the Vampire", even though the movie came out when I had the perfect age for it.

Buuut... I have to admit that the anti-hero has a certain effect on me. In real life, I am absolutely not into "bad boys", but in fantasy land where safety and security and all those nice things never come into consideration, some of the horror movie villains can be pretty attractive.

As a little girl, I had the biggest crush on Vincent Price, and I still think that many of the characters he played has a sort of romantic quality to them, even if they were villains. Oh man, his portrayal of Roderick Usher... daydream material :D

And although I HATE that whole Twillight/cute vampire thing, some of those early vampires certainly did have a romantic quality too... I'm thinking of Bela Lugosi and Christoper Lee here.

Last edited by Kandarian Demon; 04-01-2013 at 10:49 AM.
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Old 04-01-2013, 11:03 AM
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horrorfangirl66 horrorfangirl66 is offline
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No impact here as a 21 year old female. Although, my dad and I would watch movies together when I was little. He would take me to see the newest SciFi and horror movies. He also showed me the ones that he loved growing up. I also have always liked villians in movies and I would root for them at times, especially monsters. I am like Mrs. Bickerman(Betty White) in Lake Placid, "I'm rooting for the crocodile.I hope he swallows your friends whole". So I think it stems back to my dad introducing me to these films and ever since then I have always being more into horror and SciFi. :)

As far as subgenres go: I like monster movies, slashers & serial killers, body horror. (especially films from the 1980s), satanic/demons, some b-horror & horror comedies.

I have gotten a lot of surprise from people when they realize my interest and love of these films, I guess because I am female. My boyfriends digs it. We watch movies together all the time.
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Last edited by horrorfangirl66; 04-01-2013 at 04:25 PM.
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Old 04-01-2013, 12:43 PM
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I don't think that gender really has an influence. If it does, the influence is minimal. I also don't agree with the generalization that women don't like horror movies, but men do. Actually, I think in reality an equal or greater number of women like horror movies (than males). I think that that generalization is an older, stereotypical view of things (no offense). Personally, (I am a male) I like all types of horror movies (except torture porn, such as Hostel or Human Centipede) with slashers and gothics being about equal. Also, I don't think slashers are sexist, anyone who thinks that must have been sleeping during the film. The reason being that nearly all men that are in slashers are killed (often more brutally than women). While, most often the final survivor is often a tough, independent woman (for example, the characters of Sydney in Scream or Nancy in A Nightmare on Elm Street). Ultimately, I believe that gender has little to no influence on the type of films watched and that there are an equal or greater number of women who like horror movies (compared to men).
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Old 04-01-2013, 01:23 PM
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Straker Straker is offline
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I think I like a little bit of everything, from the dark and violent to the camp and cheesy so I don't think it has much impact. Lets be honest here, and this is something that probably most men wont want to accept, but if you are a guy watching horror or action movies (widely regarded as the two most 'manly' movie genres) you have to accept that you have watched and probably enjoyed a large proportion of homoerotic cinema.... I'm 32, so I grew up watching mostly 80's and early 90's action/ horror which is probably the most prolific era for gay subtext that most kids my age growing up were completly oblivious to at the time. Lost Boys, Nightmare on Elm Street II, Top Gun, Interview with the Vampire, Commando, Over the Top... Topless, well oiled men, Phallic imagery everywhere, physical domination, and plenty of man on man action.... Pretty much sums up alot of the stuff I grew up watching. :eek:
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Old 04-01-2013, 01:35 PM
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Going by the movie stereo types, yes, the movies I see mostly correspond to my gender. But type of horror movies, I don't think so. I haven't seen any stats on ratio of males/females that see war, action, sci-fi, documentaries on history, etc, but I assume there is one. I don't tend to want to go see something like “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”, but loved When Harry Met Sally and Terms of Endearment.

I also have no desire to see Vampire Diaries or Twilight. Generally speaking, one could say that's gender related. But I liked the TV series 'Being Human', which probably isn't much different than Twilight. I don't think I'd hate them (Twilight type), just looking for something I think would have more interesting ideas, substance, meaning to me, as opposed to pure 'soap'.

I was into gothic horror, or classics, when I was young; then a phase into general slashers and the 'jump out of the closest' shocks, but that faded. That changed into looking for 'more substance' (again). But I don't think gender is related there.
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Old 04-01-2013, 07:12 PM
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Kandarian Demon Kandarian Demon is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by metternich1815 View Post
I don't think that gender really has an influence. If it does, the influence is minimal. I also don't agree with the generalization that women don't like horror movies, but men do. Actually, I think in reality an equal or greater number of women like horror movies (than males). I think that that generalization is an older, stereotypical view of things (no offense).
Hmm... I have to be honest, I disagree, but that's based on personal experience (as a female myself). The reactions I run into from other woman again and again as a horror fan are very negative. And when I finally do meet a woman who says she likes horror, it's almost always the very light stuff (no gore), OR it turns out she means Twilight and the like.
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Old 04-01-2013, 07:34 PM
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Atraxi Atraxi is offline
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Gender, per se, doesn't have much of an influence on what type of horror someone watches. This is actually a problematic question as it is extremely heteronormative. I also don't agree with the generalization that women don't like horror as much as men. I think it's just generally assumed that women don't like horror, without anyone actually asking them. It's also important to remember that the plural of anecdotal isn't data so just because a lot of the women you've met don't enjoy horror, it doesn't mean it applies to the larger population (not saying that anyone is, just saying this in general).

However, just like with everything, preference is different for everyone and gender doesn't always have much to do with it. A lot of people don't like to watch movies with women getting raped, beaten, stalked and murdered (so pretty much nearly every horror movie). I don't think it's necessary that horror movies look like pornography, nor do I think rape is ever necessary for most horror movies. The way women are treated in horror is ridiculous, problematic, formulaic and unoriginal- this holds true no matter what your gender, it's all the way you think and your preference.

(not only am I a fan of horror but I also study gender, psychology and sociology)

Last edited by Atraxi; 04-01-2013 at 07:37 PM.
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  #10  
Old 04-01-2013, 08:03 PM
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metternich1815 metternich1815 is offline
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I actually think it would be interesting if someone did a research study in psychology on this subject to determine if more men like horror than men. Personally, as I mentioned, I don't think it is the case, but it would be interesting to see some statistics to back up or possibly refute my claim (that women and men enjoy horror about equally).
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