This month is Women In Horror month. As a woman of horror I want to support this worthy cause. I'm going to start by pointing you towards this website, dedicated to Women In Horror Month.
"Women don't write horror". This is a battle I feel I've been fighting my whole life. It's as frustrating and erroneous an assumption as the notion that all SF fans are 16-year-old boys who like pictures of women in chain mail bikinis, with unfeasibly large breasts, because they can't get anywhere near a real-life woman.
The media does nothing to disabuse the general public of this notion. Cult SF and horror magazines sport covers featuring pictures of mostly-naked women with the aforementioned unfeasibly large breasts. Books aimed at women sport pink covers with curly lettering and pictures of lipstick, shoes and shopping bags. Gifts aimed at women (and we are bombarded by such ads at Christmas) suggest that your mum or aunty or sister or girlfriend wants a make-up kit or bottle of perfume. Never have I seen an advert that says she wants the new Resident Evil game on the PS3 (which is what I want next birthday).
I would like to point out that women horror writers are hardly a modern phenomenon. One of the first horror novels to be published was not only written by a woman, it was written by a teenager. Mary Shelley was 17 when she penned FRANKENSTEIN.
In support of Women In Horror month, next week I will be paying homage to some contemporary women of horror. If you are one such woman and you want a mention and a link to your blog this month, please let me know.
Let's hear it for Horror Women!
1 comment:
Thanks for stopping by my blog! Now following. I've been trying to tackle various genres, and though I've tried horror once or twice I haven't been happy with it. So, I'm going to spend some time reading for a while :-) Nice to meet you!
Post a Comment