Sexual Violence in Horror
How Much Sexual Violence is Too Much?
A horror movie or story is suppose to scare you. In some cases even gross you out. In the late 70's into the late 80's slasher movies got hot, while in literature there has always been the psychological approach. Both can scare the hell out of you. The serial killer that could be stalking your neighborhood, or the lady on the corner that could have her favorite author tied up in her house. To me, the more realistic the situation, the more scary it becomes.
What does it take to scare you? The more we see in the world that is real horror, it desensitizes us to fictional horror. The slasher wearing a hockey mask is no longer any more scary than the guy next door. It's the people that look like us doing these bad things that's truly scary. People like, Ted Bundy, Dennis Rader, Gary Ridgway, or Jeffery Dahmer. They were able to continue to kill because nobody suspected them. They looked like what we call 'normal people'.
There are a handful of writers who know true horror, and they don't use the supernatural to do it. The do by telling you about the, rape, torture, and murders of people like us, committed by people who are like us. Some of these writers are writing true crime, and those can be some of the most scary stories. Because we know that they did happen.
The sexual predator who is yet to be discovered is the most scary. The person who abducts children, or the guy who'd send you a bomb in the mail. We want to be afraid, but not too afraid. We want to know what is in the dark, but we don't want a good look at it.
*Questions*
1 - How much sexual violence is too much?
2 - Do you read sexually violent stories?
3 - Is gory violence more accepted than sexual violence?
4 - Is there a connection with sex and horror?
5 - Did the scariest book/movie you ever read/watched involve sexual horror?
