The Overuse of Sexual Violence in Horror

By Flora Irvine-Hall

TRIGGER WARNING: The following article has mentions of sexual violence. Links for support can be found at the end of the article but reader discretion is still advised.

Image from Cine Speak

Cheap and tasteless, this is the one horror trope that needs to die.

Like any other genre, horror has many tropes that are overdone. Common examples of this are possession, evil dolls, creepy children, dumb blondes and virginal final girls. Of course even though these are not unique tropes they can still be entertaining if done correctly.

But one tired trope that is rarely, if ever done right is sexual violence.

Sexual assault has been shown in horrors for decades with films like The Sadness, Revenge, Julia, The Evil Dead (1981) and perhaps the most famous example, I Spit on Your Grave (1978 and 2008).   

According to allhorror.com, there are over 150+ rape revenge horror films. This is far too many.

Elena Lazic, a journalist from The Guardian, agrees. In an article from 2018, she wrote:

“Representations of sexual violence in general and rape in particular are anything but rare in arthouse and independent cinema. Auteurs from Bertolucci and Polanski to Lars von Trier and Michael Hanake, have built careers around making films dealing with sexual violence, particularly against women.”

Image from Amazon.co.uk

But why? Well, some may argue that it’s because horror is supposed to shock us, to terrify us and to fill us with a gloomy despair.

And to be fair, this is true. Horror by definition is supposed to be scary. But it’s also supposed to be entertaining and there’s nothing entertaining about sexual violence.

Sexual violence is a real-life epidemic, with the latest figures in England and Wales revealing that 7.9 million adults aged 16 and over have experienced sexual assault. These statistics are horrifying.

Sexual violence is an incredibly traumatic and life-altering experience and should not be used as a shock element for film.

Sexual violence is an incredibly traumatic and life-altering experience and should not be used as a shock element for film.

A lot of the time it seems like female characters in horror are being punished for being sexually liberated. An article from Encyclopdiea stated that:

“The final girl is always female, usually a virgin and according to Carol J. Clover, who first identified the trope in 1992, she is typically  ‘the embodiment of what a woman should be.’ She does not smoke, drink or engage in other illicit behaviour.”

And even though horrors are supposed to be scary, like other genres, they are supposed to offer a chance to escape from the real world and sexual assault is a real-life horror that we do not want to be reminded of.

Some argue that it’s good for films to raise awareness about real life issues. This is a fair point, but it’s only beneficial if it’s done in a tasteful way and most of the time this is not the case.

Megan is Missing, a found-footage style horror, has a brutal sexual assault scene that goes on for over five minutes. What reason is there the the scene to go on for that long other than pure shock value?

Even films that might seem progressive such I Spit on Your Grave (both the original 1978 version and the 2010 reboot) go way overboard in terms of how graphic the sexual violence is.

Image from The Economic Times

And a lot of the time, these films are written and directed by men. According to StephenFollows,  only 5.9% of horror directors are women.  Sexual violence in horror films directed by men often comes across like they are trying to make the audience gasp as opposed to be trying to raise awareness. Sexual assault is a threat that women face every day so a man using it as plot device seems completely tone-deaf.

Elena Lazic shares this viewpoint. In the same article mentioned above, she wrote:

“For the greater awareness and momentum of the current climate to endure, cinema cannot turn sexual violence into another plot point or symbol and ignore the specific experiences of victims.”

The way women are killed is also often very sexual in nature. For example, in Terrifier, when the character Dawn is sawn in half with a dirty chainsaw while hanging upside down (yes, really) she is completely naked. The death is already shocking enough without her body being displayed. There is no reason for her to be naked other than to use a woman’s body a means of entertainment.

Even the way some of the women are killed in slashers and horrors is very sexual in nature. For example, in Terrifier, when the character Dawn is sawn in half with a dirty chainsaw while hanging upside down (yes, really) she is completely naked. The death is already shocking enough without her body being displayed. There is no reason for her to be naked other than to use a woman’s body as a form of entertainment.

Image from The Dead Meat Wiki

To be clear, this doesn’t mean films can’t ever tackle sexual assault. As already stated it’s a real-life issue and raising awareness can be helpful. For example, Woman of the Hour, directed by Anna Kendrick is based on real-life sexual abuser and serial killer Rodney Alcala and manages to raise suspense and create a feeling of dread without exploiting women’s bodies.

Image from CNN

An online thesis by Chloe Watson from Eastern Kentucky University also shared some films that deal with sexual assault in a tasteful way.

“Films such as It Follows and Last Night in Soho display violence in more acceptable ways, while films like All Hallows’ Eve and The Devil’s Rejects exploit the experience for various reasons,” the thesis reads.

Sexual violence is not something that is seen as entertainment in real-life so why is it seen as so when it comes to film?

If you have faced sexual violence then know that you are not alone. The following organisations can offer you support:

Rape Crisis

Women's Aid

Victim Support

The Survivors Trust

Male Survivors Partnership