Skiljer sig skildringen av kvinnor respektive män åt i hemska skräckfilmer? Ja, enligt studien ”Sex and Violence in the Slasher Horror Film: A Content Analysis of Gender Differences in the Depiction of Violence”, publicerad i Journal of Criminal Justice and Popular Culture. Ett slumpmässigt urval av 50 sådana filmer har analyserats, och bl.a. kan följande konstateras:

Male characters in slasher horror films are more likely to experience relatively quick, graphic, and serious acts of violence. Comparatively, female characters are more likely to be victims of less serious and less graphic forms of violence, such as stalking or confinement, with increased cinematic focus on depicting close-up states of prolonged terror. Women in slasher films are also more likely to be featured in scenes involving sexual content. … Although portrayals of violence against female characters were less serious and graphic, this study does reinforce concerns about women being frequently depicted in states of abject terror and helplessness.

Är det ett problem att kvinnor framställs som hjälplösa i utdragna scener? Är det ett problem att kvinnor oftare framställs i sexualiserade våldsscener? Kan detta befästa stereotypa föreställningar och kanske t.o.m. inspirera vissa män att bete sig illa mot kvinnor?

Följande könsmönster återfinns när det gäller angripare och angripna:

As expected, the perpetrator of violence in the vast majority of violent PAT-level interactions was male (72.8%, n = 776). In less than 10% of violent interactions, the perpetrator of violence was female (6.3%, n = 67), and in 20.9% of cases, the gender of the perpetrator was unknown (n = 223). Comparatively, in over half of the violent interactions, the victim was female (51.7%, n = 551) while in 46.4% of violent interactions the victim was male (n = 495). In five interactions, the gender of the victim was unknown and in an additional 15 interactions, violence was targeted at both a male and female victim, simultaneously.

Att män utför de flesta våldsamma attacker torde stämma väl överens med verklig våldsutövning.