Even in Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives the hero has to rely on a woman to save him and defeat the killer, even though he was the heroic figure throughout the movie. I think The Burning is one of the few exceptions where a male is the survivor, although one of them was responsible for the catalyst that caused the murder spree in the first place.

It’s just a soapbox to get attention, as Thomas so eloquently pointed out. As a woman who loves horror, especially slashers, I find very little actual misogyny in these films (but don’t get me wrong, some of them can be offensive, but fairly harmless). I think Carol Clover’s Men, Women & Chainsaws was a very important book for this reason.

By the way, when a group protests something, it just makes it more alluring to everyone else. I think all of the slasher protests just made the genre more popular or of interest to the general public.

People always bitch about the treatment of women in horror films but they never comment about how the men are tortured and murdered. Texas Chainsaw Massacre, A Nightmare on Elm Street and many other slashers have more male victims than female, and whilst the film may focus more on the females’ deaths this means that the males are dispatched with little effort, meaning that they are weaker and less important.

If people are going to comment on the treatment of victims in horror films then they should focus on ALL victims – gay of straight, male or female, whatever they are! Therefor, feminists are as guilty of sexism as misogynists.