WOMEN IN HORROR MONTH!
Happy February everyone! This is a very important month because both of my dogs have birthdays this month and also, it’s WOMEN IN HORROR MONTH! That’s right suckers, we get a whole month to celebrate ourselves and the awesome shit we do for the genre.
Whether it’s women behind the scenes, illustrating, writing, directing, acting, or living their best life in the horror genre – it doesn’t matter – we’re going to celebrate it all!
This will be the 10th year it’s being celebrated which is INSANE and I’m so excited to celebrate it. This month on Horror Bound we’ll have lots of female centered articles and each week I’ll be talking about a female led movie that I love.
You can also follow Women in Horror on twitter and check out the website to keep up to date with all the celebrations going on ALL OVER THE PLACE!
It’s also a month where they raise awareness of blood donation and you can check that out here.
Women in Horror is also doing some really awesome this year with Shudder – if you are following their official twitter you can get a free month of Shudder! Check out their twitter for all the details. And check out Shudder because they have all sorts of female film collections like “A Woman’s Touch” and “Vengeance is Hers”.
To get serious for a minute here – being a woman in horror is fucking tough. You have to climb twice as high and work twice as hard just to get even a semblance of attention that a male run site/account will. People are less likely to accept your opinion, or even completely discredit you before you even open your mouth just because you have a vagina. I’ve had backlash against me speaking up for other women in the industry, I’ve had backlash just for sharing a review over a movie I liked. And god forbid I show any ounce of emotion, I lose followers. Women have to be almost dehumanized sometimes to be able to walk amongs the leaders of the community.
And I’m just a little voice inside of a big pool. Imagine how much harder it is for women with a bigger podium, with more followers. And don’t even get me started on female directors – follow Aislinn Clarke, Mary Lambert and the Soska twins on twitter to see what they have to put up with. They’re given less money and less time to make movies on average than men are. And even when they create a blockbuster flick – they still have to go back down to the bottom and start again. Hell, look at Katt Shea…she directed Poison Ivy and then didn’t work for 17 years despite the success.
As women we always have to fight harder, shout louder and take more hits to be seen. And some days it’s mentally and physically exhausting. Even in my regular day job I work in a male dominated industry and this past week I had to really take a minute to see if I could continue to do this. Because it’s overwhelming and you can’t show emotion or else you’re seen as less. So spending my day in this type of environment and then going home to write in this kind of environment….it’s a lot.
And that is why Women in Horror Month is so important. So women like myself can just take a break and get the recognition we deserve.
END OF MY RANT! You can start paying attention again!
Happy February everyone! And don’t forget to use the hashtag #WiHMx on social media to include Women in Horror!
