SEX, VIOLENCE, AND VICTIMIZATION IN SLASHER FILMS

A content analysis of 30 slasher films released in 1980, 1985, and 1989 reveals that females are not featured most often as the targets of slashers; a significantly higher number of deaths and injuries were suffered by males. However, females are shown in terror for longer periods of time. Sex and violence are not commonly linked in slasher films; a death or severe attack of a female during or after depictions of sex occurred infrequently. Also, heavier amounts of violence appeared in films released in 1989 than those in the earlier years.