May it be the tiara, the flaming batons, or the frilly dresses, but I have quite the difficult time convincing people of my horror obsession without flashing a Day of the Woman business card. I've gone to my fair share of conventions, film festivals, and horror outings where people look at me as if I'm some sort of leper lost on my way home. I can't help it, I don't look like a "horror fan". When you say the words "female horror fan", what image immediately is painted in the mind? Most likely, something that resembles the woman here to my left. This is
Aleata Illusion. She's a blogger, model, and filmmaker. She's also highly pierced, highly inked, and topped with some non-traditional colored tresses. If you were to pair the two of us together, how quick would the common man be to assume that Aleata would be the horror fanatic over myself? I'm not writing this to be a bash on tattoos or piercings in any way, but more so to address an issue that has been irking me for quite some time. Why is it that when it comes to women earning their "horror street cred", we have to be sexy, psuedo-goths, and tattooed?
Now, I personally find tattoos and other forms of body modification to be beautiful (when done properly). I only rock eight holes in my ears, one in my nose, and my skin is as pure as snow. This isn't to say that I'm any less of a horror fanatic just because I haven't displayed my fandom on my skin.
To the right is the image of a woman a little more recognizeable. This, my friends, is Jovanka Vuckovic. Jovanka is a writer, film maker, horror personality, and oh yeah...the former EDITOR IN CHEIF of
Rue-Morgue magazine. When it comes down to it, she is arguably THE woman in horror. You'd think that with so many incredible credentials to back her up, the world would concentrate solely on her body of work and less on her 'body'. Unfortunately, this isn't the case. When discussing how women are viewed with the
Women In Horror Recognition Month founder herself, Hannah Neurotica, she made a mention of an instance where a woman (no less) did an introduction of the two of them and spent a majority of the time discussing Jovanka's appearance. My question is this, WHY? Why the hell does it matter what a woman looks like, especially in the horror genre? Where is this unwritten rule that in order to express yourself as a horror fanatic, you have to be decked out in tattoos? Hannah is quoted as saying "
You know-- its really sad that they try to label us by how we look and based on how we look as women, assumptions are made about the type of person we are. Our level of intelligence, our interests, etc. are all based on our appearance". The sad fact is that Hannah is absolutely 100% correct. We as women are constantly judged by our appearance, and assumptions are made solely on our outward appearance.
This is where I slip into storytime mode, so feel free to sit pretzel style and gaze at your computer screen like a toddler. Not too long ago, I went to a little unnamed horror convention. The second I walked into the door, it felt like I was a gazelle wandering the watering hole being sized up by the lions. There was a heavily flocked booth ran by some of the most beautiful women I'd ever seen up close. They were all tall, thin, inked, pierced, and rocking some of he most insane hair I'd ever seen. There were TONS of men surrounding the booth glammering with questions. I finally peeked my way in and asked them a simple question of "What is Your Favorite Horror Movie?" The girls looked at me blankly and after an awkward pause, replied with "
SAW" "
HOSTEL" and "UH...THE JASON MOVIES". Directly to the left of these women was a booth of another set of women. They were curvier, wearing more layers of clothing, and patiently awaiting anyone to come and talk to them. I strolled over and before I opened my mouth a woman behind the booth squealed "NO WAY! You got a Ladies of the Evil Dead shirt from Fright-Rags?! I was gunning for one, but I didn't have the money". From that moment on, the five wonderful women behind the table and I shared a conversation about horror and female geekery that must have lasted at least a half hour.
The message I'm trying to give from my story isn't that all horror inked women are bimbos or anything, but that we as people tend to judge immediately by appearance. Here we had a group of hot, inked women garnering TONS of attention simply for their looks, while a group of intelligent women were completely ignored simply due to their appearance. The picture above is one of my head shots that I use for acting purposes. Now answer honestly, if I were to walk into a room...would you assume that I could out-wit you in a horror trivia competition? If you answered "Yes", you're either cheating or a damn liar. It's more frustrating than anything to think that it takes some physical modifications to prove your fandom. Sports fanatics can wear a jersey, but horror women have to ink themselves? What the hell?! I decided to pose the question out to the
twitterverse. I asked simply "OPEN ENDED QUESTION: do you think tattooed women scream horror fan more than non tattooed women?" The replies I received were varying...
@ChadSavage: Only if they're also screaming "I'M A HORROR FAN!"
@
Nixskits: Yes. But they're usually smarter, more fun, cooler & generally less judgemental than the ones who abhor horror in all forms!!!
@TheMike31: Depends on the tattoo. If they've got a Necronomicon in their cleave, yes.
@KreepyLady:Some wear their horror heart on their sleeve,others incorrect chinese symbols. Then there's the anomaly of a friend who loves horror but all her tats are of sea life! Doesn't support the scene much though.
I guess the moral of the story here is don't judge a book by its cover
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