hiiii i used to be super into horror but shortly after graduating from goosebumps as a kid i realised how much of the genre revolves around womens pain and trauma and it really put me off. I'm sure there's plenty out there i just thought I'd see here for the best bc i miss being genuinely spooked by books.
oh this also includes like "female rage" and revenge stuff. I just want to avoid it all rn just for my sanity
thank you!
by olliedisgrace
3 Comments
I am interested for the same reason! Characters can still be women I just am tired of the horror being directly tied to the fact that they are women. Just some general human horror is fine.
Stephen King of course has some good horror. It’s probably worth checking TW per book. I remember loving Duma Key, which has a male MC and centers disability but I can’t remember if the ending involves women being harmed for being women or just people who happened to be women having bad stuff happen to them.
House of leaves! But I couldn’t finish it because it genuinely scared the beheezus out of me. AFAIK there’s no gender stuff in it past where I got to.
Have you tried Clive Barker? His stories always came across as having sexually very ambiguous characters. I’d call a lot of his stuff horror fantasy. IMO his writing is really tight, his stories are really interesting and compelling, and he goes in directions that no other author goes. While his stories can be sexual I don’t recall trauma directed against anyone based on their sex or using sex as a way to create trauma/suspense