Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

Sex and sexuality have always been a strong theme in teen slasher movies. Its use, however, has changed according to the times. Teen horror movies in the 1980’s showed sex as a crime, the punishment for which was death. This is evident in movies such as Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Movies since then, such as Scream and The Rage: Carrie 2, have taken a less punishing view of teenage sex. The theme has changed from one where all sexually active teens die to one where the lives of teens will be spared as long as they are in love with their sexual partner. This change in the use of sexuality is a reflection on society and how it’s views on sex have changed and become more lenient. At the end of the 1970’s the open attitude towards sexuality ended and premarital sex was once again frowned upon. The horror movie genre picked up on this and sent teens a message: abandon sexual promiscuity or face punishment. Two typical horror movie characters were born. First, there is the virginal female. Her clothes are more conservative than the other females, she often has a boyish name, she makes no sexual advances and she resists the advances of the male characters. She is the heroine and will more than likely end u