The Size Of Your Heart and the Strength of Your Character

A Message of hope.

"1965 ... happy Munster!" by x-ray delta one is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Here’s a photo of Herman Munster to remind you that it’s going to be okay.

Horror is the genre for the outcasts, the loners, and the marginalized. I firmly believe that we have one of the most accepting and supportive communities, and I’m very proud of that. But recent events have started to make many of us in the horror community feel more and more unsafe. There is very clearly a lack of minority voices and general honesty in horror, and that must change. 

The Cinestate scandal shocked the horror world. A lot of us feel lied to, angry, and betrayed. The entire situation is honestly terrifying. I can’t even imagine what those women had to experience and it makes my blood boil to think that anything like that could happen anywhere, but especially in a place that was so trusted. We cannot allow this to be the norm, as the outcry of the community in the past couple of days has proven. Women in the horror community have been abused and mistreated for far too long, and it is unacceptable. The horror community we know today would not be possible without the work of so many phenomenal women, but if this behavior continues more women will feel discouraged to work in horror. Pushing women out of this genre would be a colossal mistake, and many women have already given up on horror because of the unsafe conditions. 

We have to fix this, the whole point of our community is to be a safe place for people that don’t feel welcome elsewhere.    

How ? 

The solution is simple, we have to listen to the voices of women, people of color, and people in the LGBTQIA+ community. Horror has to be an artform that amplifies, pays attention to, and appreciates art made by minorities. We have to speak up when we see injustices in our community as well as the world. We cannot be the community for outcasts if we don’t support those that have been outcast. Each and every one of us knows how it feels to not be accepted, in fact most of us are part of the horror community because it’s the one place that we aren’t seen as weirdos. Women are especially shamed for liking horror, but we shouldn’t feel like misfits in our own community. 

Responsibility 

Now, I love violence and gore (in art) as much as the next teenage girl, but having that violence and gore comes with a responsibility. Because horror can often have intense bloodshed, it can attract violent people. I AM NOT, I REPEAT I AM NOT trying to make the “violent video games make violent children” argument because (insert eyeroll here) I find that incredibly dumb. I am saying, however, that the violence in horror can make it appealing to people like white supremacists. This is why we have to be extra careful in our craft to speak out against real life violence and to ensure that our leaders are not allowing/committing violent acts. We cannot tolerate any kind of prejudice or violence in our genre and we’re going to have to work a bit harder than most genres to keep them out. That means that we cannot tolerate seemingly harmless racism, sexism, and homophobia in the community, even if that means we have to call out horror icons. Even if it’s just a small comment, my generation looks to the leaders of horror as examples. So, when you don’t discourage ignorant speech/behavior you’re telling us that it’s acceptable. Our responsibility also means that we need more minority voices in horror! We have to listen to those that have experienced the problems in our community first hand, and we have to work together to make solutions. That means more minorities in leadership positions, making decisions about the safety of those around them.  

“Everybody Makes Mistakes”-Hannah Montana

If you’re worried about things you might’ve said in the past, rest assured that the horror community is also one of the most forgiving. Nobody blames you for not knowing something, and if you sincerely and honestly apologize (meaning you don’t make the same mistake over and over again) for a mistake the community will understand. 

Change is necessary, and now is the perfect time to start. I know it seems like the world is falling apart right now, but know that there is hope. We are going to find out more about those we respect and trust, and it’s going to be really painful at first. But together we will create a better and safer community. Trust that we are not falling apart, we are growing and we will get better. The more perspectives we recognize, the better we will all be as a whole. The fact that the community got Fangoria and Birth Movies Death to leave Cinestate in 3 days proves that our voices matter and that change is already happening. Do not let it stop here, speak up. Now is the time to take down names and make demands. 

All that being said, it is perfectly fine if you need to take a break for a while. Please take care of yourselves, it will probably get worse before it gets better, but it will get better.