The Final Girl

The final girl, is not a whore, is not after sex, but is a woman who must take on male traits to survive in the end. The final girl must be able to kick ass when needed, or in other terms be smart and know what to do to save herself and not run around helplessly in her underwear.

In the article "Is the final girl an excuse," it mentions that all the other girls leading up to the final girl are in a sense whores and the final one is a woman, who MEN can relate to. As we watch a horror or slasher film, girls are getting killed left and right, but then there is the "final girl," the one who manages to stay alive. MEN in the audience root for her because she has to take on masculine qualities to survive, like using a chainsaw or an axe or setting traps, and MEN like this because they can relate to it. Of course the women aren't shown as being smart or clever, they are shown as being masculine.

How can women respect themselves or except men to respect them if movies are saying, if you look good, you must be a whore then, and you will be killed off at some point, and if you look good and have a brain, you will be seen as stupid at first, but will survive in the end, only because you had to act like a guy?