The Bad Boy Appeal: Female Sexuality and Development in the Young Adult Horror Fiction of L.J. Smith

Traditionally horror has been viewed as a masculine genre, saturated with submissive, weak females. Both horror films and literature often depict women dying violent deaths at the hands of a stronger male. More recently, female characters in horror fiction have repossessed their power and authority, equalling the strength and cunning of their male counterparts. This new trend is particularly evident in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with the central heroine having greater physical prowess than anyone else, male or female in the world. This feminist revisionism of horror in the nineties, saluted the Gothic fiction era where horror was considered a woman?s field. 'The Bad Boy Appeal' studies the representation of female sexuality in the young adult horror fiction of L.J. Smith and the manner in which she reclaims horror from its perceived place in the masculine sphere, specifically by assigning her female characters the principle roles.