Exceptions to horror genre and female sexuality tropes?

Recalling Carol Clover's Her body, himself: Gender in the Slasher Film, there is typically an androgynous final girl in horror films - such as Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween - who survives the movie. The girls who are more sexual on the other hand, are brutally killed. So on some level, it's as if the women are punished for being sexual. Furthermore, the POV is male, and the weapons (i.e. knives and chainsaws) are phallic.

I assume there are some feminist horror films out there that actively defy this theme, but I haven't found them. Do all horror films follow this style?

analysis horror

Best Answer

Buffy was conceptualized by Joss Whedon specifically as a twist to this trope albeit in a simpler way.

There are two ways to view this trope. The first is that in a group one of the first to die is the most attractive girl and one of the last to die is the least attractive girl*. The second perspective is that one of the first to die is the first girl to get separated by the group.

Buffy is a counter to the second interpertation: the girl who winds up walking alone in the dark ends up killing the monsters and actually turns out to be the main "hero".

Additional answer:

Now that I think about it, it would also be accurate to consider Buffy as a counter to this trope in general. In the series, Buffy is depicted as the most sexual member of her group. At least initially.

*note: I used the description "attractive" rather than "sexual" because not all horror films that follow this trope portray the girl as more sexually active that the others in the group. However, she tends to be one of the more attractive member of the group.