After All Is Said And Done...

Most girls and women I know hate horror movies. I'd say almost all women don't like horror and make a point of never watching scary movies. It's also interesting to notice that almost all good scary movies (slashers included) have a female protagonist who goes through hell, is traumatized, sees all her friends/family die, before she manages to defeat the monster and survive. A lot of them end up in psychiatric wards afterwards.

My question: are most women turned off by horror because they feel, when watching these movies, that they are being called upon to relate to the main character and go through her ordeal?

In contrast, men don't seem to mind horror. I quite like a scary movie. But, if you look at the victim's list, men seem to die in the following manner:

- very quickly
- having sex with someone very hot
- saving the heroine/protagonist

And what about women who do enjoy watching horror? Are they smarter, or stronger, and can enjoy the genre without getting subconsciously sucked into it? Are they survivers themselves in real life, thus the movie parallels real traumas they suffered in life?