As long as extreme and splatterpunk horror fiction has existed, there have been detractors for every proponent; fans and foes on either side. Lately, the genre has seen more widespread fame on social media due to the daring and inquisitive nature of a generation interested in prank culture challenges like eating laundry detergent and the plunging the depths of various media “icebergs” that exist online. As a fandom grows, the anti-fandom grows alongside and lately we have seen some very thoughtful and long-winded arguments against, if not particular authors, the extreme horror subgenre as a whole.
Websites and watchdogs that keep track of authors and publishers who behave badly notwithstanding, particular readers are often affected when a person or institution goes off the rails. For the millions of books put into print every single year and the trillions of readers that those books have, there are also an extremely small, inconsequential and statistically insignificant amount of writers or readers who lash out at one another. From time to time, this takes place in the extreme horror genre where it seems that the attacks, be it from a reader or a writer, reviewer, or a publisher, seem so much more sharp and penetrate so much deeper because of the subject matter of the books involved. When romance or fantasy writers clash, the books themselves are often forgotten or rarely part of the argument when it comes to extreme fiction. However, the content and subject matter of the books that we read and write are center stage. Before long, the entire subgenre is under fire as has happened of late.
“We Need To Talk About Extreme Horror”, they said…
There have been many conversations like the one that inspired this article, and without naming the specific video where the topic of extreme horror being problematic was discussed, I will say that I distilled the topics among the conversation and extraneous discussion to about 25 points. These 25 points were further distilled to 12 overarching points and then rearranged from the finest granularity to the broadest concern. These could be concerns raised by people who love the extreme horror genre, read it voraciously, or even points raised by complete outsiders who may have only stumbled upon an extreme horror book or heard about what the subgenre is all about. No doubt, there are many people in a far broader demographic who have suddenly taken notice of controversy within the extreme horror fandom. This may be a passing interest, but for those who have been reading or writing extreme horror for decades, relying on it for their livelihood and income, or it may simply be a level of normalcy and comfort within their daily lives to read it. It is anything but a passing novelty to people like this. The controversy and conversations can have very deep ripples among the greater community, especially among those who rarely participate vocally yet enjoy the fruits of this subgenre within their own homes in an insular and very personal nature. I felt compelled to respond as rationally as possible to the 12 distilled concerns, for peace of mind as a one-time writer of some very dark fiction myself, as a fan of extreme and splatterpunk fiction, and for those who have also disengaged from these conversations for fear that the delivery methods and messengers of these particular conversations should prove more anger-inducing than the concerns themselves. There was only one point in distilling these concerns from the source material where I personally felt attacked, and the anger-inducing aspect reared its head, which I will address at the very end of this article. Without further ado, here are the 12 concerns that I found worthy of those who think that we ought to talk about extreme horror fiction.
1. Describing the content of an extreme horror book should trigger immense shame and disgust. It is disturbing to hear reviewers talking about the contents of extreme horror books with a smile on their face.
When conversing with fans of extreme horror fiction, describing a book often has the opposite effect; intrigue and joy are linked to the content of extreme horror fiction. I find it very strange to project upon other people you’re discussing and believe that their behaviors should be adapted to suit your worldview and comfort level. Some people find children triggering shame and disgust, or the hooting and hollering of sports fanatics, perhaps, is an example of things that some people find a lot of joy, togetherness, and community in, that should trigger feelings of shame and disgust in the perpetrator according to other people. This is an absolutely unfair statement and sounds like a personal problem. And I am no debate expert, but this sounds like a perfect example of an ad hominem attack.
2. It's become a source of pride for extreme horror authors to traumatize their audience, with a goal to affect readers so negatively that their daily life is impacted after reading.
One would have to take a poll of extreme horror authors going back several decades to really discern if it is the goal of extreme horror authors to traumatize their audience. And that would be traumatized in the most general sense because it is impossible to read the minds of all the readers to find what buttons to push for particular individuals. As far as impacting a reader’s daily life after reading, that could be for better or worse, and there are people who have read extremely extreme horror from their point of view that has impacted them, which they find enjoyable in that impact. I feel that this statement is an unfair generalization.
3. Violence is almost always acted out on women in extreme horror, with very few male victims.
This is another case where a poll or a very involved survey would need to be taken to prove if this is true. There is a long-standing bias underrepresenting violence against men, and one could argue that the violence against men in extreme horror fiction goes unnoticed and therefore could be higher. Now, that said, yes, there is a lot of violence acted out on women in extreme horror, and that probably reflects the statistics in real life showing the violence against women, especially perpetrated against them by men they know. Art does usually reflect life to a certain degree, and I can’t see extreme horror being any different from other typical genre fiction.
4. Insidious misogyny that male extreme horror authors have in their work alienates females who are affected by it but are not aware, and often say they are not affected by it which hurts other women.
Internalized sexism is not a new concept and is a cornerstone, I feel, of intersectional feminism and even critical race theory. But we are talking about things that are a little more subjective and narrow than those very broad concepts. We’re talking about people’s creation of art and the art that people choose to consume. And at that point, this is an opinion on those things: the creation of the art and whether it should be created, and the art that’s being consumed, whether it should be consumed and by whom, even to broaden it one step further. While the intention of the statement is morally sound, it remains an opinion.
5. Violence in extreme horror books is being perpetrated on younger victims with more sexual violence as time goes on.
Again, this is another point where there would need to be a significant survey conducted to prove if this is true. And whether or not it is extreme fiction or fiction in general, usually does have some tie to social issues and current events. We live in a world where violence against children has not been hidden in the corners as it had been for centuries, and it has certainly become part of the headlines we see on a regular basis. So, it stands to reason that these themes are going to find their way into fiction. Splatterpunk, in particular, that mirror of extreme fiction, if you will, is tied intrinsically to social issues and current events and always has been, given the nature of its genre.
6. Extreme horror authors actively patrol for reviews and can't separate themselves from their art so it is terrifying for reviewers to be honest, critical, or negative.
The opposite is also true – that extreme horror authors actively disengage with reviews and reviewers, and separate themselves so violently from their art that it is terrifying for them to even conceive of engaging with reviews or reviewers at all. And I believe that this is larger than extreme horror; I think that all fiction writers, all art creators, fall into one of two categories, and a few in between. It is unfair to paint all extreme horror authors with the same brush and make it seem like they are lurking in their basements, waiting for the next review so that they can pounce on the reviewer if it is negative and send a bouquet of flowers to the reviewer if it is positive. Certainly, there are examples of this, yet this is a very slanted and biased representation of extreme horror authors as a whole. Criticizing artwork should never be a terrifying endeavor, and I am unsure that professional reviewers who are paid to review art are too terrified to do their jobs.
7. Extreme horror readers are cheated out of their money when a book is written in 10 days, not edited with a critical eye, and has type errors.
Another point where it can apply to any genre – there are people who have bought music who are cheated out of their money in some respect; there are people who have watched films who feel cheated out of their money in some way. Walkouts are a common way to protest a film in a theater and always have been. Those patrons are intrinsically cheated out of their money. All genres have creators who put their entrepreneurship far before the art and their skill or the reader and their enjoyment. Many are out to just make money regardless of genre. And again, it is painting the writers of extreme horror with too broad of a brush, for there are many serious and hard-working highly skilled writers within the genre. No doubt, the opposite is true here as well. Many extreme horror authors feel cheated out of their money when a book is reviewed without a critical eye, with type errors and written in 10 minutes. Perhaps this could be even expanded to those who purchase a book only to slam review it on social media. Both are unfair, this is true but has little impact on extreme horror fiction’s validity as a sub-genre, or even a writer’s validity as an author.
8. It is hard to determine which books are safe without content warnings. People who are just unintentionally searching for their next read might stumble across extreme horror when they should not.
There are content warnings on a great number of books, whether they are extreme horror or not. Authors or publishers choose whether or not to include warnings about the content of a book, film, or other piece of art. Certain sections of the town where you live should have a content warning. Many other things that do require a trigger warning or content warning in this world are passively consumed; advertising, music, public art. You have to actively open a book and/or purchase it to have the content impact you. A book takes a significant amount of effort on the part of the consumer to digest the content within it. Furthermore, extreme horror fiction is not very easy to find if you are in the general book buying world. It is hard to find on bookstore shelves, and it is not as readily available as one may think on electronic book stores either. Usually, you need to have read similar books, reviewed them favorably, not returned them, or have been searching for that subject matter and typing in keywords that specifically generate algorithmic results that will populate extreme horror fiction titles for you. No doubt, this exact scenario has happened on rare occasions, yet it is impossible to determine whether the outcome is good or bad from the point of view of the person stumbling upon an extreme horror book randomly. The chances of this having a positive outcome are likely equal to those of a negative outcome, so this argument is invalid and speculative.
9. Extreme horror readers try to desensitize themselves by reading more extreme work, and no other genre has this weird flex.
One could argue that romance fiction edging into erotica also has this strange flex. The same could be said, and is often said, about those who enjoy horror films. Desensitization has long been debated and often found to not be the case. The argument can also be made that extreme horror readers are perhaps building up their sensitization, even resensitizing themselves to things that had occurred to them in their past that they need to understand as harmful, and fiction is a way to explore that safely. One could argue that one person’s desensitization is another person’s exposure therapy. This also changes with age; often, people who discover extreme horror fiction are around 19 years old, for example, and then 10 years later, their tastes and positions in life have changed in various ways. One way could be that they are desensitized in a certain way to fiction and have read far more extreme horror than they had when they first discovered the genre, or they might move in the opposite direction where they find they no longer have a taste for extreme horror fiction and prefer milder fare. The consequences of an extreme horror reader desensitizing themselves should have no real bearing on another person’s opinion of the genre.
10. Some readers may have a hard time distinguishing fiction from reality as extreme horror is so true to real life and makes living in the real world scarier.
This is, again, another point that could apply to absolutely any form of artwork and any genre of fiction. You can also say the same about the news, and it is often argued by people who do not read or watch the news that it has the effect of making the real world scarier. Not watching the news can also have this effect, where you feel unprepared and unaware of what is going on around you. Extreme fiction, and to a larger degree splatterpunk, draw a lot of their inspiration for storylines, plots, and characters from real life – from the news and from what is going on around the readers or what has happened in their past and impacted them, their loved ones, or people they know. Therefore, the storylines are often of a darker nature, quite grim, and true to life. To the first statement, if a reader is having a hard time distinguishing fiction from reality, there’s a larger problem at play, and they should be seeking professional help or speaking with people they know and trust about this particular issue. This is not caused by, nor should it be the concern of, artists whose art they consume.
11. The extreme horror genre is dangerous, triggering and traumatic or re-traumatizing at its most reckless and people can be hurt by the genre.
The front cover of a newspaper often has the same issue, not to mention certain areas within the cities, towns, or countryside where we live. Camping in the forest can also be dangerous and reckless. A music festival can prove traumatic. Should someone feel traumatized by the fiction they are consuming, or any art for that matter, they should absolutely talk to a professional about what they are feeling and be open with people they trust about what they are consuming if they feel it is having a negative impact on their life.
12. Extreme horror needs boundaries and to maintain or express some level of ethical responsibility.
Extreme horror and splatterpunk fiction exist in part because there are boundaries within other forms of fiction. If extreme horror fiction writers were writing with those boundaries in mind, they might fit into other genres like crime fiction, drama, or urban fantasy. The argument can be made on the other side that if boundaries are continuously pushed and crossed, then nothing may be found shocking. This is often the argument of desensitization in horror, where consumers and creators are continuously chasing a dragon that ought not be caught.
The genre, like many forms of art, is self-policing to a certain extent. There are just as many authors with concerns stated by those who may be new to the genre or who have become oversensitized to the genre, and they often read one another’s work. In self-publishing, there are reviewers that point out when lines have been crossed. In traditional publishing or small press publishing, there are multiple levels of people critiquing an author’s work. Laws exist against hate crime and obscenity, and we are free to exercise those laws as they apply.
So far, we’ve addressed the boundaries that are mentioned in the statement. Yet, ethical responsibility, I believe, lies more in the hands of the consumer than it does with the creator. So far, I have never actually heard an answer to the question of why extreme horror authors need boundaries, what guidelines should be used to set those boundaries, and to whom they should target their level of ethical responsibility.
With this statement alone, we are edging into a “think of the children” scenario, which is a tactic of censorship and moral panic that I also see in action within extreme horror communities, bulletin boards, Reddits, and Facebook groups right now. Pseudo-activists come in to express some level of ethical responsibility and play the role of a mother hen, attempting to set the record straight among aficionados of extreme horror. It’s almost like a cult member fishing tactic. Some readers of extreme horror fiction can see straight through that and choose to either ignore the attempts of these pseudo-activists who are against extreme horror for various reasons, while others choose to lash out and engage in discourse, whether it be calm and rational or irrational and heated.
It’s only a book, it’s only a book, it’s only a book…
At the beginning of this article, I noted that there was a point where I myself felt attacked and concerned about the delivery of this conversation about extreme horror fiction. I was also confused because I was not sure what the person saying these words meant by them, and they were delivered with such acidity, they were hard to ignore. So, from the transcript, here’s a quote that I am still unsure about – whether it’s a threat, a concern, a dismissive tactic, or simply screaming into the void.
“To the women who are listening to this and thinking well this doesn't apply to me at all; first of all congrats. Congratulations girly. I really hope they pick you. You can have a good little convo with the incels in the comments. I hope they pick you.”
I’m not really sure what this means. I’m not entirely sure about the intention of a statement such as this. It seems to be a combination of threat and jealousy. I’m not sure what they mean and not sure I want to know lest I inadvertently touch that particular abyss whence this vitriol sprang.
-30-
If you or anyone you know has been caused true harm by any art, be it extreme horror fiction, a film you watched, or the front cover of a newspaper, please reach out to professionals who could help guide you through this world, services that may be of use, and, at the very least, talk to people you know and trust about your feelings. Should you not know where to turn, checkpoint.org offers global mental health resources. There are many services in your communities, towns, countries, and you can find them all at checkpointorg.com/global.