Mb. Oliver, CONTRIBUTIONS OF SEXUAL PORTRAYALS TO VIEWERS RESPONSES TO GRAPHIC HORROR, Journal of broadcasting & electronic media, 38(1), 1994, pp. 1-17
An experiment was conducted to explore the role of sexual portrayals i
n viewers, responses to graphic horror. Subjects rated a 10-minute vid
eo of a horror film that varied the gender of victim and the sexuality
in the portrayal. Sexual portrayals increased viewers' enjoyment, and
particularly so among male subjects and subjects who scored higher on
measures of sexual permissiveness. Sexual portrayals also increased p
hysiological arousal during the sexual scenes themselves and during su
bsequently occurring suspenseful scenes (though not during subsequent
portrayals of death). For male subjects, sexual portrayals also increa
sed perceptions that the film was frightening.