Gothic Literature & Women: The female history of horror

How have horror and ghost stories challenged gender norms? Explore the feminist side of Gothic fiction. With Q&A.

When people hear the word ‘horror’, they might often think of violence, fear, and of women in peril. But the relationship between horror and women is far richer – and far more surprising – than many realise.

From the rise of the Gothic in the eighteenth century, women have been at the heart of the horror genre – not just as characters, but as creators. These chilling tales were often written by women, for women, and became a powerful space to explore their deepest fears, desires, and frustrations. Horror offered something radical: a genre that could challenge social norms, question power structures, and give voice to the unspoken.

In this fast-paced, four-century journey through literary history, we’ll uncover how women have shaped the horror genre – transforming haunted houses, ghosts, vampires, and monsters into metaphors for real-life struggles. From Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, from the forgotten women of Romantic poetry to the simmering rage in Jane Eyre, this talk examines how horror has become a vessel for feminist expression.