Paradise Profiles: Day of the Woman

Today’s profile was actually requested by a friend and a fellow horror blogger. That person is “BJ-C” of the blog Day of the Woman. Her blog was one of the few blogs that inspired me into my blogging interested and her she focuses her attention on feminism in horror. As I once stated to a friend, ‘you need to check this girl out because she knows her horror… possibly even more then me.’

So, tell me why you go into horror? (Out of all the genres, why was this genre so appealing?)
The horror genre is something that I was raised on. If we want to go psychoanalytical, it reminds me of my family and growing up. It was the one thing that my mother and I really connected with and its one of our biggest connection factors. If we're speaking realistically, because its the one genre that seems to continue to re-invent itself and keeps coming back bigger and better. There's no boundaries, no rules, and I love everything about it.

I noticed that you are a zombie fan. What makes zombies so appealing towards you?
Zombies are the most complex of any horror character. I love them so much because they can be anyone. A zombie can be a parent, a friend, a lover, an enemy, the sweet old lady down the street who brings you cookies for your birthday. They're simple creatures and arguably stupid creatures and yet for some reason they scare the living daylights out of us. They can barely use their motor skills and have terrible hand eye coordination and they still have the ability to make the strongest men scream like little girls.

Has there been anybody in the horror film business that has influenced you? If so, in what way?
Sam Raimi has always been a huge influence to me. I find his films to be brilliant and he's a huge advocate with censorship and he seems to do what he wants, how he wants, and doesn't apologize for it. His films follow his own rules and his directing style always showcases his personal touch on a film and I enjoy the fact that he shoots his films the way that he wants to. It takes a lot to keep your signature style in a world where people seem to hate change.

We all know that certain horror movies have a strong lead female or a heroine, but a lot of times that doesn't count as a feminist movie. What do you count as a feminist horror film?
A feminist horror film is one that shows a female in an empowering state. Day of the Woman is my favorite example because it shows a woman who would have every right to completely roll over and die and yet she over comes the odds. Feminist films can be the cliché female role where its Ripley in Alien where she's overcoming the odds and being an "i am woman hear me roar" type of a character, or in a sense something like Teeth where the woman is using her god-given female attributes to her advantage.

Aside from B_Sol, who else influenced you to go into blogging?
B_Sol was definitely my biggest inspiration but Kate from Love Train for the Tenebrous Empire was a huge influence on me. She's a smart, sassy, opinionated woman who sticks it to the man by being a woman and being damn good at what she does. I stalked horror blogs for months before i really got into it and The Vault of Horror & LTFTTE were definitely big ones for me

Tell us a little about Day of the Woman's background design.
The background design is actually a threadless t-shirt! The original image is blue and yellow and while I love the colors (I own the shirt) I felt that for my blog i wanted it to be a little more feminine. So I made the image black and white and then rendered the colors pink and black so it was dark with the black but the pink gave it a girlier feel.

What has to be the most rewarding thing that came out of blogging?
Ha! There is no way I can answer this without sounding like a beauty queen...The most rewarding thing that has come out of blogging is all the fantastic people I've met. I've said it many times before that the horror blogging community has become my family and I trust/care about most of the bloggers I've met through here more than I care/trust te people I see on a day to day basis. They know me better than most people do and they understand me on a level that most people won't ever understand. As far as the blogging community is concerned, from the outside looking in, its impossible to understand and from the inside looking out, it's impossible to explain.

In your spare time, what do you like to do? How do you like to relax?
In my spare time I'm a student at WIU as a Theatre and English literature major. I love reading, coloring in coloring books, volunteer work at domestic violence shelters, competitive baton twirling, beauty pageants, acting, singing, writing plays, and to relax… I watch trashy TV like the Jersey Shore. I absolutely love to dance and as much as I hate to admit it...I'm a sucker for tearjerker movies. I can't really explain it, I guess it’s my estrogen actually showing through. I love taking care of little children and my schnookums! She's a furry hamster named Starling. I'm also quite fond of spooning and skyping with my boyfriend Billy :)

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