Women Love Vampires Because We Want ... Gay Men?
Posted by: Jessica Wakeman
Filed in:
entertainment
1:20PM, Wednesday October 14th 2009
Further proof some men don’t know jack about women: Esquire magazine says chicks go bananas for vampire love stories because we lust after ... wait for it ... gay guys. Gay guys don’t want to be with us the way vampires can’t be with us and you know us ladies: we just want what we cannot have.
No, I’m not buying it either.
But let’s humor ourselves and find out just how, exactly, vampire crushes are like crushes on gay guys. Esquire writer Stephen Marche argues vampires who withhold love (such as in the beginning of Twilight, Edward is “seemingly repulsed” by Bella) remind women of the confusion and rejection we feel from closeted gay guys. “This exact scenario happened several times in my high school between straight girls and gay guys who either hadn’t figured out they were gay or were still in the closet,” they wrote. “Twilight’s fantasy is that the gorgeous gay guy can be your boyfriend, and for the slightly awkward teenage girls who consume the books and movies, that’s the clincher.”
Thank you, adult men, for explaining to teens girls why they like what they like! What would they do without you to set them straight?
Sigh. Where to start with this mess of a theory? First of all, a lot more women than just “slightly awkward teenage girls”—like totally not awkward Frisky chicks, Amelia and Annika—are into vampire books and movies, so that blows the high school theory out of the water.
Second of all, confusing relationships with closeted gay guys do happen, but it’s not on any girl’s Top Ten List Of The Worst Things About High School. And anyway, by the end of high school or early college, most young women develop some gaydar in order to function!
Lastly, gay guys aren’t the only ones we lust over who reject us—there are whole packs of commitment-phobic 17-year-old boys roaming through high schools. We at The Frisky generally hate to over-analyze the deep-seated psychological reasons why women enjoy stuff, but if we were to engage in such an analysis over vampire lit, we’d hitch our wagon to the prevailing “abstinence is hot!” theory. You know, a vampire is 200 years old and old-fashioned and courtly, plus he might sink his teeth into her neck if he nuzzles too close to her. Hence, why hundreds and hundreds of pages of the Twilight series pass with only chaste kisses between Bella and Edward. (Besides, it’s no secret that Twilight‘s author, Stephenie Meyer, is a Mormon.) Vampire love is sexually non-threatening and that’s where the romance comes in for women—not from some psychological issues we’ve held over from high school involving that gay boy in art class. [Esquire]
What do you think is behind the vampire trend?
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bethlynn00
wrote on October 14 2009 @ 01:02 pm: [report]
It’s just a stupid theory that makes no sense! People, especially teens are usually fascinated by the paranormal/fantasy, which vampires are, then you add a love story and its money in the bank! it’s more about exploring things that we will never or have never experienced, than unrequited love for the unattainable. I think some men just feel insecure about being compared to vamps, because they always get the girl and are always described as way more sexier than any mortal man.
Lexington
wrote on October 14 2009 @ 01:27 pm: [report]
Ummm… Could it also possibly be because the infamous vampire bite is also analogous to orgasming? I mean, the look on most victim’s faces on the tv shows always looks very… Well, you know. This ties into the whole safe thing again- you’re being ridiculously intimate with someone who you don’t know, without actually being sexually intimate. Forbidden but not forbidden.
Raugiel
wrote on October 14 2009 @ 02:40 pm: [report]
I don’t get the vampire thing period.
nonenone
wrote on October 14 2009 @ 06:26 pm: [report]
ahahahah… that is the LAST thing i would come up with, here are my ideas:
vampires live forever—> are wise
vampires are powerful—> women love men in power
vampires can control women—> (some) women love being dominated
vampires are mysterious—> self explanatory
vampires are tortured souls—> self explanatory
Pinky
wrote on October 14 2009 @ 09:21 pm: [report]
I must say I agree with noneone’s assessment. I happen to have two really good gay men as my freinds, both fey. And believe me I’m not secretly lusting after them. But I do lust after Louis (IWAV) and Edward (Twi)
kr070707
wrote on October 15 2009 @ 06:18 am: [report]
I think that one of the main attractions to vampires, especially the Twilight version (and I’ve only read the first book, so correct me if I’m wrong) stems from simply feeling unique. Every woman wants to feel special and loved in a relationship, and the vampire fantasy takes that to a whole new level. Here is a “man” that by nature should be a horrible, blood sucking monster, but his love for the woman is so strong that he goes against his very being in order to love her and be with her. The woman, of course, feels powerful because she is special enough to make the vampire change his ways.
writergirl
wrote on October 15 2009 @ 06:50 am: [report]
Ditto what nonenone and Kr070707 said.
Vampires also ooze danger and rampant sex appeal—they are the epitome of the ‘Bad Boy’. (The exception being Edward Cullen)
Take Dracula—Stoker’s character—Eric, and Bill from “True Blood” (books as well as the show) Angel—the list is endless. But they are enigmatic sexual beings that you can’t help but respond to. Their sexual prowess, their monstrosity, they have lived on the edge of society for so long, they’ve bucked law and tradition and still managed to retain some semblance of humanity….it’s a woman’s ultimate fantasy wrapped up in a pretty red bow. We want to tame the bad boy—we want to be the one to reform him.
You can’t reform a vampire, so the attraction is never-ending.
impoddity
wrote on October 16 2009 @ 08:08 pm: [report]
“Their sexual prowess, their monstrosity, they have lived on the edge of society for so long, they’ve bucked law and tradition and still managed to retain some semblance of humanity….it’s a woman’s ultimate fantasy wrapped up in a pretty red bow.”
Just reading that makes me hot and bothered.