Why There's No Vampire Sex in Twilight
Gawker wants Bella and Edward in the Twilight series to screw, already, dammit!
Counting down the days until the Twilight premiere?
I am, too, and I'm enjoying all the media attention the books and movie are getting.
But a recent Gawker post about the Stephenie Meyer series ticked me off. In "Vampire Chastity Belts: Anticipation for Sex That Never Comes is the Highlight of Twilight," blogger Alex Carnavale complains that the lack of sex in the book series is unrealistic, especially since the two main characters pine over each other for hundreds and hundreds and hundres of pages. Given the fact that Meyer is a Mormon, Carnavale seems concerned her book is preachy about sexual abstinence.
He writes:
"...no one getting laid, even just in a passing reference? Some have chided the book for preaching abstinence and never discussing the sexuality of its central character, and it's hard to argue with that."
True, that's unrealistic -- especially for bored teenagers in a rural town! I do understand Carnavale's point, and I appreciate his concern about a "destructive message":
If Bella's attraction to Edward were based on anything more than his striking physique, I'd probably applaud the book's desire to push sex out of the picture. Yet she spends most of her time idly worshiping the chiseled features of her undead one-and-only. In the sequel, New Moon, Bella is now eighteen years old, and she never thinks for a moment about sex. Sure, sometimes she'll press herself against Edward's cold carapace and feel awesome, but that's as far as it goes.
The vampire side is more easily explained: Edward is consumed by a desire for Bella's blood (it sings to him), and he doesn't want to get too close. In fact, it's his elusiveness in the first novel that makes her disregard all the advances of her new classmates in the rainy Washington state hamlet of Forks. In this way, the book's story might make a better instructional tool for young men than young women. This approach makes less sense for Bella, who is far from free to express herself sexually. Was this the right move to ensure the books could be read by all ages? Indisputably, but that doesn't mean it can't also be a destructive message.
I'm the last person to say teenagers, young adults and even children shouldn't be exposed to safe, healthy sexual content -- I think American culture is schizophrenically both slutty and prudish. To that end, I support comprehensive sex ed in schools and I'd love to see a loosening up of the sex-related controversies in our pop culture.
Discussion
Good God, ya'll are preachy. You can't have one book where the characters just don't have sex?
1. A lot of the girls who love Twilight are pre-teens. They are not ready for books with explicit sex. What's more, they probably wouldn't be allowed to read it if it had explicit sex.
2. Sometimes, not having sex is hotter than having it.
3. Do you really think that if kids read a book where the couple loves each other enough to wait before having sex, then they will think sex is bad?
4. "Wait until you are ready" is the ultimate in sex-positive messages for all of us.
5. There are plenty of vampire books full of explicit sex in my local bookstore. They aren't blockbusters with YA or tweens. Maybe they're choosing what they're ready for. Life is long, they have plenty of time to be sexually active.
6. I think there are a lot of stereotypes about religious conservatives and sex. Believe it or not, many of them say that they love sex and have fulfilling sex lives.
I went to New Moon last night (sneak preview, free passes, burning curiosity) and two things are certain:
1) It's porn without being actual porn the way oral sex is not technically sex.
2) There isn't a single healthy romantic relationship in the mix. It's a celebration of codependency. Bring your party hats!
Bella has low self-esteem and feelings of worthlessness, all of her energy and time is invested in one man or another (no strong female role models to speak of, either) all the characters talk about is how intensely they care about each other and both Edward and Jacob are super possessive and controlling. She is lost without one of them. This book is incredibly destructive to the self-esteem and expectations of young women.
Preaching abstinence? I don't think so. That book may never stray into the realm of graphic sex (even in the last book) but it expresses its sexuality in many other different ways. Age or not, I think Meyer likes playing around with the forbidden love aspect, for all, which is why she holds off for so long.
While Edward's body has been described as marble-like, remember he is dead and therefore cold to the touch (at least from a mortal). I understand that sex with any vamp is so vigorous that it is violent and mortals will not survive the tryst. If that is the case I guess sex with a vamp would serve another purpose . . . dinner.
The sexual tension without actual sex is hot, I agree. And, there are enough liberal, anti-religious-conservative agendas swirling around in entertainment and media (hello, third season of Weeds), I'm all for a pro-conservative stance to keep us all fair and balanced.
