The Real Appeal of Vampires -- SEX!

August 12th, 2009
Okay, so it is a craze. Maybe Stephanie Meyer is a brilliant writer, for some say she has moved them to depths of emotion they find unbelievable. Several have criticized her technically. Chances are she has grasped some basic aspects of storytelling and not exactly dominated some of the nuances of the language that would satisfy academics. It doesn't much matter, really. As far as I am concerned, anybody who can somehow infuse vampires with a feeling of reality, and get them translated into HBO series, book, and/or movie, has their career cut out for them. They have fans of the most rabid type, the kind who can be so obsessive they potentially disturb fan events at a place like Comic-con. They can start planning luxurious digs now. And here is why.
Yes, it is psychiatry. Freud really did say everything is sex and it is. This is particularly true for the adolescents, who are assessing the world of sexuality, repressed a bit through fear, perhaps; but there are real reasons to be afraid in our time. Even with advances in birth control, there is a fear of sexually transmitted diseases as well as pregnancy as well as unplumbed depths of social entanglement. And then there are raging hormones that drive fantasies, as well as the desire to bring fantasies into reality. Ah, the angst of adolescence. Nobody ever forgets it. We sublimate it symbolically as best we can. Oh, those "innocent" dates at the amusement park, where a girl-child in earliest youth gets her first orgasm on a carousel horse that simulates pelvic thrusting. But that really is innocent compared to the lure of the vampire, which has a long history to recommend it.
A recent article made a lot of very valid observations.
Although some of the early vampires were depicted as ugly monsters, I think the sexual meaning was always there. It just has become more obvious as contemporary interpretations feature extremely handsome male vampires, who have their way with innocent young girls.
Female lust is part of the species and is necessary for the survival of the species. Repression is taught to young women and has been for a very long time. We have been told to avoid pregnancy, maintain a chaste reputation; all of those things. There are still some cultures, especially in the near East, where people believe sexual transgression by a female (i.e. out of wedlock) should be punished with death for having brought about profound family dishonor, It has been said that prisons have many family members to have executed women in "honor" killings when the family honor has been besmirched. Although the west seems more lenient, some people and some sets of values make me wonder.
So using simple logic, we arrive at a pretty common female fantasy. Being a victim, or being taken sexually by someone who is powerful, or has taken control, or is even supernatural, sounds exciting indeed.
Please notice I am talking about fantasies here. I am NOT talking about women fantasizing about being raped or taken violently. Even if there are some who do, this level of victim hood is, well, just criminal. And this reality is not something any level headed person, culture, or country is going to condone.
We are squarely rooted in fantasy here. The level of sublimation is clear. Vampire teeth are hard and sharp, as one might imagine the most delicate part of male anatomy to be. They draw blood. I will not continue more graphic; only tell you there is a male aggressor and a female "victim" who relinquishes control of the act. Many heterosexual women seem to agree; although they may want or seek sex, the aspect of having a man take control for a bit is not exactly disagreeable.
The vampires seems to have first appeared in the 19th century, about the time Freud was figuring out how repressed everyone was. So in the 19th century, we had vampires like a romanticized Dracula by Bram Stoker, or someone modeled on Lord Byron in a stage play. In the 20th century, it was Bela Lugosi, whom it has been suggested may have been modeled more on Rudolph Valentino of the slicked back hair than anyone else. Clevelland Plain Dealer makes a point which I, who have little time for following the media, would not have considered.
In 1967 the Soap Opera "Dark Shadows" starred a vampire played by a Shakespearean actor, who played this entity as a "tortured soul," who had presumably some kind of emotional reasons for being as he was. Apparently there had been a plan to "terminate" him, wooden stake in the heart and all that sort of thing, in 90 days. They ended up keeping him because of the popularity of the character.
Now we all know that women are attracted to people to people who seem to require their tender, empathic ministrations. Anything that welded this particular set of emotional circumstances to the sublimated sexual desire of getting a vampire attack; well, I can sure see this would be a winner. I can see people, probably female writers, taking this kind of character and really creating wonderful and seductive scenarios. What woman would not be deeply attracted to someone who was so tortured he had to be a vampire? I can imagine as a healer how much I would want to heal someone so afflicted. I suppose many women, adolescents and older, and probably some men, would fantasize immediately about this exciting way to donate blood.