I recently finished the book Vampires: From Dracula to Twilight – The Complete Guide to Vampire Mythology by Charlotte Monatgue. I have mixed feelings on the book in general, but one point aggravates me. Ms. Monatgue attempts, as many have before, to explain the psychological reasons for the appeal of vampires. She asserts that the vampire is an object of “safe” sex – aka, the bite being symbolic of intercourse without the actual act of invasion – and that this is what appeals to the female mind.
I can’t speak for every woman, but I’m afraid “safe” is not a word I associate with vampires. In fact, they’re really the ultimate bad boy and about as “un-safe” as you can get, without befriending a serial killer.
Oh, wait.
Moving past the idea that vampires are essentially murderers – whether he’s “vegetarian” or not, even Edward Cullen soils his hands with the blood of his own kind – vampires are dangerous, and an intimate relationship with them is tantamount to playing with fire. Whether it is a mythos that involves only oral blood drinking, or one that mixes sexual intercourse with blood, there’s still a common denominator: the blood. No matter how you slice it, the vampire partner gets their jollies by sucking something out of their human lover that the human needs to stay alive. And, if they wanted to, they could drain their partner completely dry. Talk about a way to go.
But of course, they don’t. Like the warrior men of old, or of a Harlequin Historical, the vampire is bigger, stronger, faster and generally physically superior to their weaker female counterparts. He could kill, maim, crush or destroy her in a moment, but he doesn’t because, of course, he loves her deeply. The vampire is an extension of the basic instincts where the woman looks for the toughest, strongest, alpha male because he’s the one who’s going to have the better shelter, the bigger share of the hunt, and the higher place in the tribe. Of course, our society has gotten rid of those things and replaced this alpha strength with money. The human instinct just hasn’t figured that out yet.
If that wasn’t enough, many mythologies give the vampire, or at least the vampire hero, mind reading abilities so that not only can he now crush his female or empty her like a juice box, he can now see every nasty, spiteful, dirty, evil, or just plain dumb things that lurks in the deepest recesses of her mind. Of course, so long as he can help it, he doesn’t out of that same love and respect for her. But, he could.
So what is the balance to this ultimate danger? The ultimate thrill, of course. Everyone knows that an orgasm caused by a vampire bite can’t begin to compete with what we mere mortals can enjoy. Just as a thrill seeker will leap from an airplane, so will the vampire’s human lover will risk life and limb. Because, far from being safe, vampire blood-drinking-mind-reading intimacy is on a whole new level. After all, you really can’t get more connected – or more invaded – than that.
And on a similar subject, you can read an excerpt of the upcoming Rolling Stone’s article “The Joys of Vampire Sex” http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/17389/191809 (special thanks to Dawn for the link!)
Or, a great article by Bertena Varney called The Lure of the Dead Boyfriend: http://markdeniz.wordpress.com/2010/07/29/the-lure-of-the-dead-boyfriend
So what do you think? Are vampires appealing because they’re dangerous, or safe?
Barbara Kausteklis
/ August 19, 2010Awesome all! Congratulations on all of this.
Barbara K
Joleene Naylor
/ August 22, 2010Thanks, Barbara! Great to see you here! 😀
Sharon
/ August 19, 2010great post! Vampire sex is definitely dangerous. Like rough housing with a PitBull. It’s all fun and games till someone gets bit .
Joleene Naylor
/ August 22, 2010hee-hee! Yes! 😉
Bertena Varney
/ August 23, 2010Wow. Jolene.. thanks for referring to my article during Vampire Awareness Month.
Let’s just say that I know they are bad boys- wink:)
And that’s why I love them.
Joleene Naylor
/ August 23, 2010Me too! heh-heh!
Bertena Varney
/ August 23, 2010Sorry I misspelled your name- Joleene:)
Joleene Naylor
/ August 23, 2010No worries 😉 I have gotten some very creative spellings over the years. Joeylynn is my favorite, I think. 🙂
Bonnie
/ August 25, 2010delightfully dangerous, lol!!!
Joleene Naylor
/ August 26, 2010That seems to be the general consensus so far 😉
Eneida Quilliams
/ August 31, 2010This is a great post and may be one that can be followed up to see what are the results
A partner sent this link the other day and I will be excitedly waiting your next blog post. Carry on on the fantastic work.
Joleene Naylor
/ September 3, 2010Thanks, Eneida! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Bertena Varney
/ August 1, 2011I just finished my reference book Lure of the Vampire and mentioned your book in there. I would love to have you do a review or interview if you are interested. Here is the link to the amazon account so you can read about it. http://www.amazon.com/Lure-Vampire-Reference-Websites-Personal/dp/0615501567/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1312258382&sr=8-2
Joleene Naylor
/ August 1, 2011Awesome!