s4355972

SEXUAL LIBERATION AND VAMPIRES: WHATS AT STAKE?

Question:

Do 21 s t century texts use vampires to represent sexuality differently than Bram

Stoker s novel, Dracula ?

The vampire has been used in various texts since the 19th century as a critique for

sexuality (Primuth, 17). This essay will argue that 21st century texts use vampires to represent

sexuality differently than Bram Stokers celebrated novel Dracula. In Dracula, vampires

represented a fear of female sexual liberation and dominance, and a conflict between sexual

desire and fear. However, 21st vampire literature, such as the television series True Blood, has

used vampires to represent sexual liberation as positive, for both heterosexuals and

homosexuals. It will be shown that whilst vampires have continually been used to represent

sexuality throughout history, the connotations of sexuality and the different kinds of sexuality

that they represent differ in modern times to the first vampire (Rosenberg, 1).

In the 19th century, the vampire was introduced, and introduced as an evil sexual being

by the text Dracula, by Bram Stoker. Throughout the text, vampires are used to represent

female sexual liberation negatively. There was a growing social concern in the 19th century

about the emergence of female sexual independence and liberation. This is apparent in

Dracula, particularly in the scene where Jonathan is seduced by Draculas

sisters/bridesmaids. According to Christopher Craft, Jonathans desire for the sexually

aggressive vampire women who descend upon him is certainly not acceptable for an

engaged middle-class Victorian man aspiring to become a gentleman (109). In fact,

Jonathan describes his inner conflict between his desire for these sexually dominant women

1
 s4355972

and fear of them in Dracula: I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire that they would kiss

me with those red lips (Stoker, 42).

Jonathans conflict between desire and fear in regards to the vampire women is related

to their sexual dominance and Victorian social norms. According to Craft:

Harker awaits an erotic fulfillment that entails both the dissolution of the boundaries

of the self and the thorough subversion of conventional Victorian gender codes, which

constrained the mobility of sexual desire and varieties of genital behavior by according to the

more active male the right and responsibility of vigorous appetite, while requiring the more

passive female to "suffer and be still." (108).

This can be specifically depicted through the phallic symbolism of the vampire fangs

and the penetration of biting and drawing blood. Furthermore, the vampire mouth in fact

creates a fluidity between genders, as it contains both penetrators and orifices and subverts

any stable distinctions of gender (Craft, 109). The article Blood ties: A Vampire Lover in

The Popular Romance convincingly supports Crafts findings, stating that for vampires,

sexual acts are coded in the act of taking blood; in the penetration of the vampires teeth

without actual intercourse taking place (145). These sexual metaphors compounded with the

sexual liberation of the vampire, who were all female except for Dracula himself, represented

the Victorian fear of female sexual dominance or gender reversal (Craft, 110). Thus, in early

texts, vampires represented an evil sexual liberation.

21st century texts concerning vampires differ in their representation of sexuality, as

can be seen in the television series True Blood. These vampires are represented as positive

2
 s4355972

catalysts for sexual liberation. According to the article, True Blood: Monsters and Sexuality:

Too much of the same thing, human civilization is based on the renunciation of instinctive

gratification; however, humankind [pays] a terrible emotional price for the tenuous security

of civilization sexual frustration and boredom (141). The vampires present a Freudian

liberation to humankind, as they do not suppress their ids desires (Hirschbein, 126-127). In

order to satisfy humanitys id, vampires openly depict sexuality as fluid. (Popp, 1.)

According to Veronica Popp, when vampires are depicted as thus, it can be argued they are a

metaphor for sex Once the vampires come out of the coffin the townspeople either accept

or reject them. Theyre effectively accepting or rejecting sexuality. (Popp, 1.)

Indeed, in vampire/human pairings, the vampire often is sexually liberating for the

human. The article Blood ties: the Vampire Lover in the Popular Romance, postulates that

under the vampires tutelage the heroine discovers her own sexuality and sexual

preferences, from the more conventionalthe outright erotic... (Bailie, 145). This liberating

vampire differs from the vampires in Dracula, whose sexual acts are normally non-

consensual. In fact, Eve Dufour argues that humanity is drawn to vampires as, what is most

pertinent in the vampire subgenre is the implicit and explicit revelation of non-normative

human sexual desires (1).

Vampires in True Blood represent both normative and non-normative sexual desires,

such as homosexuality, as well. The choice of coming out of the closet for homosexuals is

analogous to vampires coming out of the coffin in True Blood; human society must accept

this as, vampires are not able to return to being human any more than a homosexual can be

reprogrammed to be straight (Brace and Arp, 97 - 103). This is corroborated by Dufour, who

argues that the vampire genre presents lesbian images and subtext through vampires to

3
 s4355972

address homosexual desires (1-5). , The portrayal of certain lesbian vampires, for instance, in

True Blood, focuses heavily on the sexual rather than the supernatural. Two main lesbian

characters Pam de Beaufort and Sophie-Anne Leclerq are portayed drinking blood from

human womens inner thighs. Unlike in Dracula, where the taking of blood creates a conflict

between fear and desire, True Blood portrays this lesbian act as pleasurable for both the

humans and vampires.

The liberation of homosexuals in True Blood through the symbolism of vampires can

be seen in other paranormal television series as well. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a series prior

to True Blood, presented lesbian vampire images, which was considered empowering by

lesbian viewers (Collier, Lamadue, Wooten, 597). Despite being somewhat sexualised, the

presentation of lesbian images in the adult vampire subgenre were empowering to lesbian

viewers as it presents what is generally repressed; a sexuality that defies the norm -

lesbianism (Dufour, 1 - 5).

In conclusion, 21st century texts use vampires to represent sexuality differently than

the initial representation of vampires in Dracula. Vampires initially represented sexuality

negatively, portraying a fear of female sexual liberation, a conflict between sexual desire and

fear, and the fear that a womans sexual liberation would lead to gender reversal. However,

21st century texts such as True Blood use vampires to represent positive sexual liberation,

both heterosexual and homosexual, in particular womens sexual freedom. It can be said that

vampires have been used as symbols of sexual liberation continually throughout history,

however through the changes in the connotations of vampires, developing from the horror

genre to the romance genre, indicates a similar cultural development in the view of sexual

liberation from something evil to something accepted in todays society.

References

4
 s4355972

Bailie, Helen T. "Blood Ties: The Vampire Lover in the Popular Romance." The Journal of

American Culture 34.2 (2011): 141-148. Print.

Brace, Patricia, and Robert Arp. Coming Out of the Coffin and Coming Out of the Closet.

True Blood and Philosophy: We Wanna Think Bad Things About You. Irwin, William,

George, Dunn, and Rebecca Housel. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley, 2010. 933 108. Print.

Collier, Noelle, Christine Lumadue, and H. Ray Wooten. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer and

Xena: Warrior Princess: Reception of the Texts by a Sample of Lesbians Fans and

Web Site Users." Journal of Homosexuality 56 (2009): 597. Print.

Craft, Christopher. ""Kiss Me With Those Red Lips": Gender And Inversion In Bram Stoker's

Dracula." Representations 8.1 (1984): 107-133. Print.

Dufour, Eve. "Lesbian Desires in the Vampire Subgenre: True Blood as a Platform for a

Lesbian Discourse." The Journal of Historical Studies 1.1 (2012): 1-14. JSTOR. Web.

30 Aug. 2014.

Hirschbein, Ron. Sookie, Sigmund, and the Edible Complex. True Blood and Philosophy:

We Wanna Think Bad Things About You. Irwin, William, George, Dunn, and Rebecca

Housel. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley, 2010. 123 135. Print.

Popp, Veronica. "True Blood: Monsters and Sexuality: Too Much of the Same

Thing."Academia.edu. N.p., 1 3. Print.

Primuth, Richard. "Vampires are Us." The Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide21.2.Mar/Apr

(2014): 17-21. JSTOR. Web. 30 Aug. 2014.

Rosenberg, Nancy. "Desire and Loathing in Bram Stoker's Dracula." Marymount University.

N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Aug. 2014. http://blooferland.com/drc/images/02Rosen.rtf

Stoker, Bram. Dracula. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1897. 42 Print.