Link - Feminism and the Vampire Novel
So, I ran across this great link when I was doing some reading for a post I'm working on about sexist alpha werewolf romance tropes in paranormal fantasy.
Feminism and the Vampire Novel by Caitlin Brown, from the UK feminist blog The F-Word.
It's a nice discussion of sex and power in vampire books. Brown posits that in more classic vamp stories, the male vamps have all the power- strength, age and wisdom. They may choose to confer some of their power on their sexy young (female) lover, but the agency is still with the vamp.
A newer and more egalitarian theme is where the woman has supernatural powers of her own (she is usually a witch or somesuch) and can meet her vampire boyfriend on equal footing.
Feminism and the Vampire Novel by Caitlin Brown, from the UK feminist blog The F-Word.
It's a nice discussion of sex and power in vampire books. Brown posits that in more classic vamp stories, the male vamps have all the power- strength, age and wisdom. They may choose to confer some of their power on their sexy young (female) lover, but the agency is still with the vamp.
A newer and more egalitarian theme is where the woman has supernatural powers of her own (she is usually a witch or somesuch) and can meet her vampire boyfriend on equal footing.