I read fantasy novels. I prefer the ones where women don’t get raped, which makes the selection smaller than you might think. Last year, I started reading urban fantasy. I’m usually more a of classic-medieval or fairy-tale-once-upon-a-time kind of girl. But I like Patricia Briggs (minus the rape scene in the last one—why, Patricia Briggs, why?), and now Karen Chance. Their books have a bit of sex in them, all fantasy does. Well, most fantasy does. Well, most fantasy that I’ve read does. Anyway, sex is not the plot though. Chance is pushing it, yes, by having sex be the solution to the big problem, but it’s still not the plot; it’s a lovely little bonus.
Vampire sex seems to be a particular pleasure in current novels (thank you Bram Stoker. No, not Anne Rice. Dracula is quite erotic.) Now, I expect there to be vampire sex in fantasy, and if you go through the fantasy section of your favorite chain bookstore, there are a few vampire sex books sprinkled around the fantasy section. But they are not the majority; there are all kinds of books there, many with no vampires, and some without any sex even (on the page or implied). But in the romance section, that is, apparently, different.
I don’t read romance. I noticed a few vampire sex books in the romance section at some point last year (at the store I frequent, you have to pass romance to get to children’s books, and if I have time, I like to go read the new Junie B. Jones while Husband browses magazines). Yesterday though, we were at a different store and the romance was next to the art books, so while Husband looked at art, I skimmed the romance shelves (I had already found what I was looking for). On three shelves (normal size, 2-3 feet wide each), I counted 23 vampire sex books. 23 on 3 shelves. 23! Does that seem like a lot to you? It seems like a lot to me.
Now I have read romance before, and my limited experience has led me to believe that the plot is just a flimsy excuse for sex. Kinda like how in a musical, the plot just moves you from song to song; it isn’t really important. It’s just an excuse to have people singing and dancing. The plot in romance just moves you from one flurry of fingers to the next. And I read back covers and selections from several of the vampire sex books. Most of them have the exact same plot, which reeks of misogyny, and the writing . . . not so good. I’m not claiming that the fantasy novels with vampire sex are much better, but I’d read them without the sex. There is really no point in reading the romance without the sex. Which I’m guessing is why people read them, but I can usually conjure up a fantasy without paying $7.99 for the privilege. And seriously, I just can’t read books without plot anymore. I need a good story.
I don’t know what my point is other than, OMG, people are all into vampire sex right now. I’m just really fascinated by that.
The reason that vampires are so scary, I think, is because the lore is constructed so that the victim wants to be drained. (This would be post-Stoker lore mind you. I don’t know of sexy vampires before Dracula. If you do, help me out here.) The fear is in the seduction. Lots of fantastic creatures of legend and lore are scary and feed on humans. There are other blood-drinkers and other undead monsters. There are other seducers. But the vampire combines these so that you have a being that is scary and deadly, powerful and strong, who can completely control the victim, and makes the victim want to be a victim, desire to be drained, ask to be killed. And contemporary writers have sunk their claws into that little tidbit and run wild. The allure of the vampire in pre-Stoker lore is not as loaded with desire (again, tell me if I’m wrong, please; most of the folk—not literary—lore seems to be about protecting yourself), but there is still that unmistakable power. So vampires are scary because they defeat the self-preservation instinct and pervert it. I guess that’s what makes them sexy too, but I don’t really find the idea of someone making me do things that I don’t want to do and that put me in danger, um, sexy. It’s really rather terrifying.
But I do love a good scary vampire story, one where the heroine or hero doesn’t succumb to the seduction.
3 comments:
That part of the genre is definitely prevalent at the moment. In YA lit, the Twilight books are all the rage with the kids (many kiddy lit critics have issues with them for very good reasons, i.e, simpering weak female lead).
There is some fun Young Adult fantasy that contains 0 accounts of rape. Or, as I've noticed lately, some of the earlier science fiction and fantasy might have a rape in them, but they aren't treated in any way that is explicit. I just read Bester's The Stars My Destination and realized that if I had read this when I was younger, I never would have gotten the allusion to the equivalent of an off-set rape scene when it actually occurs in the text. And the rapist is not portrayed as a good guy by any means, so it didn't bother me in the context of the character in the story.
Do you like Diana Wynne Jones (YA author)? Terry Pratchett's kids books are a lot of fun, too. Nancy Farmer has some really interesting books, too. Sex doesn't play as large of a part in YA fantasy, or if it does it typically isn't as explicit (gossip girls are another story). So, not as much of a bonus in that regard, but it does make it less likely to find explicit rape scenes tucked into the stories, too.
I should note that I LOVE Keats' "Lamia." I guess that's a vampiric sort of love. Well, love really isn't the right word, but you know what I mean.
k8: Thanks for all of the suggestions. I've been wondering about Twilight. I've picked it up a few times and put it back because I couldn't tell if I would like it or if it would make me rant. I've thrown books across the room because of simpering weak heroines. Maybe I'll pick up the first one from the library, just to see what all the fuss is about.
I've tried listening to Pratchett on BBC radio (they've been airing a bunch of his stuff recently on BBC4 & BBC7--you can listen online at bbc.co.uk), but couldn't get into it. Maybe I need to read instead?
I don't refuse to read books that have rape in them. I'm just sick of the girl gets raped, girl gets tough, girl saves the world plot. Why can't the girl get tough of her own accord? Why does she have to be defiled and brutally stripped of her autonomy first? That trope just pisses me off. As does the implied rape fantasy that comes with some of the vampire sex books. And don't get me started on the depictions of female vampires in current vampire lit.
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