Vampires and Sexuality: What Are 'Twilight' and 'True Blood' Saying About Sex?

Here is the companion article to this one...

http://www.doublex.com/section/arts/vampires-and-sluts-and-virgins-who-love-them?page=0,0

I think it is sometimes too easy to say Vampires equal sex. Of course they do, it is a form of lust that goes with their need to not only feed but to have sex. That was one of the things I had a difficult time with in the Anne Rice Vampires who were, for lack of a better word, impotent.

I think because Vampire represents us and all we are, we tend to see them as we see each other. Stephenie Meyers sees Vampire in her purview as abstinent, not only from sex but from blood and blood is the life and so is sex.

I also think the the thing we find so sexy about Vampires is they have no hangups sexually. Sex simply is a part of what they do and they embrace all facets of the physical. It's as much the physical they enjoy as the actual sex. In the third book, Eric likes to nuzzle Sookie and smell of her while he is talking to her about Bill and what he may have been doing for the queen. He rubs his face against her face like a cat.

In book four, Sookie wakes up to Eric smelling her. He can tell she has been in the woods and with different people and shifters and weres and even smell the pig they brought down. In five, when Sookie needs Eric to do her a favor, he goes to her and smells of her and rubs his face against her again. It is as intimate to Eric (well...almost) as making love with her.

And Bill is the same way, he likes to lie in bed with her after and pay attention to all her little physical quirks and little ticks, like her pulse, her heart beat, the taste of sunlight on her skin....

So, for me, Vampire is not just blood and sex, Vampire is the true sensualist..they take in all physical aspects....