Discussion List for campus-based and allied personnel working to end gender-based violence on campus.

["Ben Atherton-Zeman" <>]

Hello, friends!  My friend Professor Britt Abel of Macalester College is
teaching a first-year seminar on vampires this fall.  She's wondering if
there has been any writing, scholarly or otherwise, about sexual and
domestic violence in the stories.

 

Not being familiar with the genre, I asked her for more information.  She
responded thus:

 

This is the deal:  in Twilight (and the Vampire Diaries and other such
tales), vampires aren't exactly monsters but try to blend in with high
school culture and live from animal--rather than human--blood.  But the
vampires have super strength, and you're never sure if they are going to
fall off the wagon in terms of their diet.  These sexy, beautiful male
vampires have relationships with human females, but there's tension built
around whether the vampire might, basically, ravage his girl.  In one
Twilight book, when the vampire and his human partner have sex, she ends up
getting bruised up, simply because her partner is so strong.  (Talk about a
literalized stereotype:  he hurt me because he loves me so much.)

 

I'll certainly be doing research in the library and tracking down articles
about these types of works (although I have not had much success finding
academic articles about Twilight yet), but I'd just be interested in hearing
if anyone is talking about this type of (particularly teen) fiction/tv/film
in terms of domestic/sexual violence.

 

I'd appreciate any help you all could give her.  Britt's email is abel
<mailto:>
 @macalester.edu - please respond to her, not to
me.  

 

Until the violence stops, Ben.  

 

Ben Atherton-Zeman, Maynard, MA USA
Actor, Comedian, Feminist and Husband
Presenting a One-Man Play: "Voices of Men," Educational Theatre for
Sexual/Domestic Violence Prevention - video excerpts at
http://www.voicesofmen.org

Booking information: 978-897-3619

 

Quote of the Month, end of January 2010:

"The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream
shall never die."  - Ted Kennedy, 1932-2009