The Twilight series, penned by Stephanie Meyer, is not a boon to feminism by any means. It tells the story of Bella Swan, a teenage girl forced to choose between two men who display some of the worst characteristics one could imagine in a mate. Edward, a controlling, emotionally abusive vampire, feeds her codependence by the truckload, and Jacob, an immature, violent-tempered shape shifter, uses her emotions to manipulate and intimidate her.
I expected more women to be up in arms about Bella’s false boyfriend dichotomy. I’m sure if more women bothered to read the books before leveling a criticism, they’d have come up with something better than the prevailing criticism of Bella and Edward’s first time.
I first caught wind of this criticism while enjoying a cup of coffee with a group of college acquaintances. What began as a round mocking of some of the less-solid plot points in the series quickly turned into a serious discussion about this article.
One of the women I was sharing coffee with was appropriately up in arms because she had read that a "rape scene" takes place in one of the books. Now, I've read all the books at least twice. I'm a thorough reader. And for the life of me, I couldn't recall a rape scene. Edward and Bella have some rough sex on their wedding night, but there's no doubt that it's consensual act…
Apparently the person writing the article had doubt enough.
"... what’s really frightening is Bella and Edward’s honeymoon scene. Edward, lost in his own lust, “makes love” so violently to Bella that she wakes up the next morning covered in bruises, the headboard in ruins from Edward’s romp. And guess what? Bella likes it. In fact, she loves it. She even tries to hide her bruises so Edward won’t feel bad. "
So many people have lashed out over this scene from the book, and I don’t understand why. There is nothing in the book that suggests Bella was raped or that the act was not consensual. Bella wakes up with bruises because she just had sex with someone whose skin has the consistency of diamonds. This is a series based in the genre of fiction and fantasy. Beware the sparkly vampire.
In all seriousness, the act is consensual. There’s no evidence in the book whatsoever that gives support to the rape theory. Bella is well aware of what she’s getting into. She knows Edward is physically stronger than her, but she insists on having sex with him as a human because she wants the experience. There’s also no evidence she doesn’t enjoy the sex. In fact, after that first night, she becomes the aggressor. Edward decides he doesn’t want to have sex with her anymore because of the way he bruised her, but Bella tries everything in her power to change his mind.
The fact that Bella likes it rough is really the least of our worries, ladies. There are bigger fish to fry in this book. Let’s talk about the bruises left by emotional abuse. Let’s talk about the young girls who are thoughtlessly choosing between Edward and Jacob because they think those are their only options when it comes to men
It may be hard to see the forest for the tress in Forks, Washington ,– but when it comes to feminist publications like Bitch, I expected a lot more.
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I remember reading that article and being absolutely appalled at how badly it missed the point. I could probably write a book *longer than the series itself* about everything wrong with the series (not just from a feminist perspective but basic English literary understanding too), and "oh noes, Bella got a bruise" would still not be in there.
Have some people seriously NEVER gotten bruised doing something fun? And I thought my life was boring...
For me to "bother to read" a fiction book, it has to NOT be a romance novel & I take into consideration where the writer is coming from.
I've been told she is no
Sandra Cisnero
Toni Morrison
Barbara Kingsolver
Alice Walker
(writers I love)
If you have read their work and can honestly tell me the Twilight series work is comparable,
I'll dive in.
Before I read that article, I had never heard anyone criticize Twilight for that scene.
There are hundreds of other things to mock, disdain, and ravage.
I did "bother to read the books" before criticizing them. It was painful, but I finished them so I had the right to criticize them.
And Hara, she is none of those, plus thousands more (Rosalind Miles wrote way better romances).
I'm still working out my thoughts about this, so bear with me. I only just got around to reading the series, I'm partway through the second book, so obviously I haven't read the scene in question. But I did read the Bitch article, plus countless other feminist critiques. I agree that the article seems to have played fast and loose with definitions of consent, which is a serious issue. Based on what I've read so far, I can easily believe that Meyer wrote the sex scene as fully consentual, and that the Bitch article misrepresents the intent when it calls the scene a rape.
But.
But, I still have mixed feelings about the whole thing. I have no problems with fully consentual, but rough, sex. My concern, and what I assume the Bitch writer(s?) worried about, was whether the teenaged audience of these books are generalizing and normalizing Bella's consent. Over and over again in what I've read so far, Bella thinks to herself that she SHOULD be afraid or put off by Edward's violence, but that she isn't. You can come away from this thinking one of two things: 1. this is a unique situation and only applies to these fictional characters or 2. Violence shouldn't frighten me, it's just exciting like it is for Bella. And it's ok, because just like Edward, my boyfriend (or whoever) will always pull back at the last minute and I'll be safe, so there really is nothing to worry about.
This, to me, does not sound like a recipe for healthy, consentual, rough sex in the real world. That would involve rules and boundaries set ahead of time, a safe word, condoms, self-education about anatomy and safe play, etc. Edward has "rules" in the books, but they're his rules, they're not mutually agreed upon. So their relationship amounts to her just trusting him, and blaming herself when he pushes his own self-set boundaries. That's not consentual rough sex, that's the cycle of intimate violence.
I hope I'm making myself clear. I still think it's important that Meyer writes the scene(s) as totally consentual, and it's not ok for any critique to ignore this fact. But it's still true that the closest thing any of us in the real world will ever have to Edward and Bella is an abusive relationship.
THANK YOU.
I hate Twilight. It makes me want to vomit. It's thoroughly insulting to me as a writer and a woman and it disgusts me that women I know who are intelligent and literary think Twilight is a good series.
I haven't read the scene to which you refer, but I've heard about it and agree, from what I know, that it was consensual and that Bella had been begging for sex before and, apparently, wanted it afterwards too. I also agree that there should be more concern with regard to how people view the characters and also the whole idea that you're only a worthy, lovable, validated woman if you have the love and attention of a powerful and beautiful man.
Ugh. I hate it.
2 separate points:
1)When people talk about sexual assault in Twilight, they're usually not referring to Edward, but to Jacob, who in one of the books apparently forcefully kisses Bella against her will.
2)I read that article in Bitch Magazine's "noir" issue when it came out and found it ironic that they were bemoaning the fact that Bella digs rough sex with a male vampire, yet in the same issue they ran a comic by Jennifer Crute featuring a young woman in hell who digs plays BDSM games with a male devil.
Oh great, so all men are either abusive jerks, or 1950s era fathers who can't cook? And here I thought the Edward/Jacob, bad boy/good boy dichotomy was bad enough.
"...2)I read that article in Bitch Magazine's "noir" issue when it came out and found it ironic that they were bemoaning the fact that Bella digs rough sex with a male vampire, yet in the same issue they ran a comic by Jennifer Crute featuring a young woman in hell who digs plays BDSM games with a male devil."
If there was no safeword use in the one and there was safeword use in the other, then wouldn't it be consistent instead of ironic? I heard that safewords are really important in BDSM to make sure the rough sex doesn't get too rough...
I read the first one (in one long, painful, night.) The creepiness was the stalking. Oh, the stalking.
Anyone seen True Blood on HBO? Totally Twilight for grownups. Similar scenario, human girl digs rough vampire.
**Spoiler so don't read this if you watch it/read the book series**
I read the series. Aside from it being heteronormative, the book series has the main character actually leave her vampire boyfriend because he treats her like a kid, and cheats on her. The main character doesn't mope around much at all. It's a lot better than Twilight. Not perfect, but still better.
I find True Blood problematic as well; it is a guilty pleasure. Though if it ever ends the same as the book, that would be progress.