Twilight and #yesallwomen
I know, I'm the last person on the planet to read Twilight. Or maybe not, but I realize that everyone read it years ago and probably already made all of these critiques, but in the aftermath of the Isla Vista shootings and the conversation that sprung up around it, I had to say something. And I know, it's hear on livejournal so honestly what I have to say will be more muted than if I said it on facebook, but if I wrote something this long on fb people would just scroll on by, so there you go.
I have put off reading Twilight, but since I have had time on my hands, I thought this might be the time to get it out of the way. I did that with Harry Potter, too, read it after some of the shine was off it (though not before the series was finished) because honestly when people get THIS excited over a book/movie/etc, I usually turn and run the other direction. I'm generally just being contrary, but when it comes to fantasy and sci-fi books, they are typically not my thing. The only reason I haven't put Twilight down, from that perspective, is that at least it's urban fantasy (kind of), which I deal with better than high fantasy.
I am also not done with Twilight, as of yet, and I am weighing a friend's offer to let me borrow the rest of the series with no small amount of trepidation, especially after I got finished reading this sentence on page 397 of the paperback version, about a vampire that wants to kill Bella:
"'I'm not sure if there's anything I could have done to avoid this,once he saw you. It is partially your fault.' [Edward's]
voice was wry. 'If you didn't smell so appallingly luscious, he might not have bothered.'"
There were other scenes where I felt like Edward was telling Bella that it was her fault he was so 'attracted' to her, but I tried to ignore those, but post-Isla Vista, post #yesallwomen, I couldn't ignore it. I already had issues with him sitting up in her bedroom and watching her sleep, I had those before I even read the book (one of the reasons I hadn't read the book!) and I realize that there are other behaviors that are creepy as all get out (all of his vampire-splaining sure sounds like mansplaining to me) but the fact is that teenagers by the droves have read these books thinking they are romantic and yet there are clearly lines in here where Edward blames Bella for creatures wanting to attack her.
He blames her that he can't get away from her. And you know what it sounds like to me?
"She's wearing a short skirt, so she was asking for it."
"She was walking by herself down a dark street; she should have known better."
"She came back to my apartment but then didn't want to put out so she's just a tease [or other word choice]."
And we wonder, when things like Isla Vista happen, why we keep having to explain rape culture, not just to the men around us, but to the women we know? Girls (and I'm using girls, here, because these books are marketed towards teenagers) are reading that these are acceptable things to hear from boys, that 'it's your fault I feel this way' is a perfectly acceptable line for your boyfriend to feed you when he's doing things you're uncomfortable with.
I'm not a scholar, especially one of feminist literature, but surely, surely there are better books out there that promote teenage romance and not teenage rape culture.