Chapter 3: American Gender and Sexual Politics

Throughout the history of vampire lore, gender and sexuality have played an important role in the appearance and behaviors of the vampire. Beginning with ancient Babylonian vampire folklore, women played a pivotal role in the creation and sustainment of vampires, often being seen as an integral part of this destructive force (Bunson, p. 157). Many of these initial concepts were supported by religious dogma which developed after the Babylonian beliefs were well established. The Judeo-Christian Creation story, particularly the expulsion of Eve from the Garden of Eden, bolstered the pre-existing folklore. Many cultures also perpetuated the belief that vampirism originated with Lilith, the first wife of Adam (Bunson, p. 157). Stories suggest that she was ejected from the Garden of Eden because she was filled with an evil spirit (Bunson, p. 157).

In some countries, these stories had such an impact upon gender identity that women came to be associated with immoral behavior. Romanian culture, for example, took a firm stance on this issue. As devout followers of the Orthodox Christian faith, they believed that Eve and her actions in the Garden of Eden were the root of all evil (Dundes, p. 21). Consequently, women were believed to be the source of all trouble that occurred within the culture (Klingman, p. 43). Russians held similar beliefs, concluding that vampires were the result of a corporeal union between female witches and the devil (Wright, p. 110). These conceptualizations of the female gender continued the connection between women and vampirism.

Lilith was also considered to have a "special hatred for children," which developed out of the connection between vampirism and childbirth that was well established during ancient times (Bunson, p. 157). Some scholars speculate that that this connection was forged out of a fear of female power (Dundes, p. 155). Not only were women able to create life, but they also shared blood with their unborn children. This ability was not held by nor could it be directly bestowed upon men. Hence, in many cultures, childbirth became something to be feared. Invariably, male power was reaffirmed within vampire lore, as male vampires came to dominate the genre.

Eventually, the vampire became an instrument of fiction and its relationship with gender changed. Within the cultural climate of the Victorian era, women chiefly became the victims of the vampires rather than being the vampires themselves. One notable exception was the title character of the novella Carmilla, which was published in 1872 (Bunson, p. 40). In this story, the vampire takes on the guise of woman. It is speculated that this gender choice was made because the tale centers on the friendship between the vampire and a female victim (Bunson, p. 40). In this instance, the gender of the vampire adds believability and horror to the story.

With the approach of the twentieth century, the genre altered once more. Bram Stoker used his novel Dracula to explore two very different examples of female gender identity. The character of Lucy Westenra is a rich, fickle, somewhat flighty girl. She is seemingly incapable of taking care of herself, a characteristic that eventually leads to her death after she is bitten by Dracula and turned into a vampire. Many scholars believe that Lucy acts as a representation of traditional female gender roles (Heldreth & Pharr, pp. 32 - 33). The other female character of Stoker’s novel is quite different. Mina Harker is, under Stoker’s pen, a fine example of feminine strength. While Lucy falls under Dracula’s thrall, Mina is able to use her powers of reasoning and intuition to thwart Dracula’s goals. With her guidance, the male characters in the novel are able to find Dracula and destroy him. Mina is the embodiment of Stoker’s impression of a newer model of female gender identity. She is capable of being intelligent, forceful and powerful, without the added detraction of being sexually promiscuous (Heldreth & Pharr, p. 35).

As mentioned in chapter two, sexuality for the sake of eroticism was not a focal point of the pre-American vampire genre. When referenced, sexuality in Victorian vampire media was used as a way to increase the feelings of alienation that the audience felt toward the vampire. Since vampires were considered to be evil and inhumane, it seemed reasonable that they would not behave according to social expectations. This theme persisted well into the twentieth century, becoming an integral part of many early vampire films. However, the alteration of this perception of sexuality was central to many of the changes that occurred in the vampire genre in the 1970s.

When vampires first appeared on American movie screens, their messages about gender roles were in keeping with many of the concepts that had been established during the Victorian era. Women were nearly universally the victim, while men were almost always cast as the heroes. By the time the Hammer films were released in the late 1960s and early 1970s, this gender stereotyping had become well developed. In films like Dracula, Prince of Darkness and Taste the Blood of Dracula, brunette women always became vampires while blondes managed to escape that fate and ride off into the sunset with their rescuers.

Similarly, sexual themes in early vampire films were also in keeping with traditional Victorian attitudes. If acknowledged, sexuality was always the vehicle for anti-social behavior. For example, in the film Scars of Dracula, a female character is killed by a vampire after falsely accusing a male character of rape. In another movie of the period, the ingenue becomes a victim of a vampire after she meets her lover for a secret tryst in the moonlight. Women acting in an overtly sexual manner pay for it with their lives. Their shame is further called to attention by their dress. The necklines of these character’s gowns drop precariously low after the women become vampires, seemingly illustrating their fall from grace. Some scholars contend that the sexualization seen in films of this genre were popular because "patriarchal [societies] . . . promote individual masculine terrorism against female victims, even in . . . fiction" (Simpson, p. x).

Beginning in the late seventies and continuing into the eighties and nineties, treatment of gender and sexuality in vampire media changed. In the "polarizing" social environment of the time, both female and homosexual cultures "fought free of traditional medical and moral labels" (Auerbach, p. 182). These movements combined to create a surge toward "self-definition and determination" that rendered the traditional gender roles perpetuated by the vampire genre obsolete (Auerbach, p. 182). As these two important social groups struggled to redefine American culture’s perception of their identity, a ripple effect formed that eventually reached into the heart of the genre. Consequently, vampire media began to change in reflection of these new cultural values.

As a result of the acknowledgment of the ostracization of women and other social groups that began in the 1970s, the vampire became a "metaphor for the outsider" (Gordon & Hollinger, p. 27). This new concept was particularly potent when paired with the internal narrative structure that was popularized in Anne Rice’s novels Interview With the Vampire and The Vampire Lestat. As the reader experiences life through the vampire’s eyes, it is difficult to ignore the torment experienced by these creatures. In the words of Martin J. Wood, a literary scholar, "instead of a ruthless monster driven by appetite, readers find a lonely, anguished creature yearning for understanding" (Heldreth & Pharr, p. 64).

In response to the new social identities that began to be displayed in vampire media, artists from many disenfranchised social groups flocked to the genre. Female artists became a particularly strong force in the realm of vampire literature. These new voices combined to bring many exciting changes to vampire media.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula introduced an interpretation of the vampire that was a mainstay of the vampire genre for much of the twentieth century. Stoker’s vampire was meant to symbolize the "Anti-Christ" (Gordon & Hollinger, p. 18). The novel represented an abandonment of the romantic façade that the vampire had developed throughout the nineteenth century in novels like Polidori’s The Vampyre and Le Fanu’s Carmilla (Gordon & Hollinger, p. 17). As female artists began dominating the genre in the 1970s, one of the most significant changes that occurred was the return of the vampire as a romantic figure. It is believed that this change was the feminine response to the patriarchal victimization of women that had been occurring in novels and on screen for decades (Gordon & Hollinger, p. 62). The first female artist to address this new element of gender identity was Anne Rice. Rice’s vampires, though chiefly male, rarely behaved like their predecessors. Feeding upon victims was only a peripheral element of their lives. Instead, their interpersonal relationships and internal thought processes took precedence in Rice’s narratives. Additionally, Rice’s novels marked the return of "homoerotic bonds," which were reminiscent of vampire fiction of the early nineteenth century (Auerbach, p. 153).

Some critics condemn this new form of vampire fiction, saying that "the only ’good’ male [has become] a feminized male; or, the only male with any likelihood of behaving like a decent human being is a male who has been deprived of his automatic swagger-privileges" (Gordon & Hollinger, p. 63). These individuals seem to be missing the point. While it is true that Rice has broadened the boundaries for acceptable male behavior, she has not created a new gender of "feminized" men. In fact, Rice establishes her complex love-hate relationship with traditional masculinity in her novel The Queen of the Damned. In one particularly illuminating exchange, the title character says to the vampire Lestat de Lioncourt, "I love you because you are so perfectly what is wrong with all things male. Aggressive, full of hate and recklessness, and endlessly eloquent excuses for violence — you are the essence of masculinity" (Queen, p. 336, emphasis added).

This concept was further refined by another successful female author of modern vampire fiction. Suzy McKee Charnas published the novel The Vampire Tapestry in 1980. Charnas’s novel focuses on a male vampire named Wayland. When writing the novel, Charnas found herself crafting the character as male because she believed that the male gender identity was the "predominant and successful predatory identity in human society" (Gordon & Hollinger, p. 62). She did not select the male gender identity as a means of enforcing some type of feminist judgment. Instead, she endeavored to create a male vampire because female vampires, in her experience, were not as effective (Gordon & Hollinger, p. 62). According to Charnas, female vampires are frequently ineffectual because "there is no widespread . . . female identity to play off of with the fictional monster" (Gordon & Hollinger, p. 62). Because Charnas hoped to remove all supernatural features from her version of vampire lore, thus creating a more realistic monster, she felt that it was necessary to create a predatory masculine main character. However, by the conclusion of Charnas’s novel, Wayland is not strictly the predatory creature that the author had imagined. Instead, in spite of Charnas’s original intentions, he becomes a romantic figure (Gordon & Hollinger, p. 66). Wayland experiences a full range of emotions from anger and fear to loneliness and love. His romantic nature is not a rejection of traditional male gender identity. Instead, as he allows himself to experience emotions that he had previously believed himself incapable of feeling, the novel becomes an expansion of the possibilities for the male gender.

The gender identity of women in modern vampire media has also been altered by the proliferation of female artists in the genre over the last twenty-five years. One of the biggest changes in female gender identity has been the treatment of female eroticism. While women had previously been punished for displaying any type of overt sexuality, it was now accepted as "a positive — or at least neutral — characteristic" (Heldreth & Pharr, p. 206).

Another important change was the popularity and proliferation of the female vampire in modern media. This was important because prior to this point, female vampires had almost exclusively acted as minions or underlings to more powerful male vampires. As Suzy McKee Charnas had recognized, traditional concepts of female gender identity had largely prevented female vampires from playing a dominant role in traditional vampire media. As the female vampire became more prevalent in the genre, the concept of the feminine as either absolutely good or absolutely powerless faded. A broader, more inclusive definition of female gender identity took the place of the traditional stereotype.

Anne Rice’s female vampires are particularly good representations of the deepening and broadening that occurred within female gender identity in the genre during the modern era. Some female vampires are weak, made necessarily so by the circumstances of their birth as vampires. However, even in their weakness, these characters show great strength of character. Claudia in the novel Interview With the Vampire is a good example of this. She was turned into a vampire by Lestat de Lioncourt and Louis de Point du Lac at the age of five. Here, in an expression of rage and torment, Claudia verbally lashes her vampire father in a manner never before seen in vampire fiction:

Do you know how I despise you! Do you know that I despise you with a passion that eats me like a canker . . . Snatching me from mortal hands like two grim monsters in a nightmare fairy tale, you idle, blind parents! Fathers . . . Let tears gather in your eyes. You haven’t tears enough for what you’ve done to me. Six more mortal years, seven, eight . . . I might have had that shape . . . Yes, that shape, I might have known what it was to walk at your side. Monsters! To give me immortality in this hopeless guise, this helpless form . . . I love you still, that’s the torment of it. Lestat I never loved. But you! The measure of my hatred is that love. They are the same! (Interview, p. 235)

Through Claudia’s eyes, the reader learns what it means to have one’s concepts of gender identity and sense of self change when the body cannot. Claudia lives far beyond the scope of human female adulthood, all the while trapped in the body of a five-year-old.

The pinnacle of achievement in the empowerment of women and the broadening of female gender identity through vampire media has come in the form of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series focuses on the trials and tribulations of a young woman as she grows from adolescence to young adulthood with the added pressure of slaying the undead and saving the world. Each week, the title character, and her support network of family and friends, explores themes of love, trust, alienation, fear and faith. In doing so, Buffy the Vampire Slayer gives its audience a glimpse into what it means to be female in the modern era. The series is not a fairy tale, by any means. Instead, it has done an excellent job of depicting the difficult balance between self-reliance and self-destruction. As the character Buffy Summers has struggled to develop her sense of gender identity, she has learned the hard way that being superhuman does not mean you have all of life’s answers. By making dreadful mistakes and facing the consequences, she has come to realize that asking for help and looking for emotional support do not make you weak. A woman can be powerful and still need all of these things.

A second social group that has become a powerful force in modern vampire media is the homosexual community. The modern metaphor of vampire as outsider meshes particularly well with the social identity of this group in the modern era. One of vampire media’s central questions, "what happens to human nature when a single element is changed, putting a person at odds with the rest of humanity," seems particularly fitting in relation to this association (Gordon & Hollinger, p. 87).

The feelings and experiences of homosexual artists are expressed strongly in their contributions to modern American vampire media. The homosexual and lesbian vampires in these stories express the sadness and grief that the artists have felt in relation to their treatment by the rest of society. In the words of one of the vampires in Jewelle Gomez’s The Gilda Stories,

you’ve searched admirably for your humanity. Indeed, this is the key to the joy found in our lives, maintaining our link in the chain of living things. But we are no longer the same as they. We are no longer the same as we once were ourselves. (Gomez, p. 210).

Through vampire fiction and erotica, the homosexual community has been able to address issues of sexuality and gender. However, perhaps their most important contribution has been the way they have used their art to explore the reality of intolerance in modern society. When writing the novel The Gilda Stories, it was Jewelle Gomez’s goal to "try to push boundaries outward for women, lesbians, and writers" (Gordon & Hollinger, p. 85). By crafting several strong homosexual and lesbian vampires, Gomez was able to broaden the concepts of sexual and gender identity that have been perpetuated by society. Over the course of Gomez’s novel, the vampires develop deep and meaningful relationships with one another. They may not marry, as a "normal" mortal would have done; however, they do manage to stay together in mutually exclusive relationships that last far beyond the scope of a human lifetime, a feat rarely replicated in the United States at the end of the twentieth century. By pushing the genre forward, Gomez has offered a glimpse into what it means to be different. It is not difficult to understand the differences in these creatures. As vampires, they are unlike us, but they are not incomprehensible.

The changes in vampire media that have been brought about by altered concepts of gender and sexuality have electrified the genre. There has been renewed interest in these creatures since artists began utilizing the vampire to "rebel against the stultifying constraints of society" (Gordon & Hollinger, p. 30). With this rebellion has come a loving, though sometimes bitter, look at the depth and breadth of what it means to be human. Modern vampires illustrate the complexities of gender and sexual identity. Women are not always victims, nor are they always powerful. Sometimes, as in the case of Anne Rice’s Claudia, their strength lies within what seems to be their weakness. Men are not always victors. But, as predators, they need not be completely inhumane either. Homosexuality is not a curse. In some cases, a vampire’s polysexuality may open a broader realm of relationships and self-knowledge to creatures who are doomed to remain isolated from the rest of humanity. The changing face of the vampire in the modern era has made the genre more accessible; and, perhaps for some, it has made vampires only more frightening. To begin to understand those who are different, you first have to acknowledge and confront your fears. The treatment of gender and sexuality in the modern American vampire genre has begun to allow us to do just that.