Wide Awake in the Twilight

I read the Twilight book series this summer...chain smoked them one after another. It was fast reading, as these books are geared to teens. Teens who have trouble with big words, apparently. I read them out of base curiosity. I wanted to see if they could possibly live up to the hype. They didn't. After about 200 pages of the first book, I was bored. More than that, I was baffled. I can see why teen girls love them, but I have friends who have let their young daughters read these books, and the more I read, the more shocked I became. What would possibly lead these women to think that there is anything appropriate in these books for a girl of any age really, but especially one who is younger than 15? There is at least one girl who read the first two books in the third grade.

These books are a vehicle for teenaged sexual tension. Vampire boy, human girl, hopelessly in love and violently attracted to each other. However, the vampire "boy" only has a boy body--he's over 100 years old. Hmmm. He's interested in her at first because of her scent. She is interested in him because he's beautiful. His physical attributes are tediously mentioned on every page. Okay, I get it. By the third book, she's begging him to have sex with her. He thinks they should be married. (they don't have sex until book four--yes, it takes four books to finally get to it) What does a nine year old get from reading this? The mother in question claims that all of the "sex stuff" goes right over their heads, like in Grease. She sees it as a "love story". HUH?! The sexual language is heavily veiled. I'll give them that. Nothing is throbbing. There is some tingling and panting, and there are some detailed descriptions of kissing. ALL not appropriate for any girl under 14 for sure.

As appalled as I am at the fact that these books are really just too much about sex for young girls, I couldn't get why I was so pissed about these books. After all, I was a horny teenager for many years. There's nothing wrong with sex. These books explore sexual restraint more than release for three long books. Something was in my craw about them, and it's still there. I figured out what it is. These books are anti feminist bullshit. The messages for girls here, whether seen or unseen, are downright dangerous. Here are a few:
1.it's okay to have a boyfriend so obsessed with you that he spends every night watching you sleep (in your bed with you while your Dad is downstairs asleep)
2. it's okay to give up your soul for love.
3. it's okay to give up your friends and family for love.
4. violent sex is good sex (human girl wakes up day after wedding night in a state of bliss--then she realizes that she's covered in bruises from the violence of the act--but it's "okay")
5. when you lose "real" love, you completely and utterly fall apart and wish for death.

There are so many more bad messages in there, I can't list them all; but the five things above are prevalent throughout the books. These are not messages for girls who have minds of their own. Full disclosure: I would have LOVED these books as a teenager. All of that sexual tension, beautiful, protective boy, etc. I would've missed the bigger message. The subversive message. The one that is so entrenched that even the author can't see it in there. This message: Girls are weak, and they need guidance and protection from men. Bella (human girl) eventually becomes a vampire, and her special power is that she's a protector. Big surprise. Even her supercharged vampire power is that of a traditional woman/mother. Snooze.

I am insulted by these books. We can do better for our girls. There was a revolution for women about 50 years ago. That work is being squandered on drivel like the "Twilight" series. Why are women accepting this? I don't. The lion may sleep tonight, but this lioness is wide awake.