As a feminist student/scholar, and a fan of the Twilight series, I have been bothered by the assumptions I have seen pop up about Meyer's books being inherently anti-feminist.
I want to join my voice with others who have commented in disagreement. I think the anti-feminist views of Twilight highlight a misguided, perhaps myopic, view of what feminism is. Twilight and its heroine Bella have been a wonderful way for me to connect with younger women and girls about meeting our life choices bravely and choosing our own destinies. I think what would be problematic is if feminists provided young women with a short-list of what is appropriate for them to choose as their destinies, and then regarded choices that diverge from that list as anti-feminist.
Bella makes choices about her own life, and stands passionately behind them to the point where she abandons safety in the pursuit of her desires. Let us not forget that for every time Edward saves Bella, she saves him right back. So what if she's not strapping on the pumps planning to be a young corporate tycoon? Has feminism gotten so crotchety that we can't connect with our younger sisters and their discussions of love, desire, fantasy and fun??? I support the argument that feminism is much more useful when engaging pop culture rather than dismissing it. There is a reason these novels are resonating with so many young women, and we should discuss this.
I think the argument that Twilight provides an alternative to the hypersexualized images thrown at teens does touch on a truth about their appeal. This argument could of course extend into a much larger discussion, but briefly, I do think many young women realize that the media's blatant sexualized images do not represent their desires and the other extreme (conservative abstinence) is grossly unrealistic as well. The dialogue seems to reside somewhere in the middle of these two extremes and I think Twilight can be a helpful avenue to start the discussion with young fans. I have a colleague in women's studies who offers these books as pop-culture discussion pieces.
As a feminist student/scholar, and a fan of the Twilight series, I have been bothered by the assumptions I have seen pop up about Meyer's books being inherently anti-feminist.
I want to join my voice with others who have commented in disagreement. I think the anti-feminist views of Twilight highlight a misguided, perhaps myopic, view of what feminism is. Twilight and its heroine Bella have been a wonderful way for me to connect with younger women and girls about meeting our life choices bravely and choosing our own destinies. I think what would be problematic is if feminists provided young women with a short-list of what is appropriate for them to choose as their destinies, and then regarded choices that diverge from that list as anti-feminist.
Bella makes choices about her own life, and stands passionately behind them to the point where she abandons safety in the pursuit of her desires. Let us not forget that for every time Edward saves Bella, she saves him right back. So what if she's not strapping on the pumps planning to be a young corporate tycoon? Has feminism gotten so crotchety that we can't connect with our younger sisters and their discussions of love, desire, fantasy and fun??? I support the argument that feminism is much more useful when engaging pop culture rather than dismissing it. There is a reason these novels are resonating with so many young women, and we should discuss this.
I think the argument that Twilight provides an alternative to the hypersexualized images thrown at teens does touch on a truth about their appeal. This argument could of course extend into a much larger discussion, but briefly, I do think many young women realize that the media's blatant sexualized images do not represent their desires and the other extreme (conservative abstinence) is grossly unrealistic as well. The dialogue seems to reside somewhere in the middle of these two extremes and I think Twilight can be a helpful avenue to start the discussion with young fans. I have a colleague in women's studies who offers these books as pop-culture discussion pieces.