What+Stephenie+Meyer+Isn't+Telling+You

While you sit down to eat your turkey this holy Thursday of all nomming Thursdays, take the time to read my rant/lecture on how anyone with a brain can find the sexism and misogyny seeping through the pages of Twilight.

Bella Swan. How many times has this girl been called a feminist hero? Er, several, particularly by miss Stephenie Meyer herself. But what Smeyer falls to mention in all her savvy interviews and the like is that Bella Swan is actually conveying sexist themes and glorifying the abuse of women in relationships. As much as it pains me to admit, I've read Twilight, so you diehard fangirls can't really say BUT OMGZ, UR JUST A H8ERRR, because hey, guess what. I'm not. These are just the facts.

I understand how some many take a refuting stance and disagree with me. Sure, there may be some female characters in Twilight that seem to break sexist stereotypes. However, usually these are just minor characters. Let's look at Bella Swan herself. Let's dissect and really scrutinize her actions throughout the entire series.

In the first novel of the Twilight Saga, which is so aptly titled Twilight, Bella falls in love with Edward Cullen, a magical, fantastical, fictional beast that is actually, not fictional. And no, he is not a centaur either. Or a wizard. (But imagine how riotous that would be. Edward Cullen: Centaur. Or, Unicorn. Haha!) We learn through Smeyer's unfortunate writing that he is a very dangerous creature who can kill Bella with a wave of his perfectly stony hand, and cannot be exposed to the elements, because otherwise, beware of the ~DAZZLE.

What kind of vampire dazzles? What happened to the good ol' turning-to-stone-when-sunlight-reaches-you vamps? Or the ones that burn to a crisp? Eh? Where's Bram Stoker and Anne Rice when we need 'em?

Anyhoo, Edward is a creep.

I cannot stress this enough.

Edward is a **creep**. **Creepy creep creep**.

STALKER.

RUN-FOR-THE-HILLS KIND OF STALKER.

We learn that he sneaks into Bella's house and preys- er, I mean ~watches, her as she sleeps. Mind you, he has never spoken to her. What kind of foolishness...?

This is creepy. He **stalks** her. And she finds this **romantic**. Holy-

This is exactly the kind of glorification of abusive relationships that I'm talking about. Edward virtually controls every aspect of Bella's life. He controls everyone she sees, forbids her to hang out with Jacob, and forces her to lie to her family when a crazy psycho flesh eating vampire is after her.

Also, Bella is a normal teenage girl. She has hormones. She wants to makeout with her boyfriend. No big deal. But Edward uses his "strength" to put a stop to this. He abruptly stops her whenever he believes she has gotten too passionate with him. He has to restrain her. What's the point of being together then?

Stephenie Meyer has openly proclaimed she is a Mormon. And while I'm not at all trying to incorporate religious views or other conflicts of interest, it is safe to say that she also happens to be glorifying abstinence. Throughout the series, Bella repeatedly expresses a desire to get intimate with Edward, but he wants to wait until they are married.

Guys, this is not Mean Girls. If you have sex, (and are **safe** about it) you will not get chlamydia and die. Okay, you might get chlamydia, but you won't die. At least not immediately. Haha.

Enough said about that. Make your own conclusions. Moving on.

Edward is hatin' on every guy Bella talks to. Every time he sees that dude Mike (I think that's his name) he wants to annihilate the poor guy. And he's been nothing but kind to Bella, welcoming her to the school and introducing her to some gal pals. Once more, I cannot stress enough that Edward is controlling. He thinks he knows what is best for Bella and acts in a very condescending manner. "You woman, me man. I know better." He monitors who she hangs out with and when, once going as far as removing the engine of her car so that she cannot go out. That's just the bee knees. That really hit the soft spot. I'm so in love now.

/sarcasm

There is no parity in this relationship. None. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

Bella lives with her dad. That seems relatively normal right? On the surface sure, but let's take a closer look. What does Bella do at home? Cook. Clean. More cooking. More cleaning. What does Charlie do? Sit around and laugh at the fact that he can't even crack open an egg. He's a sheriff who's primary concern is proper gun maintenance. "You girl. You cook. Me big man with gun."

Bella does not seem to be able to function without a man.

Is this really what we want the world's young women to learn? That our feminine duty is to wait around, the damsel in distress, for this big perfect manly man of men to save her? Sorry, I won't let my kids read these books. Nope.

Recently, New Moon, the second book in the series was released in theaters. Sure, Taylor Lautner makes for some good eye candy. However, I've actually heard girls say they're only going to see the movie to have some stellar eyegasms when Lautner shows up in Bella's room, half-naked. Poor dude doesn't deserve that. Does anyone even pay attention to his acting skills? Also, doesn't that right there show how messed up these "fans" are? That's pretty sexist in itself if you ask me.

But alas, that is not the point of this rant. Let's get back on topic, shall we?

In New Moon, Edward Cullen, Bella's fantastically vampiric boyfriend breaks up with her in a forest and leaves her there by her lonesome to ingest the news that the love of her 18-year-old life is moving on. (That's pretty low dude, even for you.) If you haven't read the book, let me spare you the gruesome details. She's found hours later, curled up in fetal position, virtually blank and unresponsive, unable to cope with her new harsh reality. Bella completely shuts down after that. Seriously, in the book, Smeyer leaves about 10 pages blank to signify Bella's loss of what us common folk call "human comprehension." She skips ahead about 5 months before you see Bella functioning like a normal human being again. Bella only starts to snap out of her zombie-like trance when she starts hanging out with Jacob. If you can't tell by his name, this dude is a dude.

In Breaking Dawn, (I think, I'm not even sure anymore), Bella tells Edward she wants to become one of his kind, a vampire. He tells her no. She whines. She then threatens him by saying she'll get Alice to turn her into a vampire and naturally, he freaks out, and forbids Alice to touch Bella. Don't be such a party pooper, Ed. My point is that what Edward says, goes. His own family does not escape this condescending manner.

Really, I could go on forever about this. I think I'll spare you guys. But the truth is that Stephenie Meyer is brainwashing today's young girls. Whether it's unknowingly or not, that is debatable. To call Bella a "feminist hero" is totally wrong and extremely inaccurate. Twilight is the pinnacle of subtle sexist literature. The blatant ignorance, particularly on our part is rather destructive. What better way to end this vicious cycle than by starting here at TYWLS? Knowledge is power, guys. Er, I mean, girls.

-Giselle Trivino