By Suzanne Carré

Possibly the most intriguing vampires are the female creatures of the night. Film and popular fiction has shaped the male vampire into a recognizable product. He is the true vampire, first and foremost. It is assumed that the primary vampire, the male, bites humans to convert them into vampires (or zombies) and his “victims” are nearly always female. The modern vampire emerged from a strongly patriarchal culture, and to this day reflects this “natural order” of male dominance in vampire myth.

Nothing compares with the male sexy beast of vampire lore. The male vampire bears the distinction from the female entities in being more recognizably vampire. This is interesting when historically, the original bloodthirsty deities were females, equipped with fangs, and promised immortality with the sacrifice of mortal flesh. For centuries, all vampires were female, they differed widely in their myth and powers, but essentially these females were feared because they seduced to rob humans of their life’s blood.

The amazing allure of the male vampire is all the more fascinating when we compare his history with the evolution of the eternal female. The incubus doesn’t gain attention of theologians until the 1600′s when they stop targeting women, but along with the female succubi, threaten men in their slumber. The male vampire takes little more than 100 years to separate into a new identity, distinct from his incubus incarnation, called the vampire. Literature continued to shape this new vision of male power over the next century, and into the Victorian era, acquiring a source of evil power in the warlock, and molding the essence of masculinity into an entity of smoldering sexual potential.

The male vampire might not have absolute defined properties, in that the range of vampire interpretation remains very fluid, but he is far more recognizable in character, and properties, than the female vampire. So why do female vampires suffer this ambiguity, when compared with their male counterparts? What is it about the female factor in the preternatural domain that created an undeveloped vampire female?

Vampire Sex-goddess

There have been a few iconic female vampires in modern vampire mythology. From Camilla to Akasha of “Queen of the Damned”, but they are not copied and emulated like the male vampires. When we think vampires, Dracula comes immediately to mind, not a seductress who has lived 1000′s of years. I think the key reason for this disparity is in what vampires represent. The vampire is a reflection of our psyche, our inner fears, and the parts of our humanity we deny because they are “evil.” The male represents a wide spectrum of human faults, from power hunger to bloodthirsty lust, but the female incarnates pure physical sex— unbridled sexual pleasure.

From the earliest myths, creatures we now recognize as vampires, by their behavior and supernatural qualities, were female entities determined to punish men. Their raw, untamed sexuality gave them the power of seduction, where they used this to corrupt the minds of men, and send good girls into demoniac possession. In societies demanding sexual restraint, nothing is more frightening than a liberal minded women.

The vampire embodied this fear of female sexuality over the centuries. The male vampire preying on women is ideal in being controllable, erotic dreams mingled with blood is a tantalizing mix of death and sex, without threatening the male dominance. A male vampire vanquished by a firmly resolute man is the triumph of good over evil. Likewise, no harm comes to men if the female vampire prefers girls. Then what about a female vampire preying upon innocent men and destroying them? No, not the sort of thing tolerated in words or film to the point she gains the same empathy of the male vampire.

Female vampires are usually depicted as subordinates to male vampires, especially the male who created her, or sometimes as lesser creatures without the powers of the male. Regardless of the volumes of vampire fiction produced, the trend is still to favor the bad boy vampire who fulfills all fantasies because he’s got a license to be the perfect male in all respects. Strong female vampire characters are noticeably rare despite the fact most writers of vampire novels are women.

Is the prejudice against the female vampire a product of romance, or fear of sex, or other factors? Certainly the heterosexual vampire male sweeping the desperate modern woman off her feet is a determining factor. The fear of sex deprived most “classic” vampire stories of their potential to develop the female vampire in literature, and modern writers tend to follow these trends. As to other factors, the bias towards the male still appears to be a matter of sex. A brooding male vampire turns women on and makes their hearts flutter. A perfect, almost indestructible, female vampire makes men uncomfortable. She is unsatisfiable and exemplifies all the shortcomings of the man. She is untenable and unacceptable.

Such a pity. We need more female vampires to captivate our imagination. My female vampires are unsatisfiable in sex, physically perfect, bloodthirsty creatures of the night and extremely confident of being female. Better, they have more power than male vampires, especially if they are wives. Guys —watch out!

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