What Makes Vampires Sexy?

Being immortal, vampires are like Dorian Gray - always lookin' good.

That is, on the surface (literally and figuratively) appealing, but I also think the fact that vampires are centuries old provides another facet of sexiness, especially for modern female viewers and readers. Imagine being able to transport Heathcliff or Mr. Darcy into the present day.

I know, they're fictional characters, but bear with me. The reason we're still drawn to these romantic heroes is that we crave some of that old fashioned charm; the chivalry; a man who, quite frankly, behaved like a man. Of course, the realities of the Regency period were anything but idyllic for women, but this is all fantasy remember.

A vampire who has old-fashioned appeal, while also having a vast knowledge accumulated from hundreds of years' worth of stalking the planet is sexy.  

A vampire can never be truly tamed or understood. He or she, will always be a bit of a wild thing, no matter how in love they may be with a 'human'.

In fact, it was the love of his dead wife that caused the Vlad of Bram Stoker's Dracula to desecrate the cemetery, denounce God and drink the blood that would turn him into a vampire. So, they're a passionate bunch, too.

And this makes them vulnerable (if not physically, then emotionally), as well as scary. Frightening and vulnerable -That's a pretty heady cocktail.

Women, in particular, are drawn to men who are mysterious or impenetrable; perhaps believing that they can be the one to 'change' or 'tame' him. Of course, they never will, but hope springs eternal.

But all of the above is incidental, as far as I'm concerned, because none of it is exclusive to vampires. What really makes vampires sexy is the sensual nature of how they go about their business.

Today, in The Vampire Diaries and even Twilight, there is no attempt to hide the sexuality. However, there was a time when vampire stories were, actually, more often than not a metaphor for something that authors would otherwise not get away with writing about.

So, why do vampires make a good metaphor for sex?

Well, they're dominant; they're even able to hypnotize their 'victims', all leaning very heavily towards the art of seduction. On top of that, we've got an exchange of bodily fluids, albeit blood - but let's not forget that this is a primal, life-giving substance, too.

And the very act of consuming something is steeped in sexuality. After all, we consummate a relationship or marriage: it is the act of fulfilling, or achieving satisfaction - eating and sex are inextricably linked.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, female vampires can be just as sexy as male vampires. However, there is a reason the vampire in Twilight is male rather than female - and it's all wrapped up in almost everything I've mentioned so far.

All of the points above, are very much playing into the traits that women find attractive in men - vulnerability, being inherently bad, confident, seductive, charming, intelligent. However, above all of these, is the simple fact that vampires give women an 'excuse' for desire.

Because, for centuries, women have been discouraged from having any kind of lust, and certainly forbidden from acting on it, there remains an appeal in an encounter for which she cannot be held responsible.

Although, of course, it doesn't have to be a man doing the 'taking'. For example, this is an extract from Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla (first published in 1872), in which the female narrator, Laura, is recounting a dream she's had about Carmilla.

"Sometimes it was as if warm lips kissed me, and longer and longer and more lovingly as they reached my throat, but there the caress fixed itself. My heart beat faster, my breathing rose and fell rapidly and full drawn; a sobbing, that rose into a sense of strangulation, supervened, and turned into a dreadful convulsion, in which my senses left me and I became unconscious."

This is incredibly sensual stuff, not to mention the lesbian overtones. If this description had been given in any other scenario, Fanu would have found himself in trouble with the censors.

However, because our narrator is under the 'spell' of a vampire, she is in no way responsible for the sensations she experiences or, more importantly, the desire she feels. And this sense that any experiences of lust and desire are beyond our control, coupled with the other things mentioned above, is why we find vampires sexy.