Verrenxnon said:
Vampirism has always been about sexual deviance, about animalistic lust, about seduction and charm, about... Well, sex. In an age when sexual deviance (and by deviance I mean "women enjoying sex, much less being sexually liberated") was seen as a plague spreading from the eastern European countries, you have Dracula, a story about how loose sexual mores can get you killed.
But what happens when sexual deviance becomes okay? When overt sexualization and sexuality is not only allowed, but encouraged? Basically, what happens when people in Western society realize that sex is awesome? Well, the fear of sexual liberation and of lust becomes much less powerful. The "risky" and adventurous side of sex, rather than being something to fear and hide from becomes a cornerstone of society. Vampires have always been the sexual ideal from the perspective of "hot, sultry, seductive, charming man/woman" the only difference is in the display of consequences.
Back when any sexuality was bad, all vampires were bad and scary. In a time when sexuality is revered, we've taken a step back and fetishized vampires. We'd all now love to be immortal, preternaturally handsome, powerful, suave, and all those other great things about vampires. All that's left to make vampires, then, compelling is the idea of a vampire who doesn't necessarily want all of that.
It makes for an interesting juxtaposition in media (if done well) given that most men and women would jump at the opportunity to possess the qualities which we believe make vampires awesome and desirable. Instead of evil villains, they become internally tormented. As the outward-facing "problems" with vampires have become less and less troubling, authors have had to shift to either more overtly evil vampires, or toward angsty vampires.
Either vampires had to become victims of their own urges, or had to become completely craven. Representing, of course, our current sexual mores. Men are told to repress our more animalistic urges except in certain contexts; the "nice guy" dichotomy of desperately wanting to have sex, but feeling the need to push that down in order to not give in to our ids. And the villain vampire represents the opposite, the man given in completely to temptation.
I hadn't thought of it until now, but vampirism is now about male sexuality rather than female sexuality.
