Defending Twilight: An Interesting Look at Fandoms

I made the mistake of posting the most recent Feministing article about Twilight on my Facebook. I characterize it as a mistake not because I think Twilight is an amazing franchise above criticism, but because I earnestly believed folks would be interested in what Jos had to say, and her criticism of the series.

I was wrong. In fact, I don’t think I’ve been this wrong since believing that estimation works just as well as actually measuring out ingredients when it comes to baking a pound cake.

To be fair, it isn’t as though Jos was tossing out any new ideas, and that’s okay. The old ideas about how backwards Twilight is certainly have merit, and have spawned a lot of interesting discussion that has yet to be resolved to any universal satisfaction.

But even these old ideas are apparently threatening.

What struck me the most about the discussion is how rabidly people will defend their independent fandoms. I’ll be interested to check my Facebook tomorrow and see who has unfriended me over the sparring of insisting that an abstinence-only approach is not empowering when you’re a 13-year-old girl being slut-shamed for developing earlier than others think you should, and Bella was always modest, so why can’t you be?

That’s the real bone of contention to be had with this series. Under all the complaints that the series normalizes dating violence, eroticizes pedophilia and glamorizes teen angst, there’s a legitimate and clustering fear that impressionable girls and women are reading these books as the gospel for what they should think, feel, and act in relation to their own love lives, never mind expect from a man. And because there’s been a lot of misinformation in this country, there are a fair number of women that don’t understand that they’re even receiving these messages to begin with, never mind why they’re wrong.

Still, I’m amazed at how rabidly intelligent, well-spoken friends of
mine were to defend the seires, and Bella in particular. It’s worth
nothing that of those who criticized me for criticizing the franchise,
none identify as Feminists, and one bitterly pointed to my ongoing
attacks of pop culture items, including “Glee,” as proving just how
utterly pointless Feminism has become.

Of course, I view the popularity of pop culture fandoms like “Glee”
and Twilight and Taylor Swift as proving just how important Feminism is.
The newest weapons in the culture war Jos identified are not statistics
or Bible passages, but manufactured icons delivering messages turned
out from corporate advertising headquarters.

And these people are not our heroes. Stephenie Meyer has defended
Bella as a Feminist, but what Feminist exists solely to be validated by
the same romantic partner who exhibits no less than 16 signs of a
classic abuser? What Feminist allows someone else to tell her how to
act, think and feel?

I also found myself struck by the black-and-white terms with which
folks attempted to couch the disagreement. Because I disagreed with the
execution of the abstinence-only crusade in the novels, I was obviously
“pro-sexual exploration of 8-year-olds.” I explained that I don’t think
there’s much value in a child having sex under any circumstances, but
that pretend that there aren’t children doing it and doing it willingly
is naive at best and dangerous at worst. Meyer is already, on some
level, acknowledging her readers are having sex or at least thinking
about it because it features so prominently in the books.

And she had a real opportunity there. How awesome would it have been,
for example, for Bella to sit her father down and say, “We’re ready to
have sex. We’re currently considering the pill and condoms. Can you
please make me an appointment?” Or even Bella confiding in her mother,
perhaps via phone, that she and Edward are heating up and she just needs
some guidance. Sure, it may sound unrealistic, but only because our
society continues to treat girls actively in charge of their sexuality
as those who ough to be shamed, taboos not to be directly referenced.
That, I insisted, would have been empowered and Feminist.

But, no. Suggest the greatest love story ever told has ample fodder
for Feminist criticism, and you’re just pissed the rest of the world
doesn’t agree with you. Suggest that while it’s great to encourage
abstinence, maybe we could also have a productive discussion about
different provoalctics, and you’re advocating for 8-year-olds to be
sexually active.

Of course, this is the risk you take when criticizing fandoms. People
are rabid in defending their Joss Whedons, their Seth McFarlanes, their
Stephenie Meyer. Personally, I don’t get it. As you might guess from my
username, I have an affinity for “The X-Files,” and while on the whole I
think it’s a pretty damn good show (even eight years after it went off
the air) I don’t think it’s above criticism. How can you fully support
something if you don’t even allow discussion of ways that it might be
improved?

What I do know is that Twilight has a lot of problems. It is a far
greater problem for the Feminist movement, and young females in general,
than perhaps the public would care to admit. And if they want to be the
ostrich burying its head in the sand, I certainly can’t stop them.

But I’ll be damned if I allow that to keep me from talking about it.
And talking and talking and talking about it. Because I have a
10-year-old sister who already thinks her goal in life is to find
Edward. My stepmother and I have fundamentally disagreed with this, and
all I can do is let my sister know she’s got someone several states away
who is prepared to delve into the tough stuff if necessary. To remind
her that books are just books and we don’t have to live by them. And
that if she does make the choice to have sex early, it’s her right and
no one will judge her for it, because she is more than what happens to
rest between her legs. I’ll also be there to let her know it is never
okay for her to put hit, or put down, and her life’s importance is not
determined just based on whom she’s dating.

And that’s apparently something the pro-Twilight crowd has a problem
with.