So what is it about Vampires that draws us in? One of the major theories was put forward by Stephen King in his 1981 book Danse Macabre. He argued that Vampires appealed mainly to teenage girls as they were the ultimate “zipless fuck” – all the fun without the drama.Another theory is that the Vampire is the ultimate bad boy and bad boys are just so attractive to women. For some, this attraction is inexplicable and irrational – why would you want a guy that is mad, bad and dangerous to know?
I am speaking here of male-female sexual attraction here – I don’t know if the bad boy/girl has the same appeal in same-sex relationships. If you are reading this and can provide some insight on this topic, perhaps you would like to comment? I’d be interested to know.
I would argue that the answer lies in our evolutionary biology. When we think of relationships today it is in terms of monogamous pair-bonds – couples – married or living together. This is a relatively recent, and Western, cultural construct.
Human biology tells a different story. In primates, as in many animal species, differences in body size between males and females (the technical term is sexual dimorphism) can reflect breeding behaviour.
Where breeding occurs within a monogamous pair-bond (such as in Gibbons) the relative body size of the male and female are equal. Where breeding behaviour occurs within groups (such as in Gorillas or Chimpanzees) very often a single alpha male will have a harem of females over which he has exclusive breeding rights. In this situation the male is bigger than the female.
And so it is in humans. This tells us that for most of our evolutionary history a human female would prefer an alpha male as a sexual partner because he represented the biggest genetic bang for her buck (so to speak).
So this is my argument - the Vampire is alpha - the big, strong and sexy leader of the pack. That’s why we love them.
You might have something there. My daughter is also fascinated by vampires (eg Edward in Twilight), but for her I think there is also an element of the bad boy, who isn't really bad at all. A bit more than the alpha male thing.
ReplyDeleteAnother angle may be the character type. Vampires are usually depicted as the strong, silent type, which is itself a popular hero stereotype.