How Stephanie Meyer's Twilight Perfectly Portrays Our Culture of Violence

Gender-based abuse is one of the most horrific things that can happen to a person. The trauma lasts a lifetime, and it forever changes a person. What may be worse- the fact that people defend the perpetrators.

The Office of Justice estimates that around 78% of assault survivors blame themselves for the violence that they experienced. Of course, part of this is natural and due to plenty of causes: to retain a sense of control, internalization of the abuser’s justifications, feelings of betrayal and broken trust, and an inability to understand why you reacted the way you did can all contribute to this feeling. But why gender violence, specifically, has such a high rate of self-blame cannot be attributed to that alone. That, my friend, is due to our skewed ideas about sexual behaviors and gender roles.

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How Misogyny Leads to Gender-Violence

It is a sad but generally accepted fact that in most situations, men have more power than women, adults have more power than children, and those with money have more power than the poor. Have you heard of the Zimbardo Prison Experiment? In it, scientists proved that when a person is told that they are of a higher status and importance than somebody else, they feel entitled to do terrible things to them, to physically torture and hurt them, and to treat them as if they are subhuman. Furthermore, when somebody is taught that they are subhuman, they learn to accept and allow this behavior.

This is exactly the same pattern that can be observed when it comes to romantic relationships. Women are taught that men simply act a certain way (ever hear the saying, boys will be boys?), and that there is nothing they can do about it. They are taught to be grateful for small “privileges” they are given by men, such as the right to vote and basic human kindness.

And yet, they are taught to provide for men, to be housewives, mothers, to give their bodies for the pleasure of men. In the media, the most important thing that all “inspirational” women characters have is always the same- some sort of appeal to men, whether by acting like a man or acting for a man.

Stephenie Meyer’s book series Twilight is perhaps the most obvious example from this century I can think of. In her book, Bella’s self sacrifice and lack of self-respect is heavily praised, solely due to the love and attention it wins her from her boyfriend, Edward. Even disregarding the borderline abusive behaviors Edward exhibits, such as stalking and manipulation, Bella’s adoration of Edward is always at the expense of her own self, emphasizing the idea that self-sacrifice is the only way to love someone.

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From an outsider’s perspective, it is perfectly clear that Edward’s actions were mainly out of self-interest (he risked the life of Bella multiple times, and continuously allowed his lust for her to overrule his judgements about her safety), this is considered perfectly alright by the author, which it could be- were it not for how much Bella does for Edward. She constantly apologizes for things that were his fault (including when she nearly got killed), she never once gets angry with him (and Edward has a clear anger issue that is explicit in the storyline), and she risks her life for him without a second thought, her only problem with this that she doesn’t do more to protect her heroic and beautiful boyfriend. She worships the ground he walks on, going so far as to throw herself off a cliff and crash a motorcycle simply to hallucinate and hear his voice.

New Moon provides an almost extraordinary description of severe depression, with Bella being almost catatonic, unable to eat much, drink, sleep, or think about anything but her boyfriend. In one horrifying paragraph, Bella’s dad describes thinking about hospitalizing Bella, knowing that her behavior is abnormal and betrays a serious issue with her mental state.

Now, I will never judge someone for not having a good enough “reason” to be depressed, but the issue here is how this depression was treated. This could have been a perfect opportunity to establish boundaries as far as what love shouldn’t cost you, but Meyers instead chooses to portray this lack of regard for her own safety as noble suffering for a true love, who in Bella’s mind abandoned her without a second thought about her. She blames herself for being unworthy of him with zero evidence, and this is shown to be a form of kindness. Worse, this kindness is evidently the reason Edward loves her.

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Bella also exhibits clear signs of Battered Woman Syndrome, a mental disorder resulting from systematic and patterned abuse: body image and self-esteem problems, disassociation, severe depression, denial, guilt, and an avoidance of any support system apart from her abuser.

Bella has no interests or hobbies apart from Edward. She risks her life happily to have a wedding night with Edward, and even when she is left terribly bruised and scars she continues to insist on a physical relationship. And in the end of the book, she goes through a horrifying, almost certainly deadly pregnancy because she wants a mini-version of Edward.

The birth scene and pregnancy are terribly gruesome, so much so that I have been instructed not to describe it by an editor as not to disturb viewers. You know, the same audience that reads these kinds of books? Furthermore, Bella dies in horrific pain. The process Edward then uses to turn her into a vampire was described as the most torturous experience possible, yet Bella does not scream for fear of upsetting her husband. Never is this action shown as anything but noble.

Twilight has sold over 160 million copies, has been translated into 49 languages, and is considered one of the greatest love stories of all time. It’s main and target audience? Teenage girls. It’s category? Sappy romance.

Imagine what these girls, whose brains are not even close to fully developed, have just been taught about relationships and consent, at the time in which they are first beginning to learn about it.

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The concept of female hysteria is actually rooted in a stereotype that originated in the 1800s. Believe it or not, but this deeply misogynistic diagnosis was rooted in the idea that parts of a female’s anatomy could cause them to become unstable. Even before this, the idea of female pain was always deeply romanticized and sexualized. The idea of a woman’s fragility or tragedy meant that they were able to be saved by men- the plot of every ancient fairy tale. And, when necessary, this same hysteria is used to discredit women.

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My Conclusion

Not only is conformity rewarded, but non-conformity is punished in this society. And when women pursue a romantic relationship for their own pleasure and by their own rules, they are described as “sluts” and “b**hes.” Women are insulted as “prostitutes” and “wh*es”, yet the word “pimp” can be used as a compliment. Being a victim of a violent gender-based crime is considered worse than being the perpetrator by society. In fact, our president has been accused numerous times of sexual assault.

What was she wearing, the ask at every trial. What they never think to ask is, why would she lie?