Shapely Prose has a very good article on just how fucked up the relationship dynamic in Twilight really is.

In full disclosure, I’ve never read the books and frankly have no interest in them, especially after reviews and the omg wtf is this shit reaction after the last book in the series was released. But I can relate to the dissection of how fucked up the relationship (if you can call it that) is between the two main characters.

Spoilers after the jump in case there is anyone out there whose reading and hasn’t read the books yet.
Kate gets into how much Bella is into Edward, to the point of throwing herself into danger to get his attention and finally getting knocked up by him. This portion of Kate’s column sums it up better than I can:

Of course, the more I found out about Twilight, the more horrified I was at its retrogressive approach to romance. For those of you who live under a mercifully insulating rock, a recap: To the best of my understanding, and I haven’t read the books, Bella has no stated interests outside of her devotion to Edward. The two are forcibly abstinent, because his passions would rupture her (or because vampire bun + human oven = death, I’m not totally clear on this point). Edward is obsessively in love with Bella, because she smells like tasty food, except his mood swings make Ian Curtis look like Stuart Smalley so sometimes he acts like he hates her. (The rest of the time he jealously imprisons her, abandons her, or stalks her “for her own good.”) Bella is obsessively in love with Edward and completely subsumes her personality and choices to him. Bella’s mind is opaque to Edward, who is usually psychic, which I gather from my cousin makes her seem mysterious and fascinating to him even though she’s impossibly bland (particularly after committing herself entirely to pleasing Edward). As the books go on, shit only gets worse — Edward’s controlling habits become more active (sabotaging Bella’s car, for instance, rather than just watching her sleep), Bella starts grasping for Edward’s attention by endangering herself, Bella is tormented by Edward’s refusal to make her a vampire (either so they can fucking have some sex already or so they can be together forever etc. — I’d be thinking the former but it’s probably the latter), and finally she nearly dies giving birth to his child, which breaks her back and has to be chewed out of her womb. I guess vampire law doesn’t have a “health of the mother” exemption.

That’s some crazy shit right there, and it frightens me that this series has influenced another cycle of young women (and grown ass women) to buy into the dangerous male mystique as something to want to have in your life. *shakes head* I hope that this series fades into obscurity soon and the last three books fail to make their silver screen transition.

Published by cypheroftyr

Tanya DePass is the founder and Director of I Need Diverse Games, a non-profit organization based in Chicago, which is dedicated to better diversification of all aspects of gaming. I Need Diverse Games serves the community by supporting marginalized developers attend the Game Developer Conference by participating in the GDC Scholarship program, helps assist attendance at other industry events, and is seeking partnership with organizations and initiatives. Tanya is a lifelong Chicagoan who loves everything about gaming, #INeedDiverseGames spawn point, and wants to make it better and more inclusive for everyone. She founded and was the EIC of Fresh Out of Tokens podcast where games culture was discussed and viewed through a lense of feminism, intersectionality and diversity. Now she’s a co-host on Spawn on Me Podcast. Along with all of that, she’s the Programming Coordinator for OrcaCon, she often speaks on issues of diversity, feminism, race, intersectionality & other topics at multiple conventions throughout the year. Her writing about games and games critique appears in Uncanny Magazine, Polygon, Wiscon Chronicles, Vice Gaming, Paste Games, Mic, and other publications.