Just a Bit of Clarification

Those of you who read my post prior to this know that I've uh... broadcast my dislike of Twilight. And I think maybe some people deserve a bit of clarification.

Those of you who may have taken my posts personally - I'm very sorry. For as much as there are people who are going to run around and shout from the rooftops how much they love it, there needs to be room for those who don't like it to air their side. (FYI, Stephen King doesn't think Meyer is very good either.)

One thing that I do want to emphasize, that is continually being missed, is that these books weren't originally intended for adults. They were, and still are, YA novels. (YA = young adult) The YA genre is marketed for the 12-18 year old age range. So let me ask you this. If your daughter (or your hypothetical daughter; c'mon, play with me here) were to read this and take it to heart, how would you feel?

Edward is a mentally, verbally, and emotionally abusive character purported to be a protagonist. Now your daughter wants to find a man like this. Or perhaps she simply wants to find a boyfriend who's going to bite her neck. A lot. Even worse, she might want to find a boyfriend who sparkles. Does that dazzle you?

Bella does practically nothing throughout the series except get herself into dangerous situations (occasionally on purpose so she can see Edward when he comes to "rescue her"), get pregnant and then allow someone to perform an oral c-section on her to remove said hellspawn. Is this the kind of role model you want for your daughter? Never mind that her character had me wanting to slap people by the third chapter. Do you want to be a mother to the next Bella Swan? Really?

The books, through their plot line, put teen pregnancy in a positive light. You know, as long as it's true love. Now, I can't say much for premarital sex seeing as I had my first daughter seven months prior to actually getting married, but can you see where this is probably not a good thing? Bella drops any and all future plans (hello, college? Bella's not coming, kthnx.) because she's in "love" with Edward and wants to have his hellspawn babies despite knowing that it will most likely kill her. How many of you were in real love at the age of 17? Come on.

I'm not even going to cover the strangeness of Edward gnawing Bella's uterus open in order to deliver the LochNessie CullenMonster. Or Jacob "imprinting" himself on the wee one. Really? I mean... Wow. It all comes across as though Meyer was grasping at straws seeing as she made her vampires fangless, "vegetarian," and sparkly. It contradicts everything we've ever been taught about vampire legends in folklore the world over. And yet there are millions who swallow it down for whatever reason. But what worries me the most are the young girls who practically idolize Meyer and emulate Bella and are searching for their Edward Cullen.

Doesn't this concern anyone? At all? Is no one worried about their kids desperately trying to follow these examples?

What it comes down to - what it always comes down to with books like these - is parental supervision and interaction when reading the books. It could be a fabulous model for how not to write and what not to do when confronted with a sparkly dude who watches you sleep and whose biggest attraction to you is that he wants to kill you. (Hint: Call the friggin cops is a good idea. Getting yourself impregnated is a bad idea.) Unfortunately, parental supervision and involvement these days is few and far between.

Anyway, I just wanted to clear the air. I promise I'll get back to my regularly semi-scheduled blogging as soon as I come up for air underneath the mounds of school work I've got to do. Smooches.