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Sexual Repression in Popular Culture

Edward is in love with the strong, but angst ridden heroine Bella Swan. Their age difference is that of over a century and along with his age comes his culture, which is of the Victorian age. Edward's character embodies the struggle between wants and needs and the constant contention with his own desires. He has Victorian values, in that he is virginal (as should she be) and wants to wait to consummate their love for each other. In every way he wants to protect Bella from himself; being sure to remain as stoic as possible to stave off his hunger and longing for her. This is a similitude of sexual repression because of his willingness not to do what is most natural to him, drink blood; just as sex before marriage is forbidden inside of Mormon culture. "What makes Meyer's books so distinctive is that they're about the eroticism of abstinence. Their tension comes from prolonged, superhuman acts of self-restraint. There's a scene midway through Twilight in which, for the first time, Edward leans in close and sniffs the aroma of Bella's exposed neck. "Just because I'm resisting the wine doesn't mean I can't appreciate the bouquet, " he says. "You have a very floral smell, like lavender or freesia. He barely touches her, but there's more sex in that one paragraph than in all the snogging in Harry Potter"" (Grossman).
             Sex in general is a part of human nature and it is natural to have those types of desires and to act them out. However, again the path their relationship tends to follow is in constant reminder of chastity and that they can be together forever if they do not give into their physical wants and desires. Edward and Bella being together forever as vampires is an allegory to temple marriage. Any serious physical representation of love (other than holding hands or light kissing) without the sanctity and convents of marriage are considered to be abominable. "We desire with holy zeal to emphasize the enormity of sexual sins.


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