This posting was inspired by my friend Zahir Blue’s post, Are Werewolves Sexy, over at his blog Night-Tinted Glasses. As one can guess, it explored the whether and, if so, the why of werewolves as sex objects. Here’s what I think:Of course werewolves are sexy! It’s the ‘why’ that’s intriguing, and I suspect it’s got something to do with Judeo-Christian attitudes towards sex, as well as the fantasy of taming the savage beast (a.k.a. nice girl makes bad boy turn good)!
Back in Europe during the Middle Ages, life was hard and short. Plagues, sickness, cold weather, and lawless pillagers made death an everyday occurrence. To get away from the earthly perils, the Christian Church focused on the hereafter and bettering one’s soul to get to heaven. This placed an emphasis on man’s noble, spiritual side – the soul -- what they thought separated us from the animals. Thus the clergy encouraged moderating and limiting earthly urges such as, gasp! – sex.
After all – animals do it out in the open, as did those godless heathens such as the ancient Romans and Greeks, so sex for sport had to be bad, right?
Enter the werewolf: s/he is for the most part a human, but once a month when the moon is full, all bets are off and they turn into a raging animal, killing anything in its path (can you tell I’ve watched An American Werewolf In London too many times?!). So, what’s so sexy about something that would hunt you down and tear you limb from limb?
I think it’s the fact that sex is linked to a more animalistic nature. Many movies show an increased sex drive after someone has been bitten but hasn’t yet turned: the aforementioned American Werewolf In London, Ginger Snaps, Cursed, and especially The Howling. In fact, the alpha female in The Howling is described by another one of the characters as “a nymphomaniac”, and she purposely turns the protagonist’s husband into a werewolf so she can seduce him (and have werewolf sex out in the open woods by firelight – what can be more hot, sweaty and sexy than that?).
And with a pronounced sexual nature comes the old idea that sex is bad. Which is what makes that makes the werewolf so attractive – he’s a bad boy (or girl). Let’s face it -- the hottest fantasy is taking a bad one and turning them good, right? Or maybe even just taking a bad one and having him be nice, but only to you ;-)
So hot damn, werewolves are sexy! Now, who can’t wait for February and The Wolfman movie? Bring on Benicio and the rest of the wolves! (Watch the trailer here)
~Nicole Hadaway used to work as a lawyer, but now she only writes about such things as bloodsuckers and deals with the devil (sorry! she couldn't resist a lawyer joke there!). After having lived in such varied places as Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., Louisiana and even Monaco, she now makes her home in Texas. Her first novel, Release, was published in September 2009 and features vampires in a World War II setting. If you'd like to read more about her, you can go to her blog here: http://nicole-hadaway@blogspot.com.
Posts
8 comments:
I've read Release and really enjoyed it. I look forward in reading more of Nicole's works.
Thanks,
Tracey D
I know you and I normally think alike on these things, Nicole, but I'm not buying the sexy werewolf thing. I won't even let the dog sleep on the couch and the thought of doing it with a werewolf is just a little too close to beastiality for me!(Athough don't seem to mind the necrophilia side of sexy vampires...)But anyway, who wants to be picking animal hairs off of the bedsheets the next day? Certainly not me! Lol.
Great post! Marissa's comment made me stop and think - I had never looked at it that way.
Maybe the difference is we don't want to have sex with these bad boys when they are in their wolf form - because that would be creepy and the ick factor I get in my brain over that one makes me shudder - anymore than any sane woman would be with a vampire when they were "dead" to the world in a corpse-like sleeping state?
I say bring on the beasties, the cold, the out-of-this-world! The idea that these supernatural creatures know something we don't or that they are living (unliving) close to the edge acts as an aphrodisiac.
Grrrr!
Does that mean in the sequel to Release, Return, we can expect some sexy werewolf action? I'm not a big werewolf fan myself, but they are becoming the new 'other' in popular fiction. Thanks to Twilight and True Blood I would think, but globally there are some great were-creatures; may I suggest a weredolphin? I can see the drawback with this being the fishy breath after the full moon.
Great post really enjoyed it.
Gaynor
I think the snarling moon madness is sexy and so is the howling. Jack Nicholas made werewolves sexy all by himself so if he can do it some one else has a chance too. I just have a wee little problem with the hairy back thing. But them Jack usually had his shirt on just showing chest and forearms. So my vote is YES, werewolves can be sexy if well written and well played.
Thanks Tracey -- I'm working hard to get Return ready for its debut, hopefully this summer, and there's a short story set in New Orleans in the works as well. I'm so glad you liked Release -- this made my day!
Marissa: you are mean not letting your puppy on the couch! Kidding... ;-) Though I have to admit I did have a dream in which hubby turned into a werewolf while we were sleeping and it scared the daylights out of me.
CJ -- if you read the Stephen King novella, Cycle of the Werewolf (and I know you're a huge King fan so maybe you already have), one woman wants to have a werewolf make love to her -- yeah! I think it's the bad-boy factor and the idea that a guy will tame his inner or outer beast for you.
Vamplit -- unfortunately, no. But there's more sexy vampire action (do you think that's big these days ;)
Emme -- Jack did do a great job in Wolf, and there's always waxing...!
Thanks for stopping by, gang, and a special thanks to Roxanne for having me here!
Hi Nicole, great topic on a winter's day -- a bit of creature comforts :O)
Oh Marissa's comment made me chuckle. Animal hairs on bedsheets! hehe However, if those hairs belonged to a hunky, older Jacob sniffing around my door, I'd certainly open it -- and probably get myself killed doing it. LOL
Yeah, werewolves are sexy, sometimes, just like vampires. I mean, oh how drool worthy was Lestat in Queen of the Damned, but those blood thirsty creatures in 30 days weren't exactly dripping in sex appeal. Same for Weres, I think. They can be both gruesome and beautiful.
Wolf was an excellent movie, as was the all time classic, American Werewolf in London. But I'm not sold on this new Wolfman movie. The trailer makes it look like a stuffy, Brit movie gone bad. Sorry.
I'll wait for the reviews to come in, and then probably wait for the DVD.
Great post, Nicole. I've always preferred the werewolf to the vampire myself. Really wish they'd come back in style as hot as the vamps. Maybe the new Wolfman movie will help.
Anyways, I have to say some of us ladies like these characters strictly because they're bad. It's all in what they represent that makes the idea of the animal sex so scrumptious. Forget saving them and marrying them.
Post a Comment