Vampires and Sex

I read an interview with a popular author who claims her writing about vampires and their relationships  as not promoting pre-marital sex. Well, before we crossed over recently into giving vampires full physical sexual function and access, fanging was vampire sex. And in case you haven’t noticed, nipping, nibbling and biting to various degrees is very much a sexually exciting act. The symbolism of fangs erupting hard and erect, piercing virgin skin, blood dripping as the “victim” is penetrated and “taken” has been a sexual metaphor since the first appearance of the vampire genre. “Victims” are traditionally female and virgins. Perhaps while not literally promoting sex, we must acknowledge that a vampire story is not “just” a vampire story.