From Ms. Magazine:
While Twlight is presented as a love story, scratch the surface and you will find an allegorical tale about the dangers of unregulated female sexuality. While Edward’s first scent of Bella nearly sends him into a homicidal frenzy, he is ultimately shown to be capable of controlling his bloodlust as well as the more human, sexual kind. Bella, on the other hand, is never able to do the same. From their very first kiss, she is fighting to control her awakening sexuality. Edward must restrain her, sometimes physically, to keep her from ravishing him, and he frequestly chastises her when she becomes, in his opinion, too passionate.
The message of abstinence presented in the books is overt, with Edward as the keeper of the couple’s purity. There are those who might applaud the depiction of a young man showing such self-restraint, but shouldn’t the decision about when a couple is ready to move forward sexually be one they make together? Of course there are extenuating circumstances when one person in the relationship happens to be a vampire afraid of committing homicide in the midst of passion, but in Twilight it is typically Edward who is allowed to initiate intimacy or break things up when he feels they are getting out of hand. Bella is frequently reprimanded for physically desiring the man she loves. The overriding message is that young women are incapable of understanding or controlling their own sexuality; it takes a man to keep them in check.
And this, too:
Edward isn’t just protective though, but often over-protective of Bella, and in this way their relationship should serve as a cautionary tale for young women. Edward is jealous of Bella’s relationships with other boys, going aso far as to disable her car to keep her at hom. He is condescending, assuming that he knows what is best for her in every situation. And there are many situations in which Bella s infantilized, including when Edward rights her a lullaby-a piece of music typically associated with infants and child, not someone you consider your equal, sexually or otherwise.
Maybe it’s difficult for Edward to see Bella as an equal because Bella has almost no personality. Meyer writes on her website that she “left out a detailed description of Bella in the book so that the reader could more easily step into her shoes.” But Meyer fails to give Bella much of an interior life as well; Bella is a blank slate, with few thoughts or actions that don’t center on Edward. Outside of him and occasional outings with werewolf Jacob, Bella doesn’t do anything more than go to schol, cook and clean for her dad, write to her mother, read and romanticize over Victorian literature and find fault with her clothing. She has no other interests, no goals, few friends: Bella does nothing that suggests she is a person in her own right. If Meyer hopes that readers see themselves as Bella, what is she suggesting to them about the significance of their own lives?
Call me strange, but I prefer books with strong female characters. The quotes are from an article by Carmen D. Siering on Page 51 of the Spring 2009 issue in case you want to read the rest of the article.
