Women in the Victorian Age were sexually pure, submissive, pious, and domestic (Kitch 245). Lucy and Mina, in Dracula, are both virgins who are looking forward to getting married. Both of these girls fall under Dracula's spell during the course of the story. Lucy dies and becomes a vampire, requiring the men to kill her permanently in the way Dr. Van Helsing teaches them. Mina, however, lived through the ordeal.

The women in the story of Dracula are weaknesses in the fight against vampires. Lucy falls completely under the spell of the vampire and is helpless to withdraw. She is available at the whim of Dracula. Mina also falls under Dracula's spell but has the ability to withdraw with the help of the men. She put herself completely at the mercy of Jonathan, her fiance; Dr. Van Helsing; and Dr. Seward. These men make decisions for her and keep her safe. When they go to fight Dracula at his castle, they even create a holy circle for her to stay inside where she will be safe from the mystic powers around her.

Where this idea of femininity has continued through to today in the Twilight series is through the character of Bella Swan. Bella is depicted throughout the story as weak and helpless, in need of being saved multiple times. In fact, her helplessness is the reason she and Edward first came into contact with each other. She managed to almost get herself hit by a car in a parking lot and Edward jumped in to save her.

At one point during the story, Bella got herself kidnapped by another vampire, James, who stole her away from Edward and his family. In this scene, she is completely helpless to save herself and can only hope that her vampire friends, namely Edward, find her in time to save her before James drinks all her blood. Edward, of course, arrives on time and saves her from James. He and his vampire father, who is a doctor, must then slowly nurse her back to health and take care of her until she is better.

There is also a point in the story where Edward decides that his vampire lifestyle puts Bella in too much danger. Because he has decided he would not be able to live if she were to die but that he could live without her if it would keep her safe, he decides to leave. Bella, being emotionally stunted and fully relying on Edward for her stability, totally and completely breaks down upon his leaving. She literally curls up on the floor of the forest where he said goodbye to her and, crying, she just stays there as it starts to rain. Her uncle and family friends have sent out a search party to look for her and she is completely oblivious to people calling her name in the forest. You can see in this image that she is dazed and slightly confused when Jacob Black, a family friend, finds her and has to carry her back to her house. He stays with her to nurse her back to health and tries to help her move on from Edward. Once again, she is cannot help herself but must rely on others to get her back to health.

This portrayal has also come through in the character depiction of Elena in The Vampire Diaries. Elena is a mortal living in a world of supernatural and often finds herself in dangerous situations from which she must be rescued. Whether she is being kidnapped by werewolves attempting to gain some footing against her vampire friends or by other vampires who need her for their own ends, Elena is a very popular commodity in the supernatural world around Mystic Falls. Whoever it is that is after her, she always relies on the Salvatore brothers to save her because she is helpless to do so herself.

In this image, Elena is being used as a bargaining chip for a werewolf with her vampire friends. Werewolves and vampires are both supernaturally strong, but Elena is weak. By threatening to break her neck, killing her, the werewolf is assured that the vampires will do as he pleases as long as he has her. Elena must rely on Damon and Stefan Salvatore to save her from this situation and from most any other involving supernatural beings.

The idea of a helpless woman appeals to a man's sense of protection. A real man can protect his woman and keep from harm, whereas a lesser man would need to call on someone else to protect her.

The depiction of women as weak and helpless has not completely lasted through the decades, though. Women today are free to choose their own sexual partners and are not asked to wait until marriage to engage in sex. Popular '90s television shows like Sex and the City began the idea of independent women who did not rely on men to make decisions but who enjoyed their company (Southard).

In Twilight, Bella puts herself in the midst of a love triangle between Edward, Jacob, and herself. She falls in love with Edward first. He leaves her and she starts hanging out with Jacob and a new relationship blooms. She falls in love with Jacob. Edward eventually returns to her, though, and he and Jacob continue to argue about who deserves Bella more and who she should be with.

Bella fell in love with both Edward and Jacob during the course of her story. When she fell in love with Edward, she was sure that love was forever and nothing could ever separate them. When he left, however, and she fell in love with Jacob, she convinced herself that she loved him as a friend and that she still loved Edward. However, Jacob was sure that she truly loved him and set out to prove it to her. Even after Edward came back, Jacob tried to prove to Bella that he was not good enough for her and could not be trusted not to leave again. This depicts Bella as being a woman so captivating that Jacob cannot give up on her even as she and Edward are married (sorry if I'm ruining this for you). This love triangle also depicts women as fickle, sexually deviant creatures who play with the emotions of others because they are incapable of making a decision that will hurt one of the players involved.

In The Vampire Diaries, Elena finds herself in the midst of a love triangle between the Salvatore brothers Damon and Stefan. Stefan is the one that she loves, the one she met first. He is the younger brother. Damon, the older brother, follows his little brother into town and falls in love with Elena.

While Elena says she loves Stefan, she never tells Damon that she does not love him. She becomes torn between the two brothers constantly fighting to save her life. There is a palpable sexual tension between Stefan and Elena throughout the show and, eventually, they release the tension. There is enough chemistry between the two, however, that there is still a noticeable attraction there that draws audiences in and makes them like this couple. At the same time, Damon and Elena could easily be described as being more than just friends. This image of the two playing pool is indicative of this idea. I play pool with my friends, but I don't usually kiss them on the cheek. And I have never been this happy when someone I am not attracted to kisses me. There is something noticeable between Damon and Elena that she denies repetitively. This love triangle depicts Elena as a woman incapable of making a decision that will hurt someone. She is not seen as fickle, however, because she does not ever make a move with Damon or attempt to make him love her.

Katherine, on the other hand, places herself firmly in the middle of the love triangle. The Salvatore brothers first met Katherine in the 1800s and she seduced them both and turned them into vampires. She convinces Damon that she loves him and does not need to compel him in order to get him to agree to become a vampire. Stefan, on the other hand, must be compelled. After the community members of Mystic Falls attempt to eradicate the vampires, Damon swears that he will save Katherine. When he does, however, she tells him that she always loved Stefan and had only been using Damon. Devastated, Damon locks her back in the tomb that she had been held in since the eradication in the early days of Mystic Falls. In a twisted turn of events, Stefan gets locked in there as well. With the knowledge that Stefan is in love with Elena, Katherine seduces him while they are both locked inside the tomb. Only after he turns her down and Elena figures out how to get him out of the tomb does she give up on making him love her, at least for the time being. Through this love triangle, Katherine is depicted as a manipulator who uses her sexuality to control people and to get what she wants.

In a twisted turn of events, Stefan gets locked in the tomb as well. With the knowledge that Stefan is in love with Elena, Katherine seduces him while they are both locked inside the tomb. Only after he turns her down and Elena figures out how to get him out of the tomb does she give up on making him love her, at least for the time being. Through this love triangle, Katherine is depicted as a manipulator who uses her sexuality to control people and to get what she wants.

A new depiction of women in vampire stories has emerged in the recent years: that of the woman as the vampire and, as a result, as powerful and self-reliant. In The Vampire Diaries, there are two such main characters: Katherine and Caroline. Each of these characters appears to be fairly innocent at first glance but has the capability to be deadly if provoked.

	Katherine is the veteran vampire. She has been around for over one-hundred years and knows her strengths and weaknesses well. She has developed self-control over her desires. Katherine is a self-serving character who does everything for her own good. She is not afraid to switch sides at any time if it would best serve her. With no concern for how her actions will affect others, she has the ability to come and go and to protect herself against whatever comes at her without worrying who might get hurt by the fallout.
	Caroline, on the other hand, is a new vampire, turned by Katherine after she comes back into town. Caroline has developed relationships with people in the community around her and still has family to worry about. Because of these concerns, it was necessary for Caroline to learn self-control faster than most vampires. Caroline is a very caring person who will do what she can to help her friends. She is willing to give up her mortal boyfriend because her cravings were brought on by her lust for him and she did not want to hurt him while she learned to control herself.

The introduction of this new character to the vampire story provides an outlet for the more aggressive females. A female audience member now has the option to fantasize about being in Katherine's or Caroline's positions with the power that comes with them. Both of these characters have the ability to look like the regular human or the aggressive vampire. Bared fangs and red, veiny eyes are indicative of their loss of self-control.

This loss of self-control is never good for humans. These female vampires have the same abilities as the male vampires to control humans and the same penchant for violence. Katherine became a vampire during the Victorian Era and no longer feels sadness when she kills a human. She sees it as a necessity for her survival. Caroline, however, still feels the full range of human emotions and does not like to kill people.

Sexuality	Male Sexuality