‘Christmas’ leaflet distributed in Cambridge claims homosexuals are like vampires

Posted on 15th December 2014 by William the Bloody

The monstrous vampire has longed served to represent the Other, the repulsive outsider that society shuns. And it continues to play this role, despite the ascent of the sympathetic vampire and demonic lover. As OGOM contributors have charted in the book and the Gothic Studies special issue, the vampire has been used as a political metaphor by both left and right. Here’s a contemporary case of the vampire image employed to unfortunate and reactionary ends, in a polemic against gay and lesbian people.

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About William the Bloody

Cat lover. 18C scholar on the dialogue and novel. Co-convenor OGOM Project
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0 Responses to ‘Christmas’ leaflet distributed in Cambridge claims homosexuals are like vampires

  1. firekrank says:
    15th December 2014 at 8:53 am

    This may not be a direct or conscious connection but I think it’s interesting to note that one of the charges levelled at Edward Cullen was that he was ‘gay’ or a ‘fairy’. Most of this hatred seemed to be because he sparkled and was described as being beautiful as opposed to handsome. Facebook actually forced some of the more homophobic groups to change their names. For those of us who are a little well-versed in the history of the representation of vampires, it seems rather reductive to level the charge of ‘queerness’ to vampires. (Quick nod to Anne Rice). Though I suspect the producers of this leaflet are not huge fans of subtlety – I note that later in the leaflet some of their points directly contradict one another.

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