“‘And so the lion fell in love with the lamb…’ (…) ‘What a stupid lamb,’ I sighed. ‘What a sick, masochistic lion.’” Stephanie Meyer,Twilight
Picture this. The tension is high, bodies are piling up. The local police need to know who they’re looking for. The behavioral analysis unit of the FBI gathers the officers and gives them a profile to help them find their unsub. They’re looking for a sexual sadist. This person is described as someone who takes sexual pleasure in torturing their victims. The pleasure may be a result in feeling inferior in their personal lives. A lack of confidence or control that creates frustration that can only be released in murder. Many times, they do their crimes in the shield of the night. But they commit these atrocities out of a perceived need. As though if they don’t do it, then they’ll cease to exist.
I’ve seen this profile given on Criminal Minds multiple times. But it was shortly after reading Varney the Vampire, that I couldn’t help but see some similarities in the vampire character. The use of night to hide his activities, preying on young helpless girls, and the need to commit these acts for survival. And so, it begs the question, do only early iterations of the vampire fit this sexual sadist profile or do they all in some small capacity share this in common?
For this blog post I’ve compiled a lot of information. And to make sense of any of it, we’ll be starting first with understanding what sexual sadism is. According to the Merck Manual, sexual sadism can be described as “an infliction of physical or psychologic suffering (eg, humiliation, terror) on another person to stimulate sexual excitement and orgasm.” (Brown). Alison Moore calls the male sadist was thought the most dangerous. Moore describes how early researchers considered male sadists’s sexual instincts “returning to barbaric pasts” in which men would rape their spouses when they were aroused. It is in these actions that “obscure origins of sadism” can be found (Moore 149). Additionally, it is expressed that the term sadism was associated with “murderous and violent behaviors involving sex” and how male sadists find a connection between lust and cruelty. (Moore 148). Now this is sexual sadism at a base level, however my inspiration came more from a serial killer mindset. According to Psychology Today, the sexual sadist serial killer “views his victims, not as human, but as objects for his enjoyment and has no consideration for his actions or results of his brutality of his victim” (Lampley). This almost sounds like a direct quote from Criminal Minds.
At this point you may be wondering: what does this have to do with vampires? I’m so glad you asked. When looking into the history of the vampire itself, we can see the sadistic roots of the supernatural being. INick Groom discusses Heinrich August Ossenfelder’s poem “Der Vampir”. Ossenfelder “depicts the vampire as a male sexual predator, threatening to suck away the lifeblood of the symbolically named maiden Christiana while she sleeps.” (Groom 98). This simple poem moved away from the medical phenomena of the “vampyre” instead giving rough shape to a creature whose story contains more sexual violence than a deadly fascination. Further down the line of vampire stories we find Polidori’s Lord Ruthven. “Polidori’s portrait is not conventionally erotic: Ruthven has a ‘dead grey eye’ that seems not to perceive character or humanity; he is cadaverous and the ‘deadly hue’ of his face is never lit with vivacity; and he all but ignores women as an inferior species. (…) He is a lone wolf, subverting morals. And then his dead eyes fall upon women, his tender prey” (Groom 109). In this text I can see clearly the image of a man who doesn’t see women as anything other than sustenance. They are his means of survival. And in “The Vampyre,” Lord Ruthven takes some sick joy in killing Aubrey’s love interest Ianthe in Greece as well as toying with Aubrey’s sister. He almost relishes the control he has over Aubrey’s sanity which unravels in the end.
This same behavior can also be seen clearly in Varney the Vampyre, or, the Feast of Blood by James Malcom Rymer. “With a sudden rush that could not be foreseen—with a strange howling cry that was enough to awaken terror in every breast, the figure seized the long tresses of her hair, and twining them round his bony hands he held her to the bed. Then she screamed — Heaven granted her then power to scream. Shriek followed shriek in rapid succession. The bed-clothes fell in a heap by the side of the bed—she was dragged by her long silken hair completely on to it again. Her beautifully rounded limbs quivered with the agony of her soul. The glassy, horrible eyes of the figure ran over that angelic form with a hideous satisfaction—horrible profanation. He drags her head to the bed’s edge. He forces it back by the long hair still entwined in his grasp. With a plunge he seizes her neck in his fang-like teeth—a gush of blood, and a hideous sucking noise follows. The girl has swooned, and the vampyre is at his hideous repast!” (Rymer). This passage describes Varney toying with poor Flora. He pulls her hair to truly terrify her and cause pain. Then he sucks her blood to keep his immortality. This exact plot happens practically every episode of Criminal Minds. The killer toys around with the victim a bit, tortures them a little (method may vary), then finally kills them. Many of these killers also lavish the fame they get from the crimes. Some even want to get caught eventually to live on in history forever. Almost symbolic to the vampire’s blood drinking.
Even Dracula was modeled after one of the most well-known sadists in history, Vlad the Impaler. When reading on the abuse Vlad suffered as a child ranging from sexual abuse to be traded by his own father to remain in high society. It’s very clear to see how all the suppressed violence came out one day when Vlad couldn’t control himself any longer. This is the classic traumatic background of a serial killer. But does sexual sadism die in the vampire after the 20th century?
My honest to God answer is that it depends. Looking at the profile I’ve outlined for sexual sadism with vampires, the line gets a tad blurry. Scarlet Thirst by Crin Claxton is told from the perspective of vampire Rob. While Rob does seem to hold a more humane perspective on people and doesn’t play with her food like Varney, even she still seems to view humans as less than. In the first chapter of “Scarlet Thirst”, we read about Rob grabbing a bite to eat. She describes the man she feeds from as a “donor”. So, there is some subtle dehumanizing of victims. However, the missing component for Rob is pleasure from the pain she inflicts on her “donor”. In fact, you can argue that she doesn’t cause pain to the man she drinks blood from as she puts him in a state of unconsciousness. But just because Rob isn’t a sadist, doesn’t mean there aren’t other sadistic vampires out there.
For example, in the New York Times bestselling novel Twilight by Stephanie Meyer (oh yes, I’m doing it), there is the nomad vampire James who loves the thrill of the hunt. But more so he loves to prolong his game when he sees fit. After first realizing that Bella was human and that Edward was devoted to her, he made it his mission to hunt her down in order to torture both of them (Bella physically and Edward mentally). He broke Bella’s leg and tossed her around a ballet studio all while filming the exchange for Edward to find later. That’s one sick guy. Clearly a sexual sadist. But Edward isn’t like that. While he finds humans boring, he still holds a respect for humanity, thus choosing his “vegetarian” lifestyle. Now sure, for a period of time he hunt down humans to satisfy his thirst, but even then, he hunted criminals. Rapists and murderers. Which sounds more like overcompensation to me. I could go on about other vampire stories such as Vampire Academy, Empire of the Vampire, Vampires, Hearts & Other Dead Things, or This Blood That Binds Us (just to name a few), but I think the point has been made.
While the vampire itself holds sexual sadist roots, going into modern adaptations we see authors changing the way the vampire is to be perceived. Instead of a monster to fear, it is a creature of fascination and perhaps even adoration. And on sexual deviance as a whole, I find it important to note that the form of sexual sadism I specifically chose to cover was specifically one with serial killers in mind. What people choose to experiment with or even practice in the privacy of their homes in the name of sexual pleasure is their business. In no way should those who practice consensual activity with clear safety measures be shamed for their tastes. “(…) what is accepted as normal and healthy sexuality is not determined by nature but changes with the values and norms of a particular place and time.” (De Block & Adriaens 277). Society is constantly evolving, not just the vampires we write about.
Works Cited
Brown, George R. “Sexual Sadism Disorder – Psychiatric Disorders.” Merck Manuals Professional Edition, 19 July 2023, www.merckmanuals.com/professional/psychiatric-disorders/paraphilias-and-paraphilic-disorders/sexual-sadism-disorder/?autoredirectid=21931#:~:text=Sexual%20sadism%20is%20infliction%20of,on%20with%20a%20nonconsenting%20person.
Claxton, Crin. Scarlet Thirst. Bold Strokes Books, 2014.
De Block, Andreas, and Pieter R. Adriaens. “Pathologizing Sexual Deviance: A History.” The Journal of Sex Research, vol. 50, no. 3/4, 2013, pp. 276–98. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/42002060. Accessed 29 June 2023.
Groom, Nick. The Vampire: A New History. Yale University Press, 2020.
Lampley, Steven. “What Is Sexual Sadism?” Psychology Today (April 2021). www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/captivating-crimes/202104/what-is-sexual-sadism#:~:text=The%20sexually%20sadistic%20serial%20killer%20views%20his%20victims%2C%20not%20as,abduction%2C%20torture%2C%20and%20murder. Accessed 19 July 2023.
Moore, Alison. “Rethinking Gendered Perversion and Degeneration in Visions of Sadism and Masochism, 1886-1930.” Journal of the History of Sexuality, vol. 18, no. 1, 2009, pp. 138–57. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20542722. Accessed 29 June 2023.
Meyer, Stephenie. Twilight. Little, Brown, 2013.
Rymer, James M. Varney, the Vampyre; or The Feast of Blood. Project Gutenberg, www.gutenberg.org/. Accessed 19 July 2023.
Traylor, Dean. “The Insanity of Vlad the Imapaler .” Hubpages, discover.hubpages.com/education/The-Insanity-of-Vlad-the-Imapaler. Accessed 20 July 2023.
