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University of Washington Bothell
The Fatal Lure: Symbolisms of Female Vampires in the Age of Gender Inequality
Yu-Wei Wang
BWRIT 135 Research Writing
Rebecca Brown
12/13/2016
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“She’s the smile that tricks you into throwing away your money and your life. She’s the
eyes that lead you on and on, and then show you death” (Leiber 348). This quote represents the
traits of empowered women in the mid twentieth century through a crime committed by a female
villain. In the 1949 book “The Girl with the Hungry Eyes”, the Girl tried to manipulate men and
steal their souls. Was the Girl triggered to do so for the sake of revenge for being gender
discriminated? “The Girl with the Hungry Eyes”, by Fritz Leiber, is a story about a female
vampire who tried to suck men’s blood by gaining their trust through modeling. The 1979 short
story “Love-Starved”, by Charles L. Grant, is a story that a female vampire, Alicia, seduces and
transforms a man, Carroll, into a vampire through sexual activities. Given that it is clear that the
feminist movements were prevalent and intense, what was the key that caused the women to
stand up and fight for their rights and how did it influence the female vampires in literature? In
the article Sleeping with a Vampire: Empowerment, Submission, and Female desire in
Contemporary Vampire Fiction by Agata Luksza, she contends that “the evidence on the
evolution of vampire characters suggests that vampire narratives would be best analyzed as
historical phenomena, that is to say, as products of a specific cultural environment that both
reflect and induce significant social changes and inequities” (430). Thus, through analyzing the
underlying issues in these novels, we can further establish a fine guideline for us to understand
the society, which implies to the idea that we can comprehend the gender discrimination
problems in vampire literature. Although women were discriminated in terms of sexuality,
gender roles and social norms, the two female vampires in “The Girl with the Hungry Eyes” and
“Love-Starved”, reflect the rise of women’s sexual and social empowerment and represent the
hope for the feminist in the mid twentieth century.
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In the article “Feminism” by Lauren Davis Gray, she mainly discusses the three different
waves of feminism throughout American history by pointing out several historical people and
movements (828). The word feminism has been interpreted differently in different period of
time; nowadays, feminism is referred to “A social, political, and religious movement that
advocates the rights of women” (827). In addition, Gray argues that the world’s situation had
changed so rapidly in the twentieth century, which enforces women to continue seeking their
liberty and rights even more intensely. For instance, during the Great Depression of the 1930s,
women were forced to be an obedient housewife and follow the gender norms. During World
War II, many women were soon brought into workplace and help create weapons in order to fill
in the economic gap. The men took over the women’s job when they returned from the war, thus,
the women lost their jobs and were forced to go back to household sphere. Meanwhile, women
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