DRACULA'S WOMEN

(aka Female Vampire Stuff)

INDEX:
History of Vampires
Fashion Page
Alternative Media for Female Vampires
The Hammer Women
Bibliography

BACKGROUND
In this exploration of the female vampire, concentration will be given to those aspects which over time have remained a fairly constant image associated with vampires in general. As such, traditionally, vampires are considered creatures of the night, illusive and mysterious. For all appearances, these UNDEAD appear mostly like normal humans as a source of the strength and protection from being hunted and eliminated. The real truth is that these trappings of seeming normalcy hide the nature of the beast which is that all are inherently evil with a lust and thirst for blood that is insatiable. Additionally, most vampire stories portray the vampire as sexually attractive while frightening, seductive and dominating but overwhelming desirable until the real purpose of blood sucking reveals itself, making escape difficult or impossible for the uninformed victim.

Second, this exploration into vampire females will take into account that the real world is highly patriarchal and dominated by males.  The vampire's world allows for the woman to approximate near equality with her male counterparts.

Lastly, various media types will be represented in an attempt to illustrate just how popular and pervasive the vampire culture has become in the human culture, experience and fantasies.

From this point forward, all text and images are borrowed from various websites and reprinted here strictly for educational and entertainment value with only few remarks and personal opinions interjected by this web creator. Italicized text indicates comments posted by the webmaster.

Some Background History of Women in Vampire Lore

In most cultures, the oldest vampire figures were females. They included the Greek lamiai (see "Types" below for photo and defiition), the Malaysian langsuyar, and the Jewish Lilith, among others. Each of these vampire figures points to the origin of vampirism as a myth, explaining problems of childbirth. The story of the langsuyar, for example, told of a woman who bore a stillborn child. Distraught and angry upon learning of the child's death, she flew into the trees and from that time forward became the plague of pregnant women and their children. Magical means were devised to protect mothers giving birth, and their newborns, from the bloodsucking langsuyar.

Each of the three, however, did evolve in slightly different ways. At one point, each took on the characteristics of a young "vamp", the beautiful female stranger, from a foreign land, who seduced the unwary young man looking for a mate. Other similar, female vampires included the loogaroo, sukuyan, and asema. They lived incognito in a community, living a seemingly "normal" life during the day and operating as a vampire at night. Even their husbands did not know they were vampires.

As the vampire legends became more death related, the female vampire partially gave to the male. Many vampire like creatures, who also happen to be female, were prominent in the lore of polytheistic cultures. Kali, the dark goddess of India, was such a figure, as were the witch/vampires in West Africa.

Closely related to the female vampire, of course, were figures such as incubus / succubus (see "Types" below for photo and definition), and the mara. Neither of these entities was a vampire, but each behaved in ways reminiscent of vampires... attacking male victims in the night and leaving the victim distraught and exhausted in the morning.

VLAD, THE IMPALER, THE REAL DRACULA¹ (upon which the original 'definition' of the male Dracula or vampire is generally attributed to derive and quite possibly where the first position regarding women, femininity and the female vampires role may have evolved.)
Vlad Tepe's atrocities against the people of Wallachia were usually attempts to enforce his own moral code upon his country. He appears to have been particularly concerned with female chastity. Maidens who lost their virginity, adulterous wives and unchaste widows were all targets of Dracula's cruelty. Such women often had their sexual organs cut out or their breasts cut off.

Dracula viewed women as, in a word, inferiors. They brought pleasure in the bedroom and they were good for the menial work in life that men shouldn't handle.

One Russian narrative that has survived through time talks about Dracula's view of womanhood in general. They were meant to be without sin, but once they sinned, deserved no dignity. "If any wife had an affair outside of marriage, Dracula had her sexual organs cut out," the account reads. "She was then skinned alive and exposed in a public square, her skin hanging separately from a pole...The same punishment was applied to maidens who did not keep their virginity, and also to unchaste widows.

¹ http://www.angelfire.com/realm/shades/demons/vampires/vladatrocities.htm
¹ http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/history/vlad/impaler_5.html?sect=6

Types of  FEMALE Vampires:
Reprinted from various websites

Lamia-They were known in ancient Rome and Greece. They were exclusively female vampires, which often appeared in half human, half animal (most often a snake and always the lower part) form. They ate the flesh of their victims as well as drinking the blood. Lamias could be attacked and killed with normal weapons.

Keats' poem "Lamia":  http://www.bartleby.com/126/36.html

Baobhan Sith-The Baobhan Sith (pronounced: "buh-van she") is an evil Scottish fairy, who appear as a beautiful young woman and, will dance with men they find, until the men are exhausted, and then feed upon them. She can be killed by cold iron.

Want to know more?: http://www.black-robes.com/apprentice/viewartifact.php?7

Succubus-This is a lesser known European vampire race. The general way they feed is by having sexual relations with the victim, exhausting them and, then feeding on the energy released during sex. They may enter homes uninvited and can take on the appearance of other persons. They will often visit the same victim more than once. The victim of a Succubus will experience the visits as dreams. The male version of a Succubus is an Incubus.

Pontianak-The Pontianak was a female vampire whose head could separate from her body, with its entrails dangling from the base of her neck. The Penanggalan sucked the blood of newborn babies and sometimes that of young children or pregnant women.

View the new movie Pontianak: http://pontianakhsm.com/menu_eng.html

Manananggal-The Manananggal was a female vampire whose entire upper body could separate from her lower body and who could fly using wings. The Manananggal sucked the blood of fetuses. She has long hair and wild eyes who can detach her upper torso from her lower half of her body via wings that sprout whenever there is a full moon. The Manananggal usually flies in the dark searching for victims whose blood she sucks.  Application of garlic on the lower body while the upper half is away will make it impossible for the manananggal to return. If the upper torso remains away from the lower torso at daybreak the manananggal will die. Salt works equally well against the manananggal. The trick is to sprinkle salt on the lower torso of the manananggal while the upper one is away. This prevents the manananggal from rejoining its other half.

Phillipino mythology:  http://onmyoshi.freeservers.com/manananggal.html

Aswang-The Aswang is believed to always be a female of considerable beauty by day and, by night, a fearsome flying fiend. The aswang lives in a house, can marry and have children, is a seemingly normal human during the daylight hours.

Read reviews on the 1993 movie "Aswang" http://www.sexgoremutants.f9.co.uk/aswang.html

Denise Quillen

Eng 331 Vampires on Film