I’ve been following the Stephanie Meyers phenomenon and watching the Twilight trailers. I’m “over” vampires in general. They don’t hold the same allure that they did perhaps 10 years ago.

That’s not what I’m wrestling with here. I finally put my finger on what has bothered me so deeply about Meyers’ story — at least as portrayed in the film trailers. What I hate with the hate of 1000 suns is to see yet another story where a young woman is seduced by a super powerful man and gets sucked into his world and his bullshit. A man who could kill her but choses not to. Gee, how generous. I’m sure the women of Afghanistan can relate to that message.

I’m aware that Meyers is Mormon and all the baggage that comes with that. I’m nearly devastated to realize that it appeals to so many young women and men in this country. You would not see the reverse happening. We got a glimpse of it with Lost Boys in the ’80s, as Michael is pulled into Star’s world because of her magnetism, but it wasn’t a romance. It was pretty much straight up horror with some humor.

If American women want to stay in the emotional ghetto, I guess that’s their prerogative. I really thought we might be moving beyond that. But dollars don’t lie. Our next generation of girls is fantasizing about uber bad boys who will swoop in and “choose” them to be part of their blood-sucking elite.

Yeah, screw that. I can only hope they grow out of it.