FEMINISM IN STEPHENIE MEYER’S THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BELLA SWAN'S ABILITY TO MAKE HER OWN CHOICES

Abstract

Stephenie Meyer argues that Bella Swan is a feminist character because “the foundation of feminism is this: being able to choose. The core of anti-feminism is, conversely, telling a woman she can’t do something solely because she’s a woman”. However, using this definition of feminism, Bella Swan still is not a feminist character because she might not be making these choices of her own free will due to her controlling, abusive, vampire boyfriend with psychic abilities. She does not actually become a feminist character under this definition until she herself becomes a vampire and gets on a level footing with Edward in terms of supernatural abilities.