Sex Negativity: You will get pregnant, and die (and maybe turn into a vampire)

I will admit it, I'm a Twilight fan. I read the books, have seen all the movies, and I occasionally stalk Robert Pattinson. While reading the books when I was in high school, it was very clear to me that they were subtly preaching pre-marital abstinance. Throughout the entire series Bella wants to have sex with Edward but he refuses. His reason is because he is afraid that he will kill her because he is a vampire and she is a human, but he finally gives in and agrees to if they get married first. This stood out to me as the author, Stephanie Meyers (A mormon) weaving in her opinion that pre-marital sex is wrong. I never really thought anything of it because it didn't really bother me that much until I saw the most recent Twilight Movie: Breaking Dawn Part 1. I had read the book and I was so caught up in the fact that Bella turns into a vampire in the end that I totally missed the extreme amount of sex negativity that was leeching through it. It was so much more apparent on screen than it was on the pages. Bella and Edward have sex after they are married and then Bella immediately gets pregnant. She then withers away until she at dies as her hybrid monster baby literally sucks the life out of her. It was disgusting. As punishment for having sex she dies. (well, kind of, she gets turned into a vampire)

This is completely ridiculous. What confused me was the fact that she waited until marriage to have sex and then when she does she still gets punished. Also note that Edward isn't punished, its only Bella. I was also very confused because so much of the book and the movie was focused on how special and intimate them sleeping together was. It wasn't some quickie in the back of an ally, it was a romantic night spent on an island on their honeymoon. Does that seem like something that will lead to death by immediate pregnancy? Its almost like the author was saying: Sex is ok if you wait till marriage, oh wait, its not, its never ok and you will die. It almost reminds me of mean girls when their gym teacher preaches to them: "You will get pregnant, and die." I will never get the images out of my head of Kristin Stewart playing Bella in the movie and being stick thin, slowly dying over the course of the film. It was disgusting. There's sex negativity if I've ever seen it.

-Elle Callahan