How gay are vampires?

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How gay are vampires?

It's been over a hundred years since Dracula first declared, "This man belongs to me!" There's plenty of evidence to suggest that Bram Stoker's vampire might be gay, or at least a little bit curious.

Even before Dracula was published in 1897, writer John Polidori crafted a short story 79 years earlier called "The Vampyre" which revolved around his fascination with Lord Byron. Since then, homoerotic undertones have played a huge role in everything from The Hunger and The Lost Boys to True Blood and Fright Night, reinforcing the parallels between vampirism and the othering of gay men.

Of course, much of this can be traced back to Stoker's Dracula, which foregrounds the Count's relationship with Jonathan Harker - the man he "owns" - above all else.

Not only does Dracula's fear of sunlight echo how gay men in the Victorian-era were forced to meet under the cover of darkness, away from the judgemental eyes of society, but there's also the more literal idea that gay men were demonised as a threat to the established order of society - a demonisation that continues today.

Some scholars believe that Stoker himself might have been a closeted gay man. If so, then it's likely that the queer themes of his greatest work reflected the inner turmoil he may have felt after watching society charge his friend Oscar Wilde with crimes of "indecency".

Vampires. Pretty gay, dude - pretty fucking gay.

The After Dark edition

If vampires are the kind of thing that fuels your fantasies, check out the After Dark edition for some sexed-up dudes that will suck the life out of you.

After Dark: Vampires
Fuel for your fantasies.

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