The Twilight of Youth: Understanding Feminism and Romance in Twilight Moms’ Connection to the Young-Adult Vampire Series

Abstract

In this paper, we report the results of an online survey of self-identified “Twilight Moms,” adult women who have at least 1 child and identify as fans of Twilight, the popular young-adult vampire series. In particular, we examined transportation into the Twilight narrative and parasocial interaction with Twilight characters, and their correlations with gender beliefs, feminist identity, and relational satisfaction. Results revealed that Twilight Moms who held traditional beliefs about women and who identified as nonfeminist were more able to experience transportation into the books, and dissatisfaction with their current romantic partners predicted parasocial interaction with Twilight characters. We interpret these findings in light of fan studies research as well as media entertainment theory and research.