Ever wonder why we, girls and women, love Twilight so much and why the movies are such a hit?

Univ. of Missouri researcher Melissa Click recently did a study, interviewing 4000 Twilighters.  Here are some of her findings as quoted by Laura Stone of Canwest News Service:

“With teens, we actually found that they appreciated the messages of abstinence,” said Melissa Click, an assistant professor of communication who surveyed 4,000 Twilight fans, aged 11 to 70.

The Missouri research found that many teen girls — who make up the core of Twilight’s audience, along with a few moms — are drawn to the story about love beyond the physical.

“The media environment is saturated with teens in sexual relationships,” said Click.

“(Twilight) does provide something different for girls. I’ve had girls say to me, ‘I’m going to wait for my Edward.’ And they think that’s really cool.”

Edward represents an anomaly in the minds of many teenage girls. He’s romantic, protective, and most important, cares deeply for who Bella is, and not just what she looks like.

Click said that many girls interviewed felt a sense of relief that Bella and Edward couldn’t yet have sex.

“They liked that it was the man putting the brakes on sexual activity. For them it probably highlighted the development of the relationship — the romantic relationship — between the two, instead of the sexual relationship,” said Click.

The study is comprised of online surveys and in-person focus groups. Researchers found 70 teens for the focus groups at a fan convention held in Dallas last summer. About one-third of those surveyed were teens.

From the Univ of Missouri website:

University of Missouri communication experts have studied the predominately female audience of the Twilight series and found that fans’ obsessions stem from the traditional, idealized romantic relationship that stresses the importance of abstinence. The researchers discuss their findings in the new book, Bitten by Twilight: Youth culture, media, and the vampire franchise.

“What really surprised us was the obvious abstinence message in the books and that teens were responding favorably to this message,” said Melissa Click, assistant professor, Department of Communication. “Many of the young women that we interviewed had felt pressure to perform sexually by their peers, but now they have a desire to find their own ‘Edward,’ who will be interested in them for nonsexual reasons.”

In the popular vampire-romance novels, Edward is an ideal male partner who is older, good-looking, loyal, talented and protective. Bella is a typical young woman but with a broken home life. The story emphasizes that Edward loves Bella purely for nonsexual reasons.

“Many other book series geared toward young adults, such as Gossip Girls, are highly sexualized,” said Jennifer Stevens Aubrey, assistant professor, Department of Communication. “This series represents a backlash to the ‘hooking up’ culture. Twilight has been a way for young girls to acknowledge their emerging sexuality without actually having sex.”

“Twilight is less of a vampire story and more of a romantic love story,” Click said. “Edward and Bella’s relationship is a very traditional model of a relationship that reinforces gender stereotypes. The series reinvents traditional romantic ideals and embraces the concept of love against all odds. These impressions of romantic relationships may shape younger women’s expectations of romance.”

Researchers also observed generational differences in the experiences of the readers. The “Twilight Mom,” or older readers of the series, often read the books and yearned for young love and to be free of domestic duties like the vampires in the series. Younger readers were more likely to model their future romantic relationships after Edward and Bella’s relationships.

“Some of the fans have emailed us seeking a treatment for their obsession with the series,” Click said. “Fans have asked us, ‘What’s wrong with me?’ or ‘Why can’t I stop reading the books?’”

Bitten by Twilight: Youth culture, media, and the vampire franchise will be published by Peter Lang Publishing Group in May 2010. Click, Behm-Morawitz and Aubrey are the editors of the book and co-authors of several chapters in the book.

Here are some male thoughts from Jonathan Zimmerman of the Chicago Tribune (Edward’s home town):

Why are young American women flocking to a movie where the hero — a hunky dude named Edward, who also happens to be a vampire — refuses to have sex with the heroine-loner Bella, lest he harm her with his supernatural powers? The answer lies in a University of Missouri survey of 4,000 “Twilight” fans. And it’s not that complicated: Girls want love, not just sex.

In other words, it’s a female fantasy. It’s also every boy’s nightmare.

And that’s why young women are celebrating an imaginary one, in the movies, where the guy actually loves you before he makes love to you.

Even if he is a vampire.

Why do you think Twilight has been such a world-wide hit?

(How would one factor in the M-rated Twilight fanfiction we love so much?  Hmmm…..)

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