UBC sessional lecturer Gisèle Baxter talked about the sex appeal of vampires in a recent issue of The Vancouver Sun. The column was part of a series featuring professors of the Faculty of Arts aimed at enhancing our understanding of our society and cultural issues.

Baxter explained that cultural depictions of vampires have evolved over time. Depictions of the monsters in contemporary settings have taken the forefront, rather than vampires in period clothing, living in scary castles.

“They have become to horror what androids are to science fiction: like us, but in very significant ways, not like us,” Baxter wrote. “That’s why they are scary…[but] that sheer menace, that ‘otherness’ is also what makes vampires so sexy.”