Pure Passion: The Twilight Saga, “Abstinence Porn,” and Adolescent Women’s Fan Fiction

Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga has inspired much discussion regarding the apparent contradiction between the novels’ abstinence-only messages and their erotic tone. This article explores how many adolescent women navigate this contradiction by crafting “smutty” fan fiction stories that offer graphic depictions of sex that are absent from the novels. Examining stories about the central couple, Edward and Bella, as well as both heterosexual and queer non-canon pairings, I argue that many adolescent women readers use their fan fiction to resist and reimagine the novels’ abstinence-only messages while exploring their own sexual questions and desires.