Originated in the 90s with authors such as Laurell K. Hamilton [and I can't remember who else--anyone know?]
I don't know how influential she was, but maybe Mercedes Lackey's Diana Tregarde and her urban elf books?
I'm a little hesitant to describe all vampire stories as sex metaphors: while sexy vampires are trendy right now, there are definitely narratives, even UF narratives, with not-sexy vampires, where feeding is feeding, and ones where things are more ambiguous (Robin McKinley's Sunshine--I can't remember how urban it is--and perhaps Patricia Briggs's takes on vampires both come to mind). Jim Butcher's Red Court vampires are pretty damn unsexy, unsexual, and unmetaphorical, too, although he balances them out with literal sex vampires. (Interestingly, the TV version sexed up the Red Court vampires in a more conventional way.)
So I don't even buy that vampires are automatically sex metaphors--often, and it's a long tradition, but not always. I'm also not so sure that MUF is "awash with sex"--I can think offhand of several authors who have very little or no sex (or even romance in some cases) in most of their books, although I'll grant that they're mostly male or writing steampunkish UF.
(I'm puzzled by the Peeler excerpt as a sex metaphor...really? I don't read it that way at all. And definitely don't buy that absence of sex is always about sex--there's a reason I call Twilight "abstinence porn" but don't use that term for any book without a sexual focus.)
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I don't know how influential she was, but maybe Mercedes Lackey's Diana Tregarde and her urban elf books?
I'm a little hesitant to describe all vampire stories as sex metaphors: while sexy vampires are trendy right now, there are definitely narratives, even UF narratives, with not-sexy vampires, where feeding is feeding, and ones where things are more ambiguous (Robin McKinley's Sunshine--I can't remember how urban it is--and perhaps Patricia Briggs's takes on vampires both come to mind). Jim Butcher's Red Court vampires are pretty damn unsexy, unsexual, and unmetaphorical, too, although he balances them out with literal sex vampires. (Interestingly, the TV version sexed up the Red Court vampires in a more conventional way.)
So I don't even buy that vampires are automatically sex metaphors--often, and it's a long tradition, but not always. I'm also not so sure that MUF is "awash with sex"--I can think offhand of several authors who have very little or no sex (or even romance in some cases) in most of their books, although I'll grant that they're mostly male or writing steampunkish UF.
(I'm puzzled by the Peeler excerpt as a sex metaphor...really? I don't read it that way at all. And definitely don't buy that absence of sex is always about sex--there's a reason I call Twilight "abstinence porn" but don't use that term for any book without a sexual focus.)
Hmmmm, lots to think about.