Thus far, I have primarily discussed the role and portrayal of women in American literature in the past. However, for the rest of the week I will be exploring the way in which the sexist themes found in dated works are still present in modern literature. Many readers may be surprised to hear that. After all, this is the twenty-first century and America is a very progressive nation. Surely American literature today is not demeaning to women! However, that is not the case.

            During my discussion regarding this phenomena, I will be focusing on two novels in that Twilight sold forty-five million copies in the U.S., and according to businessinsider.com, 50 Shades of Grey sold sixteen million copies. Ironically, despite the fact that these two novels are both incredibly sexist, their target audience is primarily women. I will continue to explore this idea in more detail later this week. For now, I leave my readers with links to two hilarious video clips of parodies that illustrate my point regarding the sexism of these novels. The second clip is especially interesting because it shows what the second Twilight movie would have been like with two female leads fighting over a guy! Quite humorous, and a thought-provoking concept!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKWIqRAW_WI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF1khHrHxeY