That’s all well and good, but let’s not use the idea of “this is what my kids read 99% of the time” to poorly justify the drivel when they need an escape. Surely there’s better escapist fiction.

queuno (I only read BCC when I need a break from Nibley or Talmage).

One fascinating thing to come out of this discussion for me is the boundless power of the label “pornography” for Mormons. This label is evidently so powerful as to instantly transform the material it is applied to into a personal tool of Satan

Yep, pretty much. If you could label something pornography without also labeling it a tool of satan, I’d be far more willing to agree with Natalie. I still think it falls short of true pornography, though I’ll agree with semi-erotic fantasy, with strong emphasis on the semi. In my mind it’s problematic to label anything even slightly erotic as pornography, which is what Natalie is suggesting here.

Good question. I think all of us males fantasize from our childhood about defeating bad guys, solving problems, building stuff, winning games and whatnot, but I don’t think fantasies are harmful until they begin to involve other people. If porn affects men by giving them unrealistic ideas of beauty and sexual activity, romance novels give women the equally harmful idea that finding the right man is the way to gain access to wealth, power, freedom, or all of the above.

“I have read many posts on here that women are saying their husband’s benefit from our obsession. I was wondering if that is true for everyone. Sometimes Edward so consumes my thoughts I feel like I am cheating on mine. Totally unrealistic, but can’t help it”

“I live with am married to and very much love a woman that sounds alot like you, she has an uhhmmmm curiously illogical maniacle obsession with Edward that shifted to Robert. I take it in stride, I’m not particularly gleeful about it but i’m also the one who gets to snuggle with her every night. I am under no delusions that after an 18 hour day of posting, searching yearning stealing and hijacking photo after photo that when I walk in the door her mind magically disolves the days events of razor sharp focus on the pretty boy. I guess you could say we share her focus. She assures me this isnt so but alas i am not stupid, we men pull this off well but that is another story.

I would say if it is to the point where it feels wrong to you then maybe it is. Personally I would much appreciate it if my wife thought it had gone to far for her and she realized it was affecting our relationship negativly to step back and reevalute, but at the same time if a little bit of day drooling warms her up and doesnt raise the bar to high (I simply can not compete with Edward) then I see nothing wrong with it, it has done wonders for us.”

“My hubby is also not very romantic, but he is very sweet and I know I could not live without him, I have guilt sometimes because I can get so consumed with the twilight world and any man compared to Edward could never compare so I just keep reminding myself that he is not real, otherwise I would probably jeopardize my marriage by looking for him! how sad is that?”

“In the real world, my husband is a catch in his own right. He’s handsome, a good father, attentive, blah, blah, blah……in my most obsessed moments my heart ached to be with Edward (again, I get it…he doesn’t exist) and I can’t help but think that wanting to be with anyone else, even a fictional character, isn’t building my relationship with my husband. I envy the wives that say their marriages benefited from the books, I’m a little different, though. I’m hoping that I’m not entering a mid-life crisis!!”

…and on and on.
Most criticisms of pornography (creates fantasies about people outside the marriage, is often enjoyed compulsively, creates unrealistic views of the opposite gender, etc) apply very fittingly to Twilight, and most defenses of twilight’s effects on women are echoes of things people say in defense of porn (Not everyone gets obsessive over it, it can be useful for enhancing marital relations, “everybody knows it’s just fiction,” etc).
All that said, I think we get too fixated on the definition of pornography as the standard of what is unhealthy or harmful. I think a better standard would be Don’t engage in any form of entertainment that causes you to fantasize about someone other than your spouse, and for many people (not all, of course), that makes Twilight clearly off-limits.

I don’t mean to threadjack, but has anyone seen the book “Porn for Women”? It’s a small book filled with essentially fully-clothed very handsome men happily doing housework, with quotes that would generally not come from the stereotypical man (at least the stereotypical man presented by the media–I find it generally unhelpful to talk about the character traits of stereotypical men or women), such as “This is the way you like the shirts folded, right?” and “As long as I have legs to walk on, you’ll never take out the garbage.” Or men being interested in “chick” activities: “Ooh, look, the NFL playoffs are today. I bet we’ll have no trouble parking at the crafts fair.”

Besides being entertaining, this book raises the question of the definition of porn.