Twilight Inspires Biting Trend with Teens

Twi-hards are sinking their teeth into more than just books and movies these days -now they’re doing it to each other. Seriously.

Teens inspired by Twilight, as well as other popular vampires in entertainment like the Vampire Diaries, are taking their obsession to a whole new level by exchanging real life “love bites.”

“It’s a way to belong to somebody and check their territory,” high school sophomore Pao Hernandez told CBS News.

Hernandez then added that couples at her school exchange blood with each other to prove their passion, and that friends also give each other bites to demonstrate just how close they are.

“This is kind of the modern day version of the hickey,” said CBS Medical Correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton.

“But we have to remember, any time there’s a break in the skin, especially when you’re talking about the human mouth, it’s loaded with bacteria…You can set up for potentially some serious skin infections.” Ashton added, “This is now creating a soft tissue injury with blood, teeth marks or just a significant bruise in the area. And it can be potentially serious.”

As you can imagine, this new trend has parents across the country panicked, and not just about germs.

“This really concerns me because it has to do with possession,” writes parenting blogger Vanessa Van Petten on her site. “We’re talking about something that’s about ownership, possessing your friends.”

Missy Wall, the Director of a Dallas outreach group for middle and high school students said teenagers are using the bites as a new kind of status symbol.

“It becomes a contest of who has the bite mark and then that means somebody cares about you or you’re in a relationship or you’ve been chosen, which is very similar to the movies.”

“Not only obviously are there physical consequences but psychosocial,” said Ashton. “This is a way of marking a person, and it is a form of emotional and physical abuse.”

And I agree, high school is hard enough as it is, add this new ridiculous biting fad and you’ve got even more drama to deal with. Plus, like the doctor said, it is incredibly unsanitary! A passionate little bite between lovers is one thing, but a bunch of teens drinking each others blood is insane and stupid. These kids need to start using their brains, how is this in any way a good thing? They are acting like dogs marking their territory, it’s pathetic. I really hope this trend goes away soon, it’s unsafe, stupid, obsessive and a million other bad things. They’re giving us other vampire fans a bad name.

– Moonlight

By Moonlight

Moonlight (aka Amanda) loves to write about, read about and learn about everything pertaining to vampires. You will most likely find her huddled over a book of vampire folklore with coffee in hand. Touch her coffee and she may bite you (and not in the fun way).

15 comments

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  3. Consensual pseudo-sexual behavior is “emotional abuse,” seriously? I’m sure it could be used as such, but lots of things can be part of abuse that aren’t inherently abusive. (Doesn’t make me roll my eyes less at it, though.)

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  7. This new thing of biting is 1 thing itz call being stupidly obssed
    but therez vampire fans who r posetively obssed they dnt bite ppl
    but they r mature n respectful n thatz 1 thing ppl admire alot n lotz
    dnt have that no offence guys uf u were o qn old fashin tupe girls
    would literly DIE FOR U!!!!
    N girls give ur selfs respect n dnt embarece ur fam.

  8. I remember when hickeys meant you got some, not that you were ‘owned’. When it’s you and your lover, it’s one thing, but friends? These children need to learn the differences between reality and fiction, as well as public and private matters. All it will take is one kid bleeding to death and they’ll get the picture.

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  11. Guys,first of all this is not a new trend!Insane people used to do this for 2000 years now!Ana,as you can obviously understand,it can’t be inspired by Twilight!I would say True Blood,Vampire Academy,The Vampire Diaries and House of Night are more likeable choices.(yeah,I know,I’m a vampire addict!)Twilight is quite “pure” actually!:)

    1. Yes, people have been biting for ages, nothing new there. But this particular trend is new. When I was in high school we didn’t run around biting each other and drinking blood. This was inspired by Twilight and the massive vampire craze, but considering that Twilight is the most popular vampire book right now with millions and millions of fans, yea, Twilight is the most likely one to blame.

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