*disclaimer: I know the technical term is shapeshifters apparently. you guys know what I mean* :D

If this is right I think it's another classic example of Meyer's sexism. The wolves are strong and primal, so of course she associates them with men and does not want that power connected to women. I know there's at least 1 female wereshiftwhatever (Leah, right?) but from what I hear she's an exception to the rule, and people are surprised she became a werewolf since they're usually men. Apparently she would also be unable to pass on wolf genes to children because that only happens between fathers - sons. That is so blatantly sexist to me. The men passing down power to their sons while the women get none of it. How subtle (imagine that said in my most sarcastic voice)

To me the werewolf thing seems like such a blatant metaphor, whether intentional or not, for powerful men holding back strength from women. I'd like to hear other opinions on this though, do you think it's sexist? If not why? and if any fans could give me a little more detail on the subject, as all I heard was 'men are wolves. Women mostly aren't. Wolf genes only passed by/to men' so details would be interesting.

(this only makes sense if what I heard of werewolves is right, since I didn't read far enough to really get into werewolves. If females are just as likely as males to be werewolves feel free to correct me and tell me to shut up, lol)

^^^ What she said. Even the last part because I never read past Twilight.

I can totally and completely understand how you can read this as sexist. But mythologically, it's not new. Several mythologies have a similar rule for witches being female-only (See: Practical Magic for a modern interpretation of this "rule"). If only women can pass down a mythical trait, it's reasonable that only men can pass down a different trait. After all, we're all for equality here, right?

Biologically, this happens all the time. Think of chromosomal traits, for example. There are several genes that are linked to your sex chromosomes. Recessive X-linked traits are far more likely to show up in men, as they only have one X chromosome (Women would need two recessive Xs in order to exhibit the trait, which means her father would need to have it, and her mother would have to have at least one recessive X gene). Baldness is an excellent example of this.

Of course-- I interpreted it literally. If you want to interpret it metaphorically, like Mermaid-Tail, then like I said, it can completely be perceived as sexist.

EDIT: Typo.

^^What she said.
I don't think it's sexist I think it's just more likely for it to happen in men. Back in the day it was the men who were warriors, the women who stayed at home. THAT might be sexist but it's historical. The fact that she's written in the first female werewolf is kind of an indicator that she's trying to dispell the sexist traditions.
So I say kudos.
WHA-?!?!?!

i agree with the 2 people above me.

I actually think if this was from another author I'd be less quick to call it sexist. I can't decide if that's hypocritical or it's just fairly taking into account what I know of her before judging.
I can't imagine her doing the wolf thing because it's genetically accurate, she doesn't exactly strike me as big on research or knowledge in that area.
Also, the female werewolf she does have (the following is heard 2nd hand since I didn't read this far, so again if it's wrong correct me and tell me to shut up, lol) from what I heard one of the only injuries when the characters fight the newborns is caused by Leah being stupid and trying to prove herself as good as the males, so if that's right I see her as another Meyer woman sending that same tired Twilight message 'if you don't leave everything to the men you'll just make things worse'. Also, I hear Leah cannot have children, so she will not be making any more little were-girls, and that too added to my opinion it's sexist, because it's like Meyer simply cannot pair women and power. When she has a woman with the wolf's primal power she disconnects her from her, I don't know, womanliness, by taking away her ability to give birth (something Meyer seems to see as the ultimate for females). It's like to allow her to have that power she felt the need to make her less female first.

From another writer I may just see it as a plot point (not one I'd love, but hey, nobody's forcing me to read the books) but coming from Meyer I just can't help but see it as coming from her inability to link woman and power, and can't help but see significance in that it's the most primal power that's the one women don't have in the story. whether it was a concious choice or not (I'm guessing not, Meyer very rarely seems to have the self awareness to pick up on these things, no offence) I truly believe she just couldn't mentally connect something so wild and unrestrained to women. She always has at least one woman in each group (who else would screw things up?) and there are a few plot reasons a female would be in the group, and if it wasn't for a necessity in the plot I doubt she'd have even had one female wolf.

Boy, I just realised how much rambling I did there. Sorry that comment's so essay like. I didn't really put all I meant to in my original, and also wanted to explain why I'm more inclined to see this as sexist in the context of Twilight than I may be from a different story. I know I got into a rant, I'm not ranting at anyone who disagrees or trying to put down other opinions (just wanted to make that clear since my comment seems like it's in full on rant mode, lol) and the people who disagree made really good points :)

I think everyone makes good points, but I agree with Cinders. I just thought that being were-shapeshifter-thing was genetically a male sort of thing, just like in popular werewolf mythology.

I think it is kind of ridiculous that the only were-whatever who is female (Leah) is very mean and unlikeable.

See, I never thought of it as sexist, but with SM, it may well be. We could see it as unitentional, but I could also see her doing it on purpose :P

Well, Mermaid-Tail you do make some good points. I wouldn't put it past SM to be subconsciously sexist - it does make sense and she obviously IS sexist in other areas of the book. It could very well be true. I'll just say at the point about female werewolf's not being able to have children, if you think about it I guess if you're pregnant and you change that's got to do damage to the baby. I doubt it could survive. But I honestly don't think she would think that far into it either. Biology? Please! Itz magick dummyzz! She doesn't seem to have much reasoning behind anything she writes so it probably is more likely that she's subconsiously sexist. But I guess we'll never know whether it's true unless she gets Psychoanalysed. That would be soooo interesting!

Leah is an annoying character but in Breaking Dawn Jacob and her manage to relate a bit which makes you think she's less of a bitch than we first thought. So SM redeems her character a little bit near the end. Unlike other characters who she condemns. *cough*Renesme*cough*

Originally, it was thought that only male Quileutes would carry on the gene, but then here comes Leah Clearwater, proving that in times of need, blah blah blah genes passing from the original pack, etc, etc, etc blah.

This answer still doesn't really fit me. lol

I'm with mermaid-tail on this one. It's a bunch of sexist shit. Another fine example of Steph telling all women that we're weak and can't do anything but rely on men...nice, thanks for setting women back a billion years.

I agree with both cinders and mermaid, i think you both have valid points that you have pointed across and i think you are both right in your absumptions of the Werewolves/Shapeshifters in Twilight Saga. To be honest i have never put too much thought into it, though i was curious as to why there are few powerful, independent werewolves in ANY series...but i guess we need to have a variety i suppose, though i love Ginger Snaps interperation of werewolves :)

I think she only made Leah a "werewolf" to create a tragic character because she read somewhere that all good stories have tragic characters. But if Leah carried the gene to become a wolf, then she should be able to carry the gene on. Taking away her ability to have children was sad and ridiculous. I hated what she did to Leah.

LEAH! and REALLY don't think there's any sexism in twilight

It's about as sexist as males being the only gender that can pass on a Y chromosome.

but there is female too- Leah

I would consider it sexist if being a shifter was a choice. It's not. Shifter don't make other shifters. They don't get to tick a box and become genetically mutated to become one. It's something that they can't chose, something that happens to them based on genetics.

Just like how only women go through a menstrual cycle and only women can get pregnant, and every other "only men/only women" genetic problems that exist today.

I don't think it's sexist, plenty of other stories/novels with similar biological guidelines (I guess you can call it :/).

I just don't like the idea that it's consistently the males with these type of abilities.

Vampire hybrids in the Twilight World won't be able to produce venom if female. Only the males possess venom and thus be able to change a human into a vampire.

Only the male vampires can reproduce with a female human and have a half-vampire child.

I mean, at least give the females something! >:(

When it's constant like that, this is where it begins to irk me. But it doesn't necessarily strike me as 'sexist'.

I just wish it explained why there's suddenly a female wolf (Leah) and if more girls would be likely to turn into wolves in future generations.