Editing Dracula (section)

=== Sexuality and gender ===
Sexuality and seduction are two of the novel's most frequently discussed themes,{{Sfnm|1a1=Kuzmanovic|1y=2009|1p=411|2a1=Stevenson|2y=1988|2p=139|3a1=Spencer|3y=1992|3p=197}} and modern critical writings about vampirism widely acknowledge its link to sex and sexuality.{{Sfn|Craft|1984|p=107}}{{Sfn|Roth|1997|p=412}} Across the novel's critical history, Miller writes that theorists have collectively argued that the Count breaks virtually "every Victorian taboo", including [[Casual sex|non-procreative sex]] (including [[fellatio]]), transgressive sexuality, homosexuality and bisexuality.{{Sfn|Miller|2001|p=220}}

[[Transgressive fiction|Transgressive]] or abnormal sexuality within ''Dracula'' is a broad topic. Some psychosexual critics focus on the [[Sexual inversion (sexology)|disruption]] of Victorian [[gender role]]s; within the Victorian context, Christopher Craft writes males had "the right and responsibility of vigorous appetite" while women were required to "suffer and be still".{{Sfn|Craft|1984|p=108}} Critics highlight the many places in which the novel disrupts these social mores: Jonathan Harker's excitement over the prospect of being penetrated;{{Sfn|Craft|1984|p=109}} Dracula's resulting anger and jealousy;{{Sfn|Nystrom|2009|p=64}} and Lucy's transformation into a sexually aggressive predator who drains "vital fluid".{{Sfn|Stevenson|1988|p=146}} Some critics, including professor [[Carol Senf]], argue that the novel reflects anxiety about female sexual awakening as a threat to established norms.{{Sfn|Senf|1982|p=44}}{{Sfn|Nystrom|2009|p=65}}

''Dracula'' contains no overt homosexual acts, but homosexuality and [[homoeroticism]] are elements discussed by critics.{{Sfn|Miller|2005a|p=43}} Christopher Craft argues that the primary threat Dracula poses is that he will "seduce, penetrate, [and] drain another male",{{Sfn|Craft|1984|p=110}} and reads Harker's excitement to submit as a proxy for "an implicitly homoerotic desire".{{Sfn|Craft|1984|p=110}} Victorian readers would have identified Dracula with sexual threat.{{Sfn|Punter|2012|p=283}} Some critics note that changes made to the 1899 American version of the text reinforce this subtext, wherein Dracula states he will feed on Harker.{{Sfn|Auerbach|Skal|1997|p=52}}{{Sfn|Miller|2005a|pp=167–168}} Critics have variously linked these themes to [[homoerotic]] letters Stoker wrote to [[Walt Whitman]], his friendship with [[Oscar Wilde]],{{Sfn|Schaffer|1994|pp=381–381}}{{Efn|While some write that Stoker started writing the novel after Wilde's [[Oscar Wilde#Imprisonment|imprisonment for homosexuality]] in 1895,{{Sfn|Schaffer|1994|p=381}} Stoker had been writing ''Dracula'' from as early as 1890.{{Sfn|Bierman|1977|p=40}}}} his intensely emotional relationship with Irving, and contemporary rumours of Stoker's almost [[sexless marriage]].{{Sfn|Schaffer|1994|pp=381–381}}{{Sfn|Glover|1996|p=1}}{{Sfn|Hindle|1993|pp=xxiii–xxx}} [[David J. Skal]] acknowledged the letters' subtext but cautioned against applying [[Anachronism|anachronistic]] modern sexual labels to Stoker.{{Sfn|Skal|2016|pp=92–99}}

Many critics have suggested that the novel reveals a "[[reactionary]] response" to the [[New Woman]] phenomenon.{{Sfn|Case|1993|p=224}} This is a late-Victorian term used to describe an emerging class of women with increased social and economic control over their lives.{{Sfn|Bordin|1993|p=2}}{{Sfn|Signorotti|1996|p=620}}{{Sfn|Miller|2005a|p=167}} Several critics describe the battle against Dracula as a fight for control over women's bodies.{{Sfn|Wasserman|1977|p=405}}{{Sfn|Stevenson|1988|p=139}} Senf suggests that Stoker was ambivalent about the New Woman phenomenon,{{Sfn|Senf|1982|p=34}} while Signorroti argues that the novel's discomfort with female sexual autonomy reflects Stoker's dislike for the movement.{{Sfn|Signorotti|1996|p=620}} Both Lucy and Mina have characteristics associated with the New Woman;{{Sfn|Nystrom|2009|pp=66–67}}{{Efn|Allison Case writes that Lucy is "ambiguously linked" to the concept through her "sexual assertiveness", while Mina is connected to the idea through her professional occupation and skills.{{Sfn|Case|1993|p=225}}}} Mina, who plays an important role in Dracula's defeat, repeatedly expresses contempt for the concept.{{Sfn|Signorotti|1996|pp=625–626}}{{Sfn|Senf|1982|p=34}} Senf notes that Lucy is punished for expressing dissatisfaction with her social position as a woman. After her transformation into a vampire, her defeat by the vampire hunters symbolises the re-establishment of "male supremacy".{{Sfn|Senf|1982|pp=44–45}}