I don’t know if you have read the Twilight series but,  I can almost guarantee you know a teenage girl that has. It’s a sensation. It’s has become an iconic novel of teenage love that little girls everywhere are hoping to emulate.

Here’s what you don’t know if you haven’t read this series—it sends a seriously screwed up message to teenage girls. Bella, the main character, is a dysfunctional teenage girl with no self esteem and a thing for the most inappropriate boyfriend she could find. I think one of the worst moments in this series comes when she says that this man is the reason for her coming to town to live- no mention of  her dad or her mom- just him.

Edward is 108 years old— enough to be her dead great-grandfather— what does he see in a seventeen year old girl? Ewwwww! He stalks her, hangs out in her bedroom at night and when he isn’t doing that he’s out in the forest killing animals and drinking the blood.  This is all billed as being romantic. It starts in the first book and gets more and more dysfunctional from there. By the forth book is just plain weird.

Edward is a shallow controlling KILLER. Bella needs therapy.

We need to read the books our daughters (or in my case nieces) are reading and then discuss. This is the perfect opportunity to discuss boundaries with boys-self respect-expectations and goals.