Stephanie Meyer just made my list.

If I have to save one more fourteen-year-old girl from a four hundred-year-old vampire I think I'm going to have to do something terrible to the woman. I mean, it's always been bad. Ever since Interview With a Vampire, this cultural image of vampires as sex gods has become worse and worse.

People used to be afraid of the bloodsucking freaks. Then they thought, "Well, they're monsters, but they're less scary when they're channeling their inner beast into being sensual and passionate." (Damn you Anne Rice!) That was something that could be dealt with. People still knew they were monsters. Now the popular image is something along the lines of a "sparkly twenty-something cute vegetarian boy with pale skin". Oh yeah, and statutory rape laws don't apply to them.

Our old legends and stories existed to protect the people who had never met one face-to-face. Now they're just saying "It's okay to play with fire. It can't burn you; it just wants to sexually pleasure you!"

And people believe it.