The correlation between vampires and sexuality is a relatively modern thing. Stories of vampires have been around for many, many hundreds of years, originating in Eastern Europe and The Balkans. The modern romanticized interpretations of vampires bare nothing in common with how they were originally envisioned. Prior to the early 19th Century, vampires of legend and myth were described as hideous creatures of the night - basically reanimated corpses with savage beast-like qualities. Kinda like the zombies of their day but faster and more agile. However by the early 19th Century, authors like John William Polidori, Bram Stoker and others thoroughly reinvented the popular image of vampires. Vampires were given human like qualities. They were romantic and sensuous. They were elegant, sophisticated, and intelligent. They were members of aristocracy and lived in castles and mansions. The males were strikingly handsome and suave. The females were very beautiful and enchanting. They use their beauty, charm, and hypnotic powers to lull their victims. When preying on a victim of the opposite sex, they drain the life from them like they were making love. That image has since been reinforced into the public imagination starting with films in the early 20th Century and continuing into the 21st Century.
As for Kate, I guess she is never given much opportunity to play up the sexy lady vampire card in Underworld. Her character, Selene is simply too busy fighting - whether for herself, her lover, her daughter, and her clan. Most of her fellow vampires live a dull hedonistic existence. For them, sex, lavish entertainment, grand parties, and gossip is how they pass their days away. But Selene is first and foremost a warrior, possibly the greatest of her kind, always in a state of war. It's her raison d'etre. She oozes violence from her pores. Her clothes - a skintight catsuit and corsette resembling a dominatrix's outfit - evokes images of S&M. So even her sensuality is intermixed with the ideas of violence and pain.
When I'm good, I'm GOOD. When I'm bad, I'm BETTER.
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