Werewolf gender issues

Nesacat

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Curiosity was framed. Ignorance killed the cat.
I was talking about werewolves and vampires with a friend over the weekend, as one is wont to do when sitting out on a balcony under a full moon eating greasy burgers. There are many, many female vampires and tales about them but you hardly ever hear about female werewolves.

They seem to appear in smaller roles in stories. The one that immediately comes to mind is Discworld's Angua. And Teresa mentioned a tale where a female vampire first assumes the form of a wolf before she is strong enough to just be a vampire. I also read one short story where a girl is unaware that she is a werewolf and is killed in the end.

But I really cannot think of any novels or movies where the main protagonist was a werewolf and female. Does anyone know of any and if not; does anyone have any idea why?
 
Well, Nesa, aside from the story you introduced me to lo, these many moons ago... *ahem*:eek: ... here's a little of what I've found:

Kelley Armstrong - Bitten - Building the Imperfect Beast

There's also Clemence Houseman's "The Were-Wolf", and "The White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains", from The Phantom Ship, by Capt. Frederick Marryat, and Lila the Werewolf, by Peter S. Beagle.

A book you might want to seek out is Bill Pronzini's anthology, Werewolf! A Chrestomathy of Lycanthropy, one of a series of books he did on various supernatural creatures over the years; each has a pretty wide spread of stories, from classics to modern renditions to possible sf interpretations, and some pretty informative introductions and bibliographies for further reading.
 
I myself have never read this book, but my sister who loves werewolves and vampire stories has. Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause. Although my sister is eager to see the film, she said she can tell it is a far cry from the book. I'm still trying to think if there are any others I can think of. I'll let you know.
 
I've been hearing quite a bit about Blood & Chocolate lately though I'll admit that it's mostly about the film. I would be interested in knowing more about the book though. Thank you.

I have read Peter Beagle's Lila but not anything by Pronzini I'm afraid. I guess I'm pretty curious about why all the 'famed' werewolves appear to be men? I'd been wondering if it was actually something genetic?
 
I'm sure I've read plenty of older stories with female werewolves, but besides the Houseman and the Marryat that J.D mentioned, and "The Tomb of Sarah," which I think is the one you are referring to with the werewolf/vampire, none of them are leaping (snarling) to mind at the moment.

I don't read much in the way of modern horror, so I'm coming up short there, too. All I can think of is "Lila," and a book by Tanith Lee, Lycanthia which has a family of werewolves, and a short story, also by Lee, called "Wolfland" which is a bit of a reversal on Little Red Riding Hood.
 
Occasionally I've run into references (as with that link provided above) that it's something that can be passed on from father to son; but I've yet to come across any older folkloric source for this, only modern things, which are as likely to take their cues from movies as not.
 
Hi Nesa:

Feminine werewolves as a main character in fiction . . . . Well, off the top of my head there's Harlan Ellison's short story entitled Footsteps found in his short story anthology, Angry Candy. It comes with my highest recommendation and nothing more . . . . I don't wish to spoil the tale for you!
 
"Footsteps"! Damn! Yes, I'd forgotten about that one... been too long since I read Angry Candy. Good suggestion, Curt!;)
 
It's been a while since I've seen that book on the store shelves . . . . 1988 or 89 I believe. Yes, a truly great read - even if you aren't stalking beautiful female werewolves on the streets of Paris!
 
Curt ... I'd forgotten that too. It has been many years since I read Angry Candy and hopefully it's one of the books I still have in storage and not one that 'vanished' sometime during my marriage. It was one of my favourite books.

Tomb of Sarah was the tale indeed Teresa and thanks for pointing me towards Lycanthia. I think I read Lila a long, long time ago as well.

So it's likely not a genetic tendency then that only males become werewolves. Though like Teresa I've not seen anything contemporary.




 
Poking around the internet I came up with this (I vastly prefer books to the internet for research, because misinformation gets passed around so quickly from website to website. But as this does cite a book for reference, it's probably genuine folklore):

There are women, so the Armenian belief runs, who in consequence of deadly sins are condemned to pass seven years in the form of a wolf.{The Fables of Mkhitar Gosh (New York, 1987), translated with an introduction by R. Bedrosian, edited by Elise Antreassian and illustrated by Anahid Janjigian} A spirit comes to such a woman and brings her a wolf's skin. He orders her to put it on, and no sooner has she done this than the most frightful wolfish cravings make their appearance and soon get the upper hand. Her better nature conquered, she makes a meal of her own children, one by one, then of her relatives' children according to the degree of relationship, and finally the children of strangers begin to fall as prey to her. She wanders forth only at night, and doors and locks spring open at her approach. When morning draws near she returns to human form and removes her wolf skin.
 
Thank you Teresa. This is totally new. So she has to become a wolf every single night for seven years? A terrible form of punishment indeed for a sin.

Another thing I've been wondering about is this .... Is it necessary for the werewolf to kill and devour a human? Unlike the vampire, the wolf does not seem to need human blood/flesh to survive. If there is a need to kill during the transformation would an animal do?

In Stephen King's Cycle of The Werewolf ... the man slowly comes to realise that it is he who becomes the beast and begins to relish the power it brings, even the killing.

But Teresa's Armenian wolf on the other hand is being punished and seems somehow compelled to kill starting with her own family. Now that's a new spin on things since here the killing seems to move outwards following a pattern of how close the ties of the wolf to the victim are.
 
I knew there were stories I was forgetting, and one just surfaced.

The Grey Wolf by George MacDonald.
 
The Armenian tale is very fascinating since it seems to overturn the more widely known ideas about werewolves. Here the condition is not genetic and neither was she bitten by a wolf.

It's some kind of divine retribution even to the point of having doors open. It seems to be a punishment that far outweighs anything she might have done wrong.

I wonder is she realises what she becomes at night since in this case she needs to actually do something - wear a skin - to change. It's like those legends of the selkies.
 
Here's another you might want to take a look at, Nesa:

Fictionwise eBooks: By the Light of the Full Moon: 20 Classic Werewolf Stories by G. W. Thomas

And Stevenson's "Olalla", listed here, would also fit the bill.

These may interest you, as well:

Werewolves Research: Books | Paranormal Research Topic

Werewolves!

I know you've got the Frost, but you've never mentioned the other two listed here.

As far as film versions go, there are a couple listed here you might want to look up:

Werewolves

I'd forgotten about the one in Dr. Terror's House of Horrors. Neat little anthology film, that.
 
Hmmm. I'm not so sure about "Olalla."

Just what the curse is in that one is open to interpretation. There doesn't seem to be an actual physical transformation -- so if it is lycanthropy it would be in the sense of a mental disease, or a wolf inside the skin.
 
Remember the film Wolf? Jack Nicholson and Michelle Pfeiffer were a fabulous pair. Love the ending.
 
What about this whole killing of human beings? Is that also necessary? I know that there are some cases where the werewolf begins with attacks on lifestock and then progresses to humans. So would that imply that human blood/flesh was somehow a necessity?

And what about people who suffer from lycantrophy? Are they also driven by some impulse to kill people?
 
Well, Nesa... My understanding of it is that, with the historical cases of lycanthropy, it usually does mean pretty savage behavior, including murder and often cannibalism. I know there are several cases of trials of "daemoniacs" who were supposed to be werewolves; one of the most famous, in fact, inspired some of the details in Lovecraft's "The Shunned House", though that particular person was shut in a madhouse rather than executed.
 

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