Stephanie Meyer has capitalized on the one niche that Disney and women’s romance novels left open: the hunger for teen girls (and their mothers) for a safe place to explore the wonder and excitement of their own sexuality.

Mature (and by this, I am not referring to age, but personal emotional and spiritual evolution) adults see sexuality as a connected and spiritual part of a whole. There is no requirement that makes it necessary for men to view sexuality through a mature, adult lens. On the contrary; men all over the world have easy access to prostitution, porn magazines and videos, strip clubs, and the constant validation of objectified, dismembered images of women’s bodies in mainstream media. This renders Edward’s protection and adoration not only swoon-worthy, but an absolute craving–verging on obsession–for women, young and old alike.

And until things change in our world, the kind of safe, protected, innocent spaces that Disney and Edward Cullen provide will remain myths and fantasies that earn the creators — Walt Disney, Stephanie Meyer, et al — many joyful trips to the bank. And phenomenon like purity balls will not only continue to exist, but will be upheld and staunchly defended by those they most subjugate.