On Romance novels and health

[dancerjodi]

A very interesting perspective! Romance novels aren't doing anything to help sexual health: http://commonhealth.wbur.org/2011/07/romance-novels-health/ .

Not being a reader of these I'm not invested in either viewpoint. Sometimes, I know you need to read some fluff. Since I know some of my friends are huge readers of romance books, what do you think?

Comments

[roaming.livejournal.com]

I don't read them anymore -- actually I don't read much of anything anymore, book wise, too ADD'd lately, but I'm speculatively eyeing the massive tomes that are the Game of Thrones series I recently bought. . .

I think romance novels can be just girls having fun, or insidious, depending on the girls/women, where they are in their lives, maturity level, etc. I loved them for the escapist entertainment of them. I also preferred ones that had some real historical history in them and weren't just place-keepers for the next torrid sex scene. (And the moment the words "he rained burning kisses down the soft white column of her throat. . . " I threw the book against the wall. No raining, no burning, no breasts straining against the thin material of chemises/burning members straining against loincloths. If you can't come up with something less cliched, stop writing! I stop reading.)

That being said, reading them in my 20s and 30s did mean that I had a list of what I wanted in an ideal partner. That no one ever could live up to. (Nevermind that I myself probably was not living up to any of my boyfriends' list of ideals either.) Eventually I grew up enough to know when to tear up that list, and write another one to fit the real person standing in front of me offering love, not fantasy.