Part of the reason for my recent binge/obsession with romance novels - is the gender politics. No where is it more evident than there. And how the women writers view it, how ingrained the sexism is. How they struggle with male domination and male brutality. It's in some bizarre way, as in Mad Men, far more realistically conveyed in the romance novels, than it is in tales like Buffy or GWDT or La Femme Nikita.
I don't understand why our society is afraid of sex and nudity but embraces violence, killing, torture and fighting wholeheartedly. The reviews on Good Reads regarding romance novels are enlightening...the women can't deal with graphic sex scenes...but a bloody murder mystery? No problem.
And sex has been used to demean and debase and exploit...so often. Which is the reason why people struggle with it.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2012-06-07 09:23 pm (UTC)Part of the reason for my recent binge/obsession with romance novels - is the gender politics. No where is it more evident than there. And how the women writers view it, how ingrained the sexism is. How they struggle with male domination and male brutality. It's in some bizarre way, as in Mad Men, far more realistically conveyed in the romance novels, than it is in tales like Buffy or GWDT or La Femme Nikita.
I don't understand why our society is afraid of sex and nudity but embraces violence, killing, torture and fighting wholeheartedly. The reviews on Good Reads regarding romance novels are enlightening...the women can't deal with graphic sex scenes...but a bloody murder mystery?
No problem.
And sex has been used to demean and debase and exploit...so often.
Which is the reason why people struggle with it.