By: Emily Shields, Summer Graduate Program Coordinator
Many of us just returned to work after a long weekend, hopefully, full of relaxation, good food, and fun. While some traveled this weekend, I stayed home in my East Lansing apartment and tore through four different books. Truthfully, that’s what most of my weekends have looked like this summer. So far this year, I have read 57 books of my 100 book goal. To me, that is quite an accomplishment considering I also have a job and school to balance, but according to a conversation I’ve seen floating around Twitter, some people might not consider these books to be “real books.”
Why is that? Because the vast majority of these 57 books would be considered romance novels.
Right now, you may be playing a quick game of word association and visualizing a Fabio look-alike in a billowing white shirt, but the genre is incredibly diverse. From sweeping historical dramas to extraterrestrial sci-fi novels to chick-flick-esque contemporary romances to murder-mystery thrillers, there is a niche for nearly everyone in the romance genre. However, despite the fact that romance is a $1 billion dollar industry, it’s not taken seriously. The problem? I suspect misogyny.
According to Romance Writers of America, 84% of romance readers are women and 35% of readers have been reading in the genre for 20 years or more. Romance is a genre about women for women by women, and it is thriving. Not only are women voraciously reading romance novels, but they are also organizing entire communities around the fictional worlds they love. I am in three different Facebook groups— all with thousands of members focusing on the works of specific authors. My friends and I share new book recommendations pretty much every week gushing over whatever we just finished. And social media platforms have sub-communities like TikTok’s “Booktok” where users with tens of thousands of followers analyze books, highlight emerging authors, and more. I can’t go more than four videos on TikTok without coming across a book recommendation that I immediately add to my “to read” list.
To me and many other romance readers, romance novels in all their iterations are about women taking charge of their narratives and how they navigating the world. The connotation of “real books” suggests that books discussing something as frivolous as love may not critically engage with the world around them. Yet, many books in Romancelandia challenge norms around sex, identity, community, gender, race, and what it means to love in spite of the world telling you you may not matter. Not every romance novel is a “bodice ripper,” but erotica and other forms of romance novels also give women the autonomy to reclaim and freely discuss their sexuality and pleasure. For all the wonderful acts of reclamation that occur in Romancelandia, it is not immune to the -isms found in the world. The Romance world can be very white and very heteronormative, but there are many people working to address racism in the community and highlight the work of BIPOC and Queer authors. The Ripped Bodice, a queer-owned Romance-focused book store in LA, has been tracking the State of Racial Diversity in Romance Publishing since 2016.
All 57 books I’ve read so far this year were written by women. They have made me happy because they remind me of the power of love, connection, and emotion in a world that often acts indifferent to the feelings of the people in it. So today, I’m telling you it’s okay to read for fun. It’s okay to read something that makes you happy simply because you deserve to be happy. And who knows, maybe once you read a few romance novels you’ll decide to write some yourself. After all, even Stacy Abrams, romance novelist and political powerhouse, celebrates the power of reading and writing romance novels.
Lastly, I can’t spend an essay talking about the power of community in Romancelandia and not give you all the opportunity to share your recommendations. I am also shameless in my quest for new romance novels of all kinds, so submit your recommendations (anonymous or not) here!
Interested in sharing your own "Thought Of The Day" or TOTD? Email us at wss@msu.edu.
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