I work at a book store and sometimes I shelve books in the romance section. I noticed that a fair amount of romance books are about a woman getting kidnapped and then falling for her ‘noble’ captor. What is wrong with women that they would find this appealing? Why do some women seem to want to fantasize about suffering from what is basically Stockholm Syndrome? That seems pretty messed up.
I know – it’s really sick!
I remember when I was a young teenager or even a preteen I read one of my (much) older sister’s "historical romances".
It was about some 18th century chick getting locked in a cabin in the mountains for about a month by some older man she didn’t know and didn’t even see because he wore a mask!!!
But somehow it was all okay, because it was part of some amusing peasant ritual.
I had nightmares about it for weeks, and I could never understand how my sister found it romantic.
I still don’t!!!!
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March 29th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
Authors are men?
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March 29th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
In general, it is a pretty messed up ideal. You will also notice that the "kidnappers" are usually not the stereotypically "bad" men but men forced to take the woman in order to "save her from ‘truly’ bad men, trying to subvert a war, to hold over her father’s head so that he won’t do whatever it is the kidnapper doesn’t want him to do (usually with the father being some sort of bad-guy wannabe who is going to do something stupid).
In essence, these books create a dichotomy where the badness of the men’s actions is overshadowed by the good they are attempting to do…b*llsh*t. I’m all for subverting wars and stopping people from whatever craziness they are attempting to create, but you don’t have to kidnap an adult woman to do so.
There is little that is so "alpha-male" as the ability to "manhandle" a woman and "force" her into whatever position you wish her to be in…misandonistic crap. The horror stories I could tell you from having read way too many bodice-rippers before I figured out that romance = I will love you till the day I die provided you do exactly what I want you to do ever moment of your life.
EDIT:
To the poster above me…actually, it has been proven that the vast majority of "romance" authors are men using pseudonyms, as they don’t believe that it reflects well on their masculinity to admit they write bodice-rippers.
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Choices are easy to make, even the most difficult of choices is made in the span of a heartbeat. It is coming to terms with the results of these choices which can take a very long time, indeed.
March 29th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
In a world of two global wars gone by, many wars between and crime at a staggering rate, this to many may seem to be a welcoming adventure into the realm of the beauty who "tames" the beast with her womanly charms and trances. These are rarely what actually occurs as many women find out (bad boy syndrome), the hard way. They seem to be under the disillusion that they posses such entrancing feminine powers to overcome and change the beast in any. As a result, the disappointment withers into hatred and evolves into the catastrophe we today now know as "feminism".
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March 29th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
haha, I’m reading a book right now about that!!!! It’s called Perfect, I am loving it! I don’t AT ALL have fantasies about being kidnapped and falling for the guy though, it’s just a good juicy book, and it’s FAR from reality, maybe that’s it we like reading about things that could seem real, but never would be….
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March 29th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
I agree with Lunatic. Another example is women who marry professional Athletes like MJ of Alex Rodriguez. Every man I know agrees that no professional male athlete would remain faithful to his wife. Yet women continue to think in their overoptimistic wisdom that they are the one that will tame the beast. He will love me and only me.
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March 29th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
Romance novels are complete fantasy and fiction. They are mostly written by women. Women who read them know that this stuff doesn’t happen the same way in real life. It might not seem like they know it’s camp, but they know.
It is fantasy about romance that has nothing to do with the actual way romance plays out.
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March 29th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
I know – it’s really sick!
I remember when I was a young teenager or even a preteen I read one of my (much) older sister’s "historical romances".
It was about some 18th century chick getting locked in a cabin in the mountains for about a month by some older man she didn’t know and didn’t even see because he wore a mask!!!
But somehow it was all okay, because it was part of some amusing peasant ritual.
I had nightmares about it for weeks, and I could never understand how my sister found it romantic.
I still don’t!!!!
References :