Monthly Archives: Apr 2012

Feminist values in romance fiction

Earlier this month I wrote a guest post for the Australia Women Writers Challenge blog discussing whether or not romance fiction is inherently feminist. Here’s an excerpt:

When we consider what romance fiction brings to feminism, it’s not enough to talk about what we as individuals get out of romance fiction or how we interpret this book or that. Knowing the genre’s popularity among female readers, we should also be asking: How do women read romance and why do they love these books so much? Only then, I think, will we have a better understanding of the genre’s importance and influence in women’s lives.
If you’re a romance reader, a romance non-reader or simply curious why people love these books so much, I’d love to know what you think.