Jayashree

• In its long history, it has been regularly characterised as “trashy”: a sort of sentimental junk food for the brain.
• But what actually is romance fiction?
• These articles regularly perpetuate a set of myths about romance fiction.

• Some of these myths are small and a bit silly: Fabio, for instance, is often invoked, despite the fact he stopped modelling for romance covers in 1993.
• So, in honour of Valentine’s Day, as president (Jayashree) and vice president (Jodi) of the International Association for the Study of Popular Romance, we have taken it upon ourselves to debunk five of the most common myths about romance fiction.

1. Romance novels are all the same

• One of the most frequently iterated ideas about romance is that it is formulaic – if you’ve read one romance, you’ve read them all, because they’re essentially all identical.
• Just as we expect a crime novel to feature a crime and a resolution (we find out whodunnit), we expect a romance novel to feature a romance and a resolution (we see the protagonists in a committed romantic relationship).

• This is intensified by the fact romance is an umbrella genre, encompassing an enormous amount of subgenres.
• The story worlds in which romance plots take place are incredibly varied, as are the characters who inhabit them.
• To illustrate this through example: A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske, The Matchmaker by Saman Shad and Flesh by Kylie Scott are all romance novels by Australian authors.

2. Romance readers read indiscriminately

• Just like all romance novels are assumed to be the same, so are all romance readers.
• This also lies at the heart of romance’s bad reputation: the idea that readers are passively imbibing but not actively engaging with what they read.
• However, even just dipping a toe into romance book culture will reveal that neither books, readers, nor readers’ opinions on books are identical.
• As Kim Wilkins and Beth Driscoll note, romance is an “innovative and uncontrollable” genre, and this is one of the key reasons why: “The dynamism of romance fiction is intimately linked with its engaged readers”.

3. Romance novels are all about sex

• It is true that the commercial romance novel doesn’t shy away from sexy times.
• Some readers use terms like “clean” and “dirty” to describe the level and intensity of sex scenes.
• On the opposite end of the sexuality spectrum, some novels explicitly identify their protagonists as not experiencing sexual desire at all.
• Read more:
  Shopping, showjumping and a notorious goldfish sex scene: the bonkers world of the bonkbuster

4. Romance is anti-feminist / romance is feminist

• But while some insist that romance novels are a tool of the patriarchy and others prefer to term the genre feminist for its focus on female desires, the truth has, well, many shades of grey.
• If we define feminism as the principle of equality and equal opportunity in personal, professional, legal, and political arenas, romance novels are no more wholly anti-feminist or wholly feminist than any other art form or community.
• Read more:
  'Something that happens in fiction': romance writer Susan Meachen's fake death reminds us 'the author' is a construct

5. Romance was nothing until TikTok

• Or there’s a TV adaptation of an old romance series.
• Or it’s the rise of a novel to bestseller status because it gathered steam on a fan-fiction site or another app.
• Reader, the rumours of the birth of romance are a bit behind the times.
• Romance novels take on new ideas and new forms every few years, always building on earlier works and networks.

Jodi McAlister is the Vice President of the International Association for the Study of Popular Romance. Jayashree Kamblé serves as the current President of the International Association for the Study of Popular Romance.