@idesofmarge: I SHOULD HAVE JUST SAID MISOGYNY, NOT SPECIFICALLY INTERNALIZED THOUGH THAT ALSO APPLIES just making myself more upset the more I think about why people specifically men are so upset about the prevalence of the romance genre in the market. No one is making you read it and there are plenty of options for you if you don’t want to read it. You just don’t like that the ecosystem that the patriarchy set up for you doesn’t cater to you anymore. #romancebooktok #romancewriter #BookTok #romancereader

CreatingBooks&Pulsars 📚🏳️‍🌈 :

Anything that is predominantly women oriented gets accused of either ruining industries or somehow “lesser” science. Biology it happens with too. As more and more women went into biology, the more male dominated sciences like physics began to act like biochemistry was somehow easier. Romance is predominantly consumed by women so somehow it’s “lesser” literature. And even though I’m not a huge romance fan, I enjoy romance a lot but more as a side plot, fact is there are TONS of women and girls who actively separate themselves from anything romance because they don’t want to be seen as “those girls” and it’s so disheartening to see

Lucid Dreams Glass :

I mean the boys aren’t even reading books so who cares what they think. I’ll keep reading my spice 😏

cielingsandpopcorn :

im a woman and I just don't like most of these romance books posted on here. :/. i find books that aren't focused on romance but DO have a romance subplot (maybe not even a subplot but like background I guess?) BETTER than books whose entire hook (or how they're advertised by authors on here) is romance. These books that are romance first always seem to just want to race to the juicy bits at the expense of character development and i find that I just don't give a damn about the romance if I don't care about thr characters in the first place. Yet most romantasy books on here are advertised with tropes first. (like "queen x knight" or something which doesn't tell me anything else about the book) and I guess I'm just tired of it taking over. Especially considering book shops like Barnes & nobles see that it's popular on here and cater to that. 😭

Haylie the Mage 🍄 :

Media that has a male protagonist is seen as universal. Female protagonists are immediately only for women and also probably makes it a romance and not, say, a fantasy or action or historical fiction.

furtadocatarina :

not only do they hate that it's a genre mostly made and consumed by women, but they particularly use the argument that its just explicit stuff. it's not but even it if was, it's not the explicit stuff they hate, it's the fact that most of it is consentual. these are the same people that defend force and abuse scenes towards female characters saying they're important and should be on the plot, but somehow when it's consentual scene that primarily focuses on the female character then it's inappropriate

Paradox :

Romance as a concept is men giving and women receiving. So of course women like romance. The whole idea is just “wait around and get free stuff”. If women had to be romantic the way men are they’d hate it.

KMFAO :

this conversation reminds me of studies reguarding how much men think women dominate a conversation versus the reality. women have gone from about 20% of authorship in the 1900's to about half, and to a lot of men, that feels like domination of the industry because they aren't used to having us take up equal space. same thing is happening in comics right now.

MARJORIE•Write Better Romance :

I said internalized misogyny but meant capital M Misogyny…though internalized misogyny plays a part in this conversation too

Lola Walker 📚 Author :

God forbid women can enjoy anything 🙄

Kristen Szenics :

They hate when we have hobbies we love!!

tsubasa0_8 :

The word "romance" wasn't born misogynistic, but the genre was devalued when it became associated with women. Stories about feelings, relationships, and everyday life were treated as "lesser," while traditionally masculine themes continued to be seen as serious literature. It's not the romance that is inferior; it's sexism that defined what deserves prestige.

The Archivist 👁️ :

This same moral panic happened in the late 1700s to early 1800s about women reading Gothic literature btw ✌️

Angelique Prince Writes :

It baffles me how profitable romance is. Like it’s holding up publishing but it doesn’t get the recognition it deserves.

𝔎𝔩𝔞 :

It’s always capitalism’s fault but a lot of people don’t want to have that conversation

CoochieCola :

ngl I can't relate to this discourse cause I stopped listening to book recs by white women on Booktok. I realised then I don't actually Hate reading and everyone is ignoring the race aspect 😭 want better romance? read diverse romamce instead of the same book in different fonts as people are complaining about

Syc :

anyone who thinks romance novels aren't real books and that it doesn't count as reading just doesn't like women

Author CB Woods ✍️✨ :

the actual issue is capitalism and what system thrives on it… oh… patriarchy right. but no blame the women!! 😅

Author RAGasparac :

✨️Estelle_Writer✨️ :

They need to just stay in their lane 🙄 If you're not gonna read it, don't speak on it

RatKing :

from the perspective of a life long horror lover, these issues with quality happen across multiple genres. it is a literature/media/capitalism issue that is yet again being blamed on women

kirthi ✨ :

These stories have always existed, women now have a platform we can share and exchange that happiness with. We have community

🍃Vee🍃 :

I used to dislike romance purely on the basis that I kept reading sci-fi or fantasy books that had love triangles shoved in them and I got *mad.* 😂 I wrote off the whole genre for a few years until I started reading them!!! they're fun books.

Gabe Itch :

Like.. just don’t read romance if you don’t like it. Why is there an expectation that publishers and readers should exclude an entire genre just because you don’t like it? Also, love and romance are central themes of art across all mediums and cultures. Why wouldn’t books also reflect that? It has everything to do with romance being a woman centered genre.

Laura.Likes.Books💜 :

I could like this video a million times 💯💯💯

glacial_waltz 🦌🫀 :

me as a guy when i read a book thinking it was gunna be a sweet love story (IT WAS NOT)