Romance Novels Can Be As Addictive As Pornography

ksl.com:

Romance novels are a booming business. Analysts believe book sales are increasing because romance novels provide a perfect escape during tough times.

Read the whole story: ksl.com

Comments

[Logansama]

03:19 PM on 07/09/2011

This is the same war on women and romance novels that the LDS church was waging when I was a teenager many years ago. Nothing new, just more recycled guilt to keep Mormon women in their unhappy marriages.

[Erewhon7]

09:54 PM on 06/01/2011

Jujune article about nothing. Shame.

[brijit]

06:56 PM on 06/01/2011

OK, I'm willing to admit that there may be some people addicted to romance novels. After all, according to the My Strange Addiction show on the TLC cable channel, some people are addicted to sleeping with their hair dryers and eating laundry detergent. What does seem to be disturbing is that that the author of this article seems to have a conflict of interest here in that she has a company which profits from "life coaching" and discovering new groups of people who might be convinced that they need her services is to her benefit.

[Pumpsie]

05:58 PM on 06/01/2011

Romance novels are porn for women. Everyone knows this. It's fantasy-fulfillment, just like male porn is. But, the problem with this country isn't that there's too much porn, it's that there are way too many judgmental Puritans. Sexual repression has to be released somewhere. If everyone had a healthy attitude towards sex, people wouldn't need porn of any kind. But we don't, in spades, so porn is a big, big business. What's there to figure out?

[lensman3]

12:22 PM on 06/01/2011

Harlequin's with a red cover are "red hot" and are soft porn. The Harlequin's with a blue cover are boring. Usually about 1/2 way through the book is a good sex scene where somebody gets "laved".

There are religious romance novels by Harlequin where you might be lucky if the heroine gets a single chaste kiss in the entire book. These even have questions at the end of the book that can be asked in a book club.

The last I heard about 40% of the book market was romance, so if you want to be an author write romance!!! After all, the genre is about relationships. There are a few high maintenance characters in some of the books that you want to reach in to the story and "slap" them.

From an old-white-guy whose wife loaned him one about 10 years ago. They are mind candy and can be read in about two plus hours..

[MarcEdward]

10:26 AM on 06/01/2011

Romance novels are a booming business? Who knew? Oh, I did, 40 years ago. Way to stay current!

[TheParson]

10:06 AM on 06/01/2011

This is just as ridiculous as saying porn is addictive. Please get rid of the new American Puritans.

[raven119]

07:18 AM on 06/01/2011

Hooey. Balderdash. Flimflam. Are you really serious by posting this drivel?

[sunflwer1975]

02:38 AM on 06/01/2011

When I get tired of the same old plot in romance I go to a different genre. Not all of these romance books have hot and heavy sex, more than a few have 1 sex scene. I think this an attack on women and sex in general.

[MSvairini]

04:42 PM on 05/31/2011

"Analysts believe..." Um, sure, if by "analysts" you mean "Mormons." Wonder why HuffPo bothered with this? Everyone, go read the #romancekills Twitter response instead. :)

[Francisco The Man]

12:48 PM on 05/31/2011

This article is without factual merit. Its steeped in LDS "family values" propaganda, yet its being presented here on Huffington Post as a legitimate news article. Frankly, its sexist overtones are offensive to me. Shameful.

[Sharon Norris]

12:21 PM on 05/31/2011

The more sensual ones are light porn, but for women, which means that there is usually a personal relationship element between the characters, and they must be likeable to the reader. After all, to women, generally, conversation is highly seductive...Not the same slam, bam, thank you whatever your name is that male porn seems to consist of, obsessed with mechanics.

[markdf]

12:04 PM on 05/31/2011

Another "article" that's a thinly veiled advertisement for someone's services---and, in this case, with a religion twist.

I got bored googling "LDS Life Coaching," the article writer's company. Basically, it looks like become a better person the Mormon way (that's LDS). Of course men are nasty sexual beings driven by chemicals but women are emotional beings driven by, um, emotions.

Dopamine is produced in the brain by pretty much ANY activity humans find satisfying in some way. I guess if your "life coaching" is predicated on telling people what they should like or do instead of what an individual chooses, you should really call it what it is--religious teaching.

[SF TKF]

11:12 AM on 05/31/2011

You have got to be effing kidding me! I’d like to see some actual studies to back up this person’s assertions.

[B from B]

12:41 PM on 05/31/2011

Why don't you e-mail the author and request them?

[SF TKF]

01:59 PM on 05/31/2011

I did.

[GraceNotes]

11:08 AM on 05/31/2011

This article seems to be rather limited in scope. I know the author is not only referring to historical romances, or the "bodice-ripper" variety, but there are a number of modern romance novels which set women up for unrealistic expectations in their relationships.
All that aside, as a librarian I try to reserve judgement for only those books I have read myself. The first commandment of librarians should be, "Thou shalt not criticize what somebody else chooses to read."

[SF TKF]

11:14 AM on 05/31/2011

What "unrealistic" expectations would those be? Being treated well? Having your needs and desires considered by your partner? I've never understood why any woman would settle for anything less.