Kara > Status Update

I'm in general really sick of the Reverse harem trend. I can't root for more than one hero at the time

I like the idea of reverse harems because they ostensibly subvert the trope of males having dominion over females. But of course, these female authors steeped in internalized misogyny have managed to turn the idea on its head and make the female submissive to multiple males. I’m just so damn tired of the sexist bullshit that is rampant in romance.

Kara wrote: "I like the idea of reverse harems because they ostensibly subvert the trope of males having dominion over females. But of course, these female authors steeped in internalized misogyny have managed ..."

I see your point, but I don't believe in "subverting" and "reversing". It's like saying "men do that, let's women do that as well" I love twilight because traditionally, it has always been about female chastity and female loyalty to a male (like Penelope who waited forever for her man) but in Twilight it was about CHASTITY FOR both males and females and FAITHFULNESS FOR both male and females. Male Domination over females can be sexy when well presented (promise of fire, easy, the v girl, transcendence) and Female Dominion over males can be sexy too (archer's voice, it was Ree who was in control or puddle jumping), but I don't believe in reversing roles. Having more than one partner should be treated in the same way for males and females. If it's wrong, it's wrong for everyone. if it's good it's good for everyone disregarding the genre. If we're going to accept Reverse Harem then we should accept traditional harems. I'm not ready to do that. So the bully romance is for me the least of my concerns. I avoid TSTL romances anyway and bully romance usually comes with a TSTL heroine. It's cheating that really disgusts me.

Also the book market is ruled by law of supply and demand. The most mysognistic "romance" books always outsell the feminist ones because romance by nature, it's rooted in traditional gender roles. When I think about the sexy romances with positive female representation and positive male domination like Promise of fire, Rhapsodic, Pestilence, The V Girl, Easy, The Kate daniel series, a few of classic romance gems I know that the sum of all of them will never outsell the sum of mysoginistic romances like Tangled by Emma chase or Beautiful disaster by Jamie Mcguire. At this moment we have scooped so low in the romance genre that FSOG is looking healthy in comparison. Many romance reader were raised with small-town mentality. In small towns where women are mean to each other because they are competing for the males, something like Beautiful disaster will resonate more.
I bet you the few authors who write sexy safe romances are considering writing misogynistic crap, because readers prefer those books.

V. A Court of Wings and Ruin is NEW ADULT/EROTICA but Goodreads editors won't tell you to include it in the choice awards wrote: "Kara wrote: "I like the idea of reverse harems because they ostensibly subvert the trope of males having dominion over females. But of course, these female authors steeped in internalized misogyny ..."

Then why many romance authors advertise books as no-cheating books? Safe books must be more popular than we think.