Image created using illustrations from Pixabay.
Quote from The Wallflower Christmas by Lisa Kleypas.
Why are women made to feel shame over reading books designed for their pleasure? Historically, society would rather women weren’t reading at all. In her book: The Woman Reader, Belinda Jack explains that ‘Women’s access to the written word has been a particular source of anxiety for men – and indeed some women – almost from the very beginning.’ This truth is tied closely to the fact that for centuries the world has adhered to a patriarchal norm. Literacy and education are vital for power. For hundreds of years, that power was denied to women and when it was at last granted, it was strictly controlled.
Throughout the centuries the woman reader was a feared spectre that threatened to unsettle the accepted gender hierarchy. Reading generates new ideas and if you’re not controlling what women are reading, you can’t control their thought processes. What if a woman devoured a volume that wasn’t on the approved reading list and wound up with the crazy idea that she didn’t have to marry a partner chosen for her? Or that she didn’t have to marry at all? Unthinkable.
In her 1977 paper Did Women Have A Renaissance? Joan Kelly-Gadol explains how strong, patriarchal rules for women were laid out in etiquette and early romance books of the 13th and 14th century. These books were written by men and designed to ensure that women understood their submissive social role. The accepted view was that if the female reader was exposed to unsuitable materials, it increased the likelihood of women going morally or sexually astray.
Naturally, these views shouldn’t survive in the 21st century, but somewhere in the subconscious they do. As a society, we’ve inherited a long history of belittling women and controlling the media they consume (more about that here), and we’ve never really kicked the habit.
I’m here to say, though I’m by no means the first to say it, that it’s time to drop the shame attached to reading books we enjoy. But to start, we need to lower the barriers we as women put in front of our own pleasure. Patriarchal norms may have played a part in the way things are but men weren’t and aren’t the only ones perpetuating them.
Many women avoid reading chick lit or even show open disdain towards it because they believe they will not receive any intellectual benefit from reading a book in this genre. Though I whole-heartedly disagree, let’s pretend for a moment that’s true. Let’s pretend that there is absolutely no intellectual benefit to reading chick lit. Are you made up of brain alone? Because last I checked I had a heart to feel with, lips to smile with, a body that desires stimulation and a sense of humour that relishes any opportunity to come out to play.
Moreover, our brains aren’t designed purely for intellectual pursuit. There are parts of the brain linked to fantasy, dream and memory. Parts that enable us to deeply explore who we are and make sense of the world.
No intellectual benefit doesn’t mean no benefit at all. Some stories are primarily designed for entertainment, escapism and fantasy… which brings me to my next and final point (I could go on but you have a to-be-read pile to tackle, I’m sure of it).
Next time someone accuses you of reading a trash romance novel, remember this: we do not put the same narrative pressure on other kinds of genres that we do on romance / chick lit. We don’t expect ghost stories or horror stories to pose a deep cerebral challenge, we’re OK with science-fiction stories that are laden with cliche and comedies that over-rely on coincidence for effect. The romance genre however is expected to avoid all of these common genre pitfalls. We expect the same perfection of women’s fiction as we expect of women themselves. They have to do it all, and look great doing it.
But we don’t have to accept or perpetuate this view. We can love imperfect books in the chick lit genre, the way imperfect books in other genres are loved.
So here’s the challenge. Let’s drop the shame attached to reading books that allow us to explore our romantic and erotic interior lives. Let’s argue with people who show undue disdain towards the genre that isn’t squared at other genres committing the same crime. Most importantly, let’s change the language we use to describe our reading experience. Let’s stop referring to romance and chick lit books and films as ‘guilty pleasures’. Women have no reason to feel guilty for exploring something that makes them feel good.
Helen writes erotic historical romance novellas. You can find out more about them here.