"Max was extraordinary in every way. Claire was filled with doubts that she would never be able to satisfy him...If she could have his child, she would never ask anything more from life."
This is an excerpt from the romance novel, "Almost Forever," by Linda Howard. There are those who would scoff at the reference, claiming its use, in this context, to be nothing more than a blatant, and mean spirited misrepresentation of women.
Nevertheless, despite the women's movement, 49% of all paperbacks sold are romance novels. Twenty-five million American females are reading an average of twenty romance novels each per month. What do these readers find so compelling? The hope and thrill of being "saved" by a strong, dominant male - who will take care of them and make them feel secure.
Why would a man be attracted to such a woman? Because, man-as-protector- savior, i.e. Prince Charming, is compelled to save the damsel in distress. When he does, he is acknowledged as a real man. O. J. fit the pattern perfectly. He took care of everyone around him.
Romance novels follow a specific formula
He pursues: "He wanted to make love to her until she burned for him, until she lay helpless beneath the heat and violence of his possession...he wanted to protect her from everything and everyone except himself"
She resists: "Self-protection told her to move away from him. If Max made her heart beat faster, that was something she would have to ignore and never, never let him see."
He overcomes: "With an almost helpless fear, she realized that she wouldn't stand a chance against him....She was so terribly vulnerable....She loved him."
His sexuality is dangerous, aggressive and forceful: "She was such a delicate woman, and he'd taken her with all the finesse of a conquering warrior....Their joining was as elemental as a storm, and as violent."
She is swept away: "She felt afire, literally molten with need...empty and aching...she ceased to exist as a person."
She is rescued from a life of virtuous, passionless oblivion: "He revealed a new side of her nature, the potential of her woman's body for pleasure....He brought out the emotions and feelings she had spent a lifetime controlling and protecting."
The lure of this kind of romance reaches across all sectors of female society. For example, in 1990 Savvy Magazine polled its female readership (working women, average age 35, average income $35,000) about their sexual fantasies. Eighty percent of the respondents said they were not getting enough of the following:
She meets "a very distinguished artist or writer who would take her to his loft. Bach is on the stereo. Slowly we get closer. We make love all night long, all over the loft - in the shower, by the fireplace, on the roof....When I wake up he is gone, but there is a package for me. The note says, You are a beautiful, strong, vital woman - revel in your life.' My silver haired, blue-eyed artist walks back through the loft door, and says, 'Never leave.'"
These scenes bear little resemblance to reality, in which the trash goes out, diapers are changed, debts attended to. In real life sex and pleasure are not redemptive. Real men are no more sexually secure or confident than women. Yet the dream of many women, thirty years of "liberation" notwithstanding, is to "look up to" a man.
Such women feel inadequate, relying on the man's passion and power to save them. With due respect for her tragic murder, Nicole's life appeared to revolve around and be completely dependent on O.J.'s.
Today's protectionist feminists no doubt find romance novels demeaning to women. Nevertheless, it must be understood that they too are dependent on the all powerful male to change women's lives. They rely on men to be responsible for women's comfort and safety. It is men who must become more sensitive, who must learn, who must adapt.
In romance fantasies, the tall, dark stranger will set a woman free. Among the feminist leadership, laws, predominately intended to change men, will set women free. Women, whether romantic damsels or protectionist activists, need not change to improve their lot in life. Their problems will be solved by men changing. The dominant male, the Knight in Shining Armor, will make things different. But men cannot set women free.
If feminism is to appeal to most women (currently 65% do not identify with the label) we must focus on how women's romantic fantasies not only undermine equality with men, but endanger women's health and safety. Otherwise, feminism will ultimately self-destruct from its lack of relevance to the woman who is still reading about, waiting for or being abused by - Prince Charming.
Editor's note: USA Today also printed 5 letters criticizing this article. Said Jayne Ann Krentz, "In a romance novel, the woman always wins." Stella Cameron asserted that "I, and my brother and sister writers, deplore addictive, abusive relationships." Sure. Then why do you exploit women's fantasies about them?
"Feminism," says Bertrice Small, "doesn't appeal to most women because feminists seek to replace male domination of women with feminist domination of women."
Claiming to be a feminist, Leslie J. Wainger, sr. editor and editorial coordinator at Silhouette Books, likes romance novels because they're about women "taming" men.
Finally, Janis Reams Hudson, president of Romance Writers of America, actually believes romance novels should be used to "counsel abused women on what a healthy relationship between a man and woman should be." If most women believe romance novels portray healthy relationships, then it's no wonder the divorce rate is so high!
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