On women and romance novels

Myth #4: Women read romance novels because they’re unrealistic about men

I think this one is probably the silliest one.

I can only speak for myself here, but I’ve never really expected any man I met to be like someone out of a book. (Though I will admit, there are a few well-written characters who, if real, I might consider running away with Sorry, dear…)

I think, in fact, the opposite is true – a lot of women like to read romance novels because they are in fact very realistic about men. And they know what they like from them and what they don’t – what is uncommon and lovely about them, what is expected, what is worst and best (in our humble estimation) and most human about the opposite sex. It is an endlessly fascinating subject to us, trying to figure men out.

(Note to the inevitable “food, sex and sleep” commenter, whoever you are: if only it were that simple, I could have skipped any number of bad relationships…)

Yes, we like to read about what we like most in men, and what we like least about them, neither of which are all that representative of any particular individual man.

Sure, romance novel men are idealized.

So is Pamela Anderson. You get yours, we get ours.

On to Myth #5: Women who read romance novels want men like Fabio. (Also, they can’t believe it’s not butter.)…