The section of this chapter on romance novels can be found on pages 54-57.
In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the popular romance genre has been one of the most common homes for explicit defloration scenes. This is a genre written largely by women for women, whereas the pornographic texts I have hitherto discussed were written by men presumably for men. The significance of this fact should not be overlooked and deserves considerably more space than I can give it here. However, perhaps despite this fact, scenes of virginity loss bear considerable similarities to those that came before them. Although there is a huge variation in the ways in which virginity loss is portrayed across the popular romance genre (varying not only between authors and subgenres but also over time as the genre evolved and changed), the hymen is regularly represented, its penetration causing the virgin heroine pain and often making her bleed. The former is perhaps the most ubiquitous element. (54-55)
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This is not to say that there is no element of transformation for the heroine in the romance genre. The most notable transformation is from pain to pleasure: all of the virginity loss scenes here result in multiple orgasms for the heroine. The hymen must be broken for this pleasure to occur. If we return briefly to Derrida, then we can argue that the hymen becomes the barrier between desire and fulfillment not just for the hero but also for the heroine. Pain is transformed into pleasure, and as such the transformation from virgin to non-virgin becomes both painful and pleasurable. This is the guarantee of the literary hymen. However, there is an emphasis here on "literary," because this hymen does not reflect reality. It is regularly located in an anatomically incorrect place (partway up the vaginal passage instead of outside the vaginal opening), it is omnipresent in virgins, and its destruction can be felt by both virgin and deflowerer. (57)
The section of this chapter on romance novels can be found on pages 54-57.
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