Patriarchy, Feminism, and The Space Between: The Production and Consumption of Feminism in Romance Novels

Here's the abstract:

Romance novels are cultural artefacts loaded with complex and nuanced meanings. The romance genre is commercially successful, but as mass-consumed products that are predominantly created by and for women, they have been the subjects of societal and critical scorn. Romance novels grapple with complicated issues, such as gender and race, and help create understandings of feminism for both their producers and consumers. Previous research has generally focused on the production or consumption of romance novels and feminism in romance, while little attention has been paid to the moments of production and consumption of feminist meanings in romance novels. This study addresses that gap using cultural studies and feminist studies as guides. Through 31 in-depth interviews with romance novel authors, production decision makers, readers, and bloggers, the study aimed to understand the articulation of feminism in romance novels and in the everyday lives of its producers and consumers.

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using qualitative methods, I explore how feminism in popular romance fiction is produced by authors and their affiliated production decision makers, and how readers and bloggers interpret and understand feminism in their everyday lives. (5)

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In total, I interviewed 31 participants (six authors, six production decision makers, 17 readers, and two bloggers). (38)

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I address the moment of production as a way to investigate how meanings are encoded in romance novels. Specifically, I discuss and analyze authors’ and production decision makers’ views on the publishing process, the formative experience of reading romance and becoming a woman, the fulfillment of romantic escape fantasies, feminism’s meanings, feminism in romance, and the publishing experience for women of color. (63)

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Printing the words feminist or feminism, or their corresponding themes, was seen as a “risk” that most large publishers would be unwilling to take due to the potential loss of revenue. (85)

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publishers generally do not believe books by or about women of color will sell to mass market romance readers, who are predominantly White and who they believe will want to read about White heroines. This sentiment has been discussed at length in numerous trade publications (Beckett, 2019; Bennett-Kapusniak & McCleer, 2015; Foster, 2007; Ho, 2019; Koch & Koch, 2020; Rosman, 2017). This has led to complicated decisions on the part of writers who feel they must disguise their race or gender to ensure that their work gets the same treatment and has the same selling potential as books written by White authors. (92)

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The readers and bloggers noted that reading about fictional characters’ happiness made them feel vicariously happy, refreshed, and hopeful about their own futures. They expected to consume/decode happiness in romance novels, which would, in turn, produce happiness in their everyday lives. (115)

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the characters’ likeability seemed to influence readers’ enjoyment of romance novels. [...] The readers and bloggers also expressed a desire/expectation to consume romance fantasies featuring heroines whom they would have liked to be friends with and who also acted as exemplars/role models for their own lives. (128)