Reconciling Reader Response and Feminism in Late Twentieth-Century Erotic Historical Romances

Here's the abstract:

In the 1972 [sic], the romance novel genre caught up to the sexual revolution with the publication of Kathleen Woodiwiss’ The Flame and Flower. The novel’s explicit depiction of sexual scenes and erotic tension launched a new and highly popular sub-genre, the bodice ripper. The novel’s commercial success during the simultaneous expansion of the women’s right movement seems contradictory. Second-wave feminism scoffed at the genre’s heroines, depicted in traditional gender roles as subservient females and pressed into sexual encounters. However, analyzing the responses of a group of dedicated romance readers to the genre in the context of Betty Freidan’s concept of the “feminine mystique” reveals a coexistence of the genre’s patriarchy and the readers’ interpretation of feminism. The reader of bodice rippers the [sic] 1970s embodied Friedan’s mystique: They were restless in traditional female roles as housewives but didn’t necessarily embrace the alternative experiences feminism offered. The genre’s transformation of a brutish erotic dark lover into a perfect, loving husband through the quintessential tenderness, caring and nurturing power of the heroine both transgressed but also ratified the readers’ traditional preferences of femininity. Overall, the readers found the novels reaffirming that women could gain agency and power within their traditional female role.