Maximising Gender Difference – Quick Shots

“Eroticisation in Mills & Boon depends on the maximisation of gender difference.”

– Talbot, M.M., ‘An Explosion Deep Inside Her: Women’s desire and popular romance fiction’ in Harvey, K. and Shalom, C. [eds], 1997, Language and Desire: encoding sex, romance and intimacy [Routledge: London] p.109

I had never really thought about it in that way, but it’s true. The division of gender roles in category romance novels is always very binary, focusing on the woman’s frailty and the man’s virility. Food for thought.