现代女性快言情小说背后的秘密_大学英语阅读

现代女性快言情小说背后的秘密

But I must wonder why so many women—forty years after the women’s liberation movement—continue to indulge in the fanciful tales of females so unlike them who live in fantasy worlds light years removed from their reality?21

I’m not sure if the immense popularity of romance novels represents a kind of “repudiation” of the women’s lib movement, but clearly something is missing in the lives and experiences of tens of millions (maybe even hundreds or millions) of contemporary ladies.22 An anonymous female reviewer at goodreads.com said of the genre: “Romance novels offer an escape from daily life with the belief that true love really exists.”23

A romance author named Donna Hatch who focuses on the Regency period (early 19th century Britain) explained the appeal of such books this way:24 “Regency men were civilized and treated women with courtesy. When a lady entered the room, gentlemen stood, doffed their hats, curtailed their language, offered an arm, bowed, and a hundred other little things I wish men still did today.25 But they were also very athletic26; they hunted, raced, fenced, boxed, rode horses.27 They were manly. Strong. Noble. Resolute28. Honorable. And that is why I love them!”

Mrs. Hatch may have expressed the secret (or not-so-secret?) desires and attitudes of untold millions of her peers—that is, in the early 21st century, have women grown tired of the burdens and expectations that the “freedoms” they have gained impart29 upon them? Is this a rejection of modern feminism? An expression of distaste of the hippie culture which essentially destroyed all traditional forms or behavior in the western world?30 Do women long for days of old when men were masculine gentlemen and women were feminine and protected as precious treasures and regarded as possessions?31