I do enjoy a good romance. Right now I'm reading Dangerous Liaisons, while may not be romantic to some of you, I find it HIGHLY irresistible. It's the perfect romantic set up in my eyes (minus the dying at the end).

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I could write much more on the subject (and have) but I'm still recovering from having spent the better part of an hour hunting down a frickin' file.

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And now as a very serious History major, after I get done trudging through long winded speeches on the state of agriculture in 17th century middle east, I want to read a Romance novel when I lay in bed.

And since I don't currently have a man to dress up as a Scottish Laird and seduce me in his castle, I can at least read about one! Yay Escapism!

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They certainly weren't the only thing, and I probably would have figured it out eventually. And this is going to sound wrong and repressed, because it was/is. When one of my best friends lost her virginity at 19 to a guy she met on the Internet, I realized I was going to have to deal with my sexuality at some point. I couldn't repress it forever and ever, although I did pretty well for many years.

So I started buying romance novels. And realized hey, people enjoy sex outside of marriage! And they're not terrible people! It's OK to have a vagina.

Yes, many are cheesy, but some are really well-written. I don't expect some man to come find dragons for me, but I am glad for the sex-positive perspective.

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Other favorites:

"His hard smoothness and strength"

"his distended loins" (That sounds like a medical condition)

"Her downy mound"

Yes, I did briefly write this stuff, why do you ask?

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I find it really strange to call them books about emotion though, they're pretty much porn in a woman friendly packaging. The characters don't usually fall in love at the beginning, they fall in love after several sessions of woman centered dirty sex. Half the time they seem to fall in love just to give the book an ending.

I know some women like porn films, but I think there would be a lot more female porn fans if porn included hotter men, people who seem to respect each other and a focus on cunnilingus rather than fellatio. Then it would basically be a live action romance novel.

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I can manage to get over this hang-up with Sci-fi sometimes, though.

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As someone who spends most of her time reading and teaching "literature" for a living, sometimes I just need the escape and the happy ending that comes with it.

Sadie points out that people who assume that because an ending is a forgone conclusion, there's no point in the journey are missing the point, and she's right. Sometimes, the best part of reading a book is the fact that its HEA gives you a few moments of pleasure before you head back to your stress filled life.

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More to the point, the women who write and read them seem to be a smart, open-minded bunch - it really is an open and accepting community, and I love it!

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