Do You Read Erotic Romances Just to Drool Over The Hunky Heroes?
Lynn Spencer over at the All About Romance blog raised an interesting point today in her post, “Placeholder Heroines,” as she frothed at the mouth over yet another article written by British journalist Tanya Gold for The Guardian, “Confessions of a secret Mills & Boon Junkie,” where she proposed that romance heroines were no more than conduits for readers to access the perfect heroes, reduced to third-party placeholders in their own romances.
Spencer was righteously indignant over the theory, but as always, I paused to consider how it worked when it comes to erotic romance.
Do we use the heroine as a conduit when we’re reading erotic romance?
Tricky question. Yes, we’re reading a story, but let’s be frank…when it comes to erotic romance, we’re not just reading a story, we’re also looking for that rush, that sensual turn on, and if you’re a hot-blooded female, it’s not the heroine’s body you’re focusing on in your mind while you’re reading the sex scene, is it?
The primary function of the heroine during a sex scene is to channel how she’s feeling to the reader, and if the writer is any good at all, the reader and the heroine will merge in the reader’s mind, so that what the heroine feels, the reader can almost feel.
Now that’s channelling. And that’s a placeholder heroine.
But that’s where the channelling ends. Outside that very narrow function, heroines in erotic romances are some of the most individual, independent, kick-butt characters you can find in any romance novels, anywhere. In fact, they leave most Mills & Boon heroines in the dust. Tanya Gold of The Guardian would have a hard time phasing out these heroines while trying to reach her perfect hero.
Or do you read erotic romances differently? Do you stay aloof while reading the sex scenes? Do you channel one of the characters? Or are you a floating third eye, enjoying the characters for who they are and letting them be themselves? Be honest! I’m truly curious. I don’t think anyone has ever asked this question before, that I’m aware of.
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4 Responses to “Do You Read Erotic Romances Just to Drool Over The Hunky Heroes?”
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Copyright © 1999 - 2010 Tracy Cooper-Posey 
I kind of become friends with the heroine. It’s like rooting for your best friend to fall in love with the hunky hero when I read. Now when I write… I step INTO them because you have to get under their skin and into their minds so you can accurately write so it’s like you’re there…because you need to be. LOL.
Mmm…yes, I call that “walking around in their boots” myself. I do that when I’m writing. But I notice I tend to be in the heroine’s skin when I’m reading, too. I just wonder where other readers “see” themselves when they’re reading erotic romance scenes. If they actually distance themselves from the couple.
Tracy
I love to fall for the hero in the book, sometimes they’re so great I wish I’d met someone like him before. But I think both characters are important to me. I like the heroine to be beautiful and not have body issues and the hunk to be described as much as possible in every way so It makes me want to find someone like him, even though I’m married close to 20 yrs. LOL I love the sex scenes in books but it’s usually not what I remember most about the book. Still the more sex the better, even better is when the hero likes to talk dirty. Always telling the heroine whats he finds hot about her. There’s a few books with a sex scene that I remember that stands out but that’s out of hundreds of books and there’s only a handful of hero’s I still remember very well. Them being the ones I wish I could have! lol Most the time I’m out for the complete package the story and characters have to be good for me to love the book, I’d say I’m a voyeur to the story and yet sometimes I feel like I know them and they are great friends. Depends on the book.
I think it depends on the book for me. I do put myself into the heroine’s shoes. Sometimes I do it with the hero. It’ll depend on their personality and if I can relate to one over the other.
Sometimes I’m just masochistic and love to be in the shoes of the wounded/betrayed/emotionally hurting character. Don’t ask me why. I guess it’s because I like the angst and drama of it. Additionally, now that I think on it, it’s a safe way to be a martyr. You know you’re in the right so why are you left out in the cold? :P
Sometimes if the author is really good at storytelling I kinda slip into the novel and it’s like it happens to me and not the characters. This can translate to sex scenes.
Most of my favorite romances have a sex scene in them that really struck me and possibly even turned me on. Not always the case (thinking about chaste romances in this instance) but usually.