Women’s Issues Feed Romance Novels and Thrillers

There’s a new breed of romance novels and thrillers that go beyond the fare of murders and secret trysts to delve into some of the most compelling women’s issues of our times. Taking a cue from the most famous popular writers of other eras, many of today’s writers are choosing to take on such challenging women’s issues as domestic violence, illegal adoption, trafficking, drugs, cartels and even Internet scams and love/money scams.

Unlike the romance heroine of yesterday, whose biggest problem was trying to figure out if the man of her unlikely dreams was interested in her and vice versa, today’s romance heroine may find herself confronting domestic violence and spousal abuse either in her own relationship or in the relationship of a close friend. These novels bring a gritty reality to situations that are far too often hidden under a veneer of a happy marriage, and highlight the dangers that women and children living in families torn by domestic violence face every day. In a world that often treats those affected by violent relationships as somehow at fault, these romance novels shine the harsh light of reality onto these situations and force readers to recognize and understand the choices made by women who stay in relationships that are harmful to them.

Thrillers, once the bulwark of male writers telling stories of spies, government infiltration and industrial espionage, have likewise seen an influx of women writers telling stories of concern to women – stories that deal with women’s issues like trafficking and illegal adoption rings, drug cartels and the toll they take on the women who are often dragged into them unwillingly and trapped there by circumstances they can’t control. They feature unlikely heroines like adoptive mothers with no special skills or training who track down the origin of the child they’ve adopted or women who hunt down and rescue the sister bilked by an Internet con man.

While these novels and stories are designed to appeal to women, they do far more than entertain. By bringing light to these pressing women’s issues, they help raise the visibility of many crimes that fly under the radar and make more people aware of the silent victims of these crimes and attitudes. Just as Dickens’ novels raised awareness of the plight of the poor in Victorian England – and in doing so, changed the attitudes toward those poor – so this new breed of women’s romance novels and thrillers may, in time, chip away at the ignorance and silence that allows these crimes to continue.

Women’s Issues Feature in Newest Romance Lines

Women’s issues have always featured in the plots of romance novels, though that fact has seldom been recognized. In fact, many people concerned with women’s issues such as domestic violence have complained in the past that romance novels had a tendency to romanticize abusive relationships. While they often featured strong-willed heroines, those heroines were far too often involved with “bad boys”, men who treated them badly, and the plots too frequently turned on the strong-willed heroine coming to realize that she loved the brooding, vaguely threatening hero who sometimes physically or emotionally abused her. These heroines, people empowerment advocates argued, presented a role model that young women might emulate and normalized behavior that is abusive and disrespectful to half the human race.

But just as poor role models can influence and reinforce dangerous stereotypes of women, new romance novels that feature strong women dealing with some of the most troubling women’s issues of our times can help women in real life who are dealing with these same issues. A new genre of romance has arisen that tackles issues like domestic violence, trafficking and the dangers of drugs and cartels to women head on – and the women emerge the victors.

These novels, suggest many specialists in women’s issues, can help women on many levels. Women dealing with domestic violence in their own relationships, for example, may recognize themselves in a sympathetic character who thinks and acts the way they do. They may find the validation they need that they are not bad people and that they do not deserve the treatment they receive, one of the first, most important steps in breaking out of violent relationships.

At least as importantly, the strong female characters trapped in difficult situations provide insight for those who are not involved in violent situations and who, too often, tend to see women who are trapped by life circumstances as being somehow to blame for their own victimization. Popular fiction and culture imagines that these women, who may be kidnapped, drawn into working for drug cartels or trapped in abusive and dangerous situations because of where they live, as being too weak to break free, or fools because they fell for a scam or greedy because they put themselves in the position to be victimized in order to earn money.

Domestic violence is only one of the women’s issues taken on by this new breed of romance writer. Other issues they tackle include the victimization and dangers of illegal adoption, the heartache of women caught by Internet love/money scams and the precarious lives of women involved with drug cartels and other violent cultures. These romance novels follow a long tradition of popular fiction that highlights social issues and brings them to the attention of the general public, which is the first step in addressing social problems.