Kassia Krozer over at Romancing the Blog discussed her instant “No” reaction to a good many romance single titles, inspired by the oft-bitchslapped-on-this-page-and-rightfully-so Cassie Edwards. Asks Kassia, “How scary is [it] that I can buy into alien-on-human sex more readily than sheiks and Indians?”
Good question! Anyone feel the same?
Me me me!
As Kassia pointed out, it’s not just the stereotypes, or the obnoxious racist portrayals on the cover. Can’t you just hear the prop department in the artist’s studio? “We have an American Indian hero! Need feathers, stat! And fringe! Lots of it!”
It’s the idea that I know the real ending. I know the hero and heroine might have found love and harmony and made wild monkey love in the fields under a sunset of blazing colors at the end of the book. But that doesn’t mean I can suspend reality to the point where I can forget that their kids were ‘half breeds’ and were made miserable in school – if they were allowed to go at all, and that they themselves were certainly ostracized: he was a suspect in every local crime and she was considered no better than a whore. And in the end his people suffered mightily at the hand of hers.
To be bluntly honest, this is about as sexy to me as a romance between a Nazi prison guard at Bergen-Belsen and a Jewish concentration camp prisoner.
But alien-on-humans?! Now that’s kinda spicy; tell me more!
So like Kassia, I have to wonder why I can buy the fantasy of aliens wanting to hop the boom-boom express with humans, but not the idea of making the humpy-horse with some sheik or an American Indian? Does the latter have more “Forbidden Nasty” titillation? Is it more of a turn on to be reading about love with a socially-forbidden party? Instead of Nazi/Jew romance, would it be more like Orthodox Jew/Observant Catholic romance? Because hell hath no fury like a Orthodox Jewish boy’s momma when she realizes he’s a-dancin’ the horizontal hora with that nice O’Reilly girl down the block. That’s some social taboo right there- is that hot? For me? Meh. Not really. Too much social drama working against the couple tends to put a damper on the sparkly attraction for me.
Now, to journey down a wild tangent here for a minute, I’m curious about the idea of taboo in general as pertains to romance. Sex, in this country, is a certain taboo. Just having it is subject to shameful reactions to blushes to outright ostracization. In the US, sex is bad, violence is tolerated, and Sarah is driven bonkers by the inverted values.
Romance, often, features sex without the benefit of marriage, or just enough sex before marriage that the act itself isn’t so much of a shocking surprise to the virgin party. So is “sex with a forbidden person” romance even more of a spicy taboo on top of the sexual taboos that already exist in this country? And what of romance in other countries, where I understand it sells quite well? Is the taboo zing there for them? Or do they read for other reasons?
To ruminate on Kassia’s original question, I think I’m more scintillated by alien/human nookie because it is a “forbidden,” or at least it’s funky, but it also doesn’t ask me to forget any brutal history for sake of shiny, happy fantasy nookie. I mean, I’m willing to suspend my reality for a host of things, including “gay swishbuckling pirates” (TM Candy), but forget oppression and mass genocide? Hardly. Pass the alien.
Heh heh. I came thisclose to asking Kassia “The Native American theme is the ONLY reason you won’t read Cassie Edwards novels? Honey, the Native Americans are the LEAST of your problems in a Cassie Edwards novel.”
Anyway, I think problems many people have with reading a NA romance is the same problem most people would have reading about a romance between a slave-owner and his slave. Y’know? The whole power structure of the deal gives me the jibblies, not to mention the brutalities committed against the slaves as a population, and the immense complications the couple would have to face.
But aliens? You’re right. There isn’t a big, ugly backstory to interfere with our fantasy.
You are right about the imbalance of power. You can’t ignore it; it’s a constant, even if she is unknowing of the Ways of the Earth and learns to listen to the wolf singing to the blue corn moon and painted with all the colors of the wind. Her culture came up with listening to the sound of Native Americans dying of smallpox, starvation, and alcoholism.
Aliens have no backstory – so true. And the balance of power is half the story. What powers would an alien have here on earth? Would they be like General Zod and his backup duo?
But what of sheiks? Is that a power (im)balance? Does it imply harem and multiple partners and female slavery? And do I have to go order “Silver Angel” by Johanna Lindey to see if she pulls off the sheik/harem idea?
” (…) and learns to listen to the wolf singing to the blue corn moon and painted with all the colors of the wind (…)”
See, THAT’s exactly the problem I have with the way Native Americans are portrayed by the mass media in general. Look, they were warriors. They committed atrocities too. Some aspects of their culture weren’t particularly palatable. They sure as shit were NOT puny little tree-hugging saps who embodied every awful power-ballad cliche ever dreamt up by whoever writes those bad diva songs.
“Would they be like General Zod and his backup duo?”
What—look really, really gay? Have embarrassingly bad eye make-up? HAHAHA.
The reason I don’t like sheikh romances is because most writers don’t bother to research Arabic culture in detail. Not only that, but they tapdance so vigorously around the issue of the heroine converting to Islam that you could practically see the light sheen of sweat on their brow. Lucy Monroe went so far as to make her sheikhdom a CHRISTIAN one in one of her Harlequin Presents. I can’t even find words to describe how incredibly stupid I think that is. Look, you want your Anglo heroine to be swept to 31 different flavors of ecstasy by Abu Al-Kassim, her insatiable desert stallion, then you better damn well accept that she’ll very likely be genuflecting five times a day towards Mecca and fasting during Ramadhan, too.
Tangent: What’s with the squeamishness with Islam, anyway? Or does nobody else feel the same vibe I’m getting?
Oh, please don’t mention Islam! A friend and I flapped our hands at each other over that very thing recently. 😀
Hm, having no backstory helps, but I don’t think it’s that. I think the problem with NA romances, Scottish historical romances, etc. is it feels exploitative.
I’m not saying that it has to be accurate or serious. It’s just that—each time I read a romance that has an oh-so-noble Highland warrior poncing about, going, “Ye dinnae shag me last night, ye English whore! Och, dinnae cry, my bonnie lass! Yer mo luaidh!”—I want to rage. Or cry.
Oh, why does it matter? Fantasy is fantasy is fantasy. If people get their rocks off exploiting and recycling stereotypes that aren’t based on reality, it’s fine by me. I don’t care any more as I’ve given up on the whole thing.
Just give me an aliens-humping-humans story. At least in the outer space authors can fuck with their backstories, cultures, languages, histories however they like it without making it feel that they are exploiting and pimping like there is no tomorrow.
“I think the problem with NA romances, Scottish historical romances, etc. is it feels exploitative.”
You know, you’re right. You pinpointed something that was bothering me but was unable to articulate. Hey, it fits, right? The culture is being bastardized, watered down, sanitized and made to appeal to the lowest common denominator, then sold for the indiscriminate consumption of the masses.
(YEAH, how’s that for sounding like a big old snobby snob?)
Candy I am with you – there is definitely a bit of flappy squeamishness towards Islam in romance.
Perhaps that’s part of the taboo that attracts those who are fans of the sheik romances.
And…a Christian Harem? Lord have mercy.
snobby snob or not, it’s true. The media in its many forms also has a love affair with the “noble savage”.
As for Cassie Edwards, those are just god-awful books. She could write about muppet sex and it would be over-the-top purple and just plain horrible, even beyond the basic premise of muppets having sex. :long:
Have you ever read Judy Aiken? She is a NA romance author. I thought she did a fine job with depicting many of the more realistic and often depressing aspects of reservation life, such as drug addiction, crime, alcoholism and diabetes.
I felt the same way as Kassia. I’m always picturing the way things are now and wondering, how long can they be happy for, really? I have all these mental images and they just don’t mesh with the Savage Indian and the White Blonde Woman making happy forever. And their kids? Caught between two worlds in a time full of prejudice. On both sides. Nope.
But, as much as I love a good Scottish historical, I also find myself having these same thoughts. How long do the clans really last? When do they give up their plaids? There history is fairly brutal and bloody and not every Scottish Laird and hero is going to survive that.
Why can’t I just let me sense of realism go for just a moment? I think this is why I love paranormals and fantasy. I don’t care if he DOES have a blue, tentacled dick. In a fantasy, it could happen and by God, it could feel good!
About the whole sheikh romance thing…there are many things about this particular stereotype that are quite appalling…First, there are many variants of Arab culture and many, many possible Arab heroes that are not sheikhs. Indeed, there are many far more possible heroic heroes than the most-utterly-privileged, and as far as we are connecting with reality, often connected to the fruits of colonialism, sectors of Gulf society. Arab society from Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, even Egypt, is practically invisible. Islam is the word that Is Not Mentioned, Arab culture is reduced to some sexually-exotic hedonism, and for that matter, real-life Arab Christians don’t exist in romances allegedly set in the Arab World.
Furthermore, though, I get upset when the criticisms of the sheikh books are limited to “oh, they make life for women look nice over there, but really it’s just HORRIBLE and the Middle East is NOT ROMANTIC.” Oh, spare me. There are plenty of strong Arab women, historically and in the present time, as well as loving Arab men, and Arab societies are in no way uniform in terms of gender relations. For that matter, oppressive gender relations are linked more to other social structures than to “Arab culture” (take a look back home and at that beloved Regency England and say hello to oppression, including gender oppression) in terms of preserving power for some. Progressive movements throughout Arab society exist and have existed for many, many years and have recognized women’s issues, even when national issues have taken precedence. I am not trying to glorify Arab societies, but the ignorance-fueled denigration often seen is quite disturbing and makes me, sometimes, almost come close to defending that other utter paragon of stereotyping, the sheikh romance. (Got early twentieth-century suffragettes? Here’s early twentieth-century Palestinian women’s societies organizing women’s participation in revolt against the British.)
Anyway, romance-novel Arabs use Arab as a synonym for exotic and libertine; the real religious structures and cultural traditions of the Arab nation are more or less extraneous to most romance-novel Arabs.
And that’s just for Arabs in their Gulf emirates…there’s been a lot of discussion (important discussion!) in the blogworld lately about African American romance and its segregation in the industry. There is also Latin@ romance, often published in Spanish, and also targeted to the Latin@ community. One sector of society rarely represented in romance-novel land is the immigrant community, and especially immigrants of color.
Anyhow, I like reading about people not like me – I’m all for the aliens, fantasy worlds, paranormals, shapeshifters, etc – the worldbuilding actually allows me to pull back from the direct political and historical readings a bit and relax more into enjoyment despite the potential for allegory and symbolism. But in the worlds that are reflected as either contemporary or historical slices of reality, IMO they would feel far more real, romantic and affecting, not only if they “looked more like me” but if they reflected the world in which most people i know live. (Not all romances, and not all of the time. But *sometimes*.)
sorry for taking up so much blog space 🙂
Lisa
Okay, I should admit that I was too busy laughing about ‘asspirates’ to think clearly but the comments are making some excellent points.
I’m was with Sarah about paranormals ‘but it also doesn’t ask me to forget any brutal history for sake of shiny, happy fantasy nookie.’
Did want to point out SkyPirate by Justine Davis that did deal with aliens who a brutal history. But, they were made to deal with them and since we are not aliens, the history does not affect us.
If there is going to be American Indian romances then I would love to read about H/H of the same tribe falling in love. Or, from opposing tribes. Also, I would be interested in contemporary stories that have the H/H both being American Indian. I’m not sure I know why the female usually has to be white but, I am sure there were many conflicts that arose in tribal life that had nothing to do with whites. Still doesn’t change the outcome of their future but, I would be willing to buy a romance like the ones listed.
What makes a Harem icky for me is that there is more than one woman. I have come across stories where the man loves one of his wives but, still uses the other women. It is a foreign concept to me so I find it hard to imagine a true HEA for a romance where the harem leader is the hero. The only kind I have read before is where the hero is impersonating the king.
I think that I am able to stay within the story and try not to think about what will happen in the future. Afterall, they die in the future and maybe one dies before the other and then….
CindyS (happy with her HEA as long as I feel that they love each other and are strong in their commitment to each other)
I used to enjoy the whole arab sheikh thing back in the day. However, I then moved into a career that involved immersion into ME culture and moved to Saudi Arabia. What a way to mess up the fantasy for me. Same thing for the NA thing. Reality keeps intruding on the fantasy.
Sometimes too much knowledge or being too close to a subject can ruin and otherwise good story.