#bodice ripper

[acwhiteart]

Decided to try my hand at a bodice ripper cover and opted to make one for one of my favorite romances, Swordheart by T. Kingfisher!

Learned a lot during the process and I’m pretty pleased with the result!

[foxspoookymulder]

𝙴𝚁 𝙲𝚘𝚠𝚋𝚘𝚢 ᥫ᭡.𓂃

@kingdonweek day 7: in the books

⤷ In which Mel and Frank star in their very own 1980's style Bodice Ripper

[unspeakablearchives]

i'm sure you know well but a common thread amongst people looking to censor works for any reason is that they romanticize, normalize, etc problematic themes. And now i'm curious what examples exist of this actually happening, particularly with themes of incest, rape, or pedophilia. I'm sure this is gonna be something that's heavily opinion based but given your experience I figure you'd likely know some actual credible examples to compare against (VS the lay-person listing [artist name who draws porn of underage anime characters])

It's funny because I kind of disagree with everyone on this.

I mean, I hate to always play into the stereotype of being some centrist "um akshually, both sides wrong" idiot but hey, if the shoe fits lol.

Yes, it is absolutely possible for media to "romanticize" or "normalize" themes that are "problematic" (even if those terms are kind of stupid).

Of course media can affect people. It can shape public taste, flatten moral seriousness, make certain things feel glamorous, dull, funny, sexy, normal, tragic, whatever. Media is meant to affect the audience.

But just because a work romanticizes something ugly does NOT mean it should be censored.

There are SO MANY reasons for this:

The minute you start banning fiction for possibly having a vague, indefinable negative influence on people, the standard becomes hopelessly vague and infinitely expandable. What counts as "romanticizing?" How much impact is too much? On whom? According to whose moral framework? Does the author's intention matter?

Once you hand that power over, it will not stop at the most extreme examples.

And even under "ideal circumstances," I strongly believe that even the most extreme examples should NOT be banned. I enumerate more specific reasons for why this is in this post.

...but I hate avoiding direct questions, so in the sake of thoroughness, let's also answer your original question really specifically:

i'm curious what examples exist of this (romanticizing, normalizing, etc problematic themes) actually happening, particularly with themes of incest, rape, or pedophilia.

In 1972 a random historical romance book geared towards female readers came out called The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss. I know, you've probably never heard of it - almost no one nowadays has. But at the time, it was radically different, with the male lead being a gruff and lusty sea captain who repeatedly rapes the protagonist, starting within the first 30 pages. The protagonist eventually softens towards him and they fall in love. This book started the subgenre we now call the "Bodice-Ripper" which followed a similar very rapey structure, and quickly became extremely popular.

It's tough to say how much this new genre (and the tropes it established, which became embedded in our popular culture) ended up influencing society's views. But more than a few people have observed that there seemed to have been a shift in attitude amongst women starting around that time, where more women seemed to enjoy or at least excuse the concept, in real life, of a partner who just "just couldn't control himself" and "took charge," essentially forcing himself on her.

I have no idea how widespread this sort of attitude change was, or how causal the relationship here was - in fact it seems impossible to ever know for sure. But the point is that it seems plausible, or even likely, that media can, in fact, have the effect of making certain unethical sexual things seem more "normal" or even potentially viewed positively.

Again, this in no way means that any of these should be banned.

[darkcrowprincess]

Yes I want them to be good at sex the first time they have it. So good that it symbolically means that they truly deeply understand each other and are of the same mind and soul. I came here for romance and intimacy, not the real world. I never understood people who like the couples first time to be bad. Why would I want realism in my escape from horrible reality romance?

[theoneandonlysemla]

Morotar_BodiceRipper.png

Yeah, I don't even know. He has ripped his own bodice or something.

[chasingbylocket]

From the #1 Westeros Best Seller...Coming soon to your local bookstore...

Euron Greyjoy & Falia Flowers's son oc belong to my lovely friend @dontbotherwiththepronunciation and House Frey oc belong to me lololol

[dozydawn]

[tomatette]

~ Surfing on the Waves of Passion ~

The New Novel by Robin Buckley Available soon - at a bookstore near you

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