first published in the Brisbane Courier-Mail 21 October 2006
Two controversies in Romancelandia across the Pacific this week. The first comes from a subway advertisement for the Greater Washington Initiative, designed to attract educated workers. The poster shows a man on the left reading a romance novel under the heading ‘Average Subway Reading’. The man on the right is reading Plato’s Republic under the heading ‘Greater Washington Subway Reading’. The implication, of course, is that educated people do not read romance novels on their daily commute, they read Plato. While I haven’t read Abandon, I have read my fair share of romance novels. I’ve also read Republic. I don’t think I’m alone in this. For public transportation, frankly I prefer the novels.
There are some positives about the ad, anti-stereotypes that many seem to have missed. First, the reader is a man. While Romance Writers of America statistics report that 22% of romance readers are men, they are vastly under-represented in portrayals of romance readers. Secondly, the reader is reading a romance novel in public with no sign of shame or scorn. All readers should be so comfortable.
Concurrently, an election campaign for Comptroller of Public Accounts in Texas is being played out like the pages of a novel.
One candidate, Susan Combs, published a romance back in 1990 for the now defunct publishing house Kismet. Her opponent is now using the novel, A Perfect Match, to undermine Combs moral standard. Assonantal candidate, Fred Head, claims the book is pornographic and out of touch with the ‘Christian values that the People of Texas love and live’. His proof? Two and a half pages from an over 220 page novel in which the hero and heroine are engaged in euphemistically described sex that occurs after the hero declares his love for the heroine.
Head also claims that Combs is arrogant, using the fact that her name appears at the top of each page of her novel, ‘a clear testament to [her] insatiable ego’. I flipped through a couple of the books on my shelf. All the books— romance, literary fiction, non-fiction, and poetry—have the author’s name across the top of, at least, every other page, while most have it across them all.
Combs has refused to apologize for the novel, maintaining it is a non-issue. In fact, she states, ‘I’m sad that the book company is out of business because I won’t get any more royalties.’
The equating of romance and porn, and the use of the comparison to belittle the writers in the genre has been extensive, but even I’m shocked at the vitriol behind this smear campaign. Head’s claims are so far removed from reality that I’d be tempted to laugh if a woman’s career wasn’t on the line. Interestingly, Combs website merely lists her experience, accomplishments, and goals for the position. Not a word about Head, negative or otherwise. Raises the question of who’s really following ‘high moral standards’, doesn’t it?
