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Book Club 1d
I see our semi-biannual cycle has reset and we are back to gatekeeping 🫠 This is a friendly reminder to read whatever you like and ignore strangers on the internet ☺️
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Anonymous 23h

tbf it’s much more likely that people will have bad experiences with romance readers simply because there’s more of them. that obviously doesn’t excuse gatekeeping, but it might be part of it.

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Anonymous 1d

Looks like I already have whoever it was starting shit blocked ☀️🐬

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Anonymous replying to -> #1 1d

Jk I did not scroll far enough 🫩

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Anonymous replying to -> #2 23h

also, romance inherently deals with one of the most intimate & sensitive topics. it also has its slop like any other genre. romance slop is in a unique position to deal with its inherent topics in triggering ways (e.g. framing sexual assault or pedophilia as excusable or normal). I’ve seen it primarily with romantasy since I’ve interacted with it more, but still

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Anonymous replying to -> #2 22h

I do get that too, (and disclaimer I don’t typically read romance) but tbh because romance is so popular and all over social media, it’s kind of keeping physical media alive. I’m all for having as many people read whatever they want any time. In bookish spaces it seems like tons and tons of people read, but in reality it’s not the majority of the population. We already lost mass markets, if selling any genre helps keep paperbacks/hardcovers I’m all for it and will encourage everybody

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Anonymous replying to -> OP 22h

oh 100%, which makes it even more painful that I’ve had so many bad experiences. atp I respect what the genre has done but unfortunately feel I must avoid talking abt books with romance readers :/

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Anonymous replying to -> OP 22h

and I’m a writer who’s been thinking of switching to other media formats (and kind of have) so I fully understand how niche novels have become 😭

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Anonymous replying to -> #2 18h

Far, far more than romance deals with these topics badly. Like it’s ridiculous to ignore the blatant SA in other genres, often glorified as well, while only going after romance. This is a narrow view of genres that ends up just being harmfully targeted at romance and romance readers. We all have things to unlearn. And it’s important not to continue spreading rhetoric that devolves into misogyny and homophobia immediately.

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Anonymous replying to -> #1 16h

note how I said romantic relationships are “inherent to the genre” since. yk. it’s romance? and I’m quite literally defending romance readers by saying there’s more of them so it’s more likely someone will have a bad experience with them due to pure exposure. how is any of that “rhetoric that devolves into misogyny and homophobia”? ffs I’m literally a non-binary aroace person 💀

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