I’ve came across an interesting post on Instagram this morning, that lead to this article. The post raised a topic that Dark Romance with all its tropes might have a bad influence on young women. Assuming especially young, inexperienced women are reading that genre with great interest and getting a wrong idea about relationships. Concerns were raised, that young girls and woman start into unhealthy, abusive relationships and get traumatized because they never learned that abuse is anything but part of a healthy relationship.
First of all, as a Dark Romance Author I do care about my readers. Publishing in this genre also means setting it up for adult readers, only. This is no faculty on publishing platforms it actually is a requirement. But even if I write for adults, my books come with a clear trigger warning before you even make it to the first page. Because no matter if you sweet sixteen or lovely forty-eight years old, not everyone can cope with certain triggers. Moreover, not everyone can cope with let’s say kinky stuff.
I don’t know if there is a statistic how many women ever experienced kink at all. Yes, there is an idealization of kinky games in the bedroom but probably because to most it is something fictional. A fiction, that is different from their everyday live. If you have experience in that field, you perfectly know what kinks are okay and what are better avoided. But even then, it is different for every single women.
I have seen a lot of bad things in my live but I even I have boundaries what to put into a book or better leave out of it. Things like calling him Sir or Master will never appear in my books. While most authors are into it, I am not. There are different reasons for it.
I never experienced something like that, because there is no need for such a humiliation in a Dark Romance story. Knowing kinky stuff on a personal level gives me a clear idea, what hurts in a good or bad way. My characters are never shy to talk about it. Hurting someone physically in bed has nothing to do with Dark Romance, at least from my perspective.
Dark Romance with morally grey alpha male characters actually tells what this genre is about:
Dark, brooding characters having a criminal or not always legal background. Morally grey is what they do, they act, choose, decide and even talk immorally. The question is, why do they do it? That should be part of the story. Can a sweet, beautiful FMC heal a trauma of such a character? I don’t think so. But creating a story around trauma, illegal actions or even a criminal world without ending up in clichés is the job of an author.
There will always be fictional parts of the story where you raise an eyebrow, knowing it’s pure fiction. Yet the question is, are we sure, young women are not clever enough to see what is fictional or unhealthy? Some might need a guidance but some might not. The worst thing is, post like that deem a whole genre for whatever reasons.
I never heard anyone raising those flags about Crime fiction or Horror books….