Romance Novels Taught Me That Women Make Amazing Leaders
Really! This Is True
I began my writing career by writing romance fiction. As a teen, I loved reading romance novels and gravitated toward writing them as well.
There’s no doubt that what I loved most about them was . . . no, not the sex scenes . . . the strong, kick-ass heroines.
Even the early romances where women seemed weak, they were strong in their own way. Occasionally, I still read older romances from the 1970s or 1980s and the heroines irritate me because I’m looking at them with today’s eyes. But back then, I remember thinking that they were in control. It didn’t matter if the hero was rude or domineering (and many were back then) she still found a way to bring him to his knees and she got her way. Her perceived weakness was her strength.
As we entered the 1990s and 2000s, fictional women in romance novels changed to reflect the times. The roles of women in the novels evolved and the heroines became even more spectacular. They were now FBI agents and bounty hunters and corporate CEOs instead of governesses or cooks at a ranch full of sexy cowboys.
Romance novels and other women’s fiction get easily dismissed as just fluff or as female fantasy. They’re just about sex or relationships people believe, but they fail to see that…
