Romantic fiction is booming: it seems we just can't get enough of it. Why, exactly, is the genre so popular, especially among women? Spotlight asked Professor Maryanne L. Fisher for her thoughts. Professor Fisher is a research scientist and professor in the Department of Psychology at Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Q: Professor Fisher, according to fortune.com, the romance-novel sector is booming. Even post-pandemic, sales of romantic fiction are up in Britain and the US. How do you explain that?
A: The core idea of a woman struggling to find the best match possible is as important today as it has always been. Women have an appetite for stories about selecting a suitable mate for long-term relationships, or for short-term fun that might lead to repeated interactions. The latter, though, is usually accompanied by issues of negative reputation, as is often revealed in these novels.
Romance fiction is not a fad. In my work, I study how women act strategically to find the right mate to suit their current needs. I study women's mating strategies, including the way women advertise themselves and find potential mates, and how they compete with other women to attract their desired mate.
The fact that romance fiction is centred around a particular phase of dating - that is, the first phase - is revealing about what matters to women. Speciality fiction aside (i.e. fiction that's written for non-heterosexual audiences), it's all about choosing the right man. This has critical importance for future happiness, relationship satisfaction, raising children and maintaining one's well-being. It allows readers to learn vicariously about the process, revisit their own decisions and decide whether they've made good choices. It provides insight into their relationships.
Q: Do you read, or have you ever read, romantic fiction yourself?
A: When I was a teenager, I read Sweet Valley High novels. As a young professor, I studied popular literature using an evolutionary framework.
With their evolved motivations, emotions and cognitions, humans produce stories that audiences, with the same evolved heritage, consume. To appeal to an audience, authors create stories that tap into this background, addressing issues that have mattered over the course of our evolutionary past. Consequently, folk tales, television shows, movies, songs and novels are alike in that they share an ability to drill into what's fundamental to human nature.
"The primary reason why women consume romance fiction is because they can escape into it"
Q: Do you see romantic fiction more as escapism or as a way to cope with real life? Do you think it raises unrealistic expectations for relationships and sets women up for disappointment?
A: The primary reason why women consume romance fiction is because they can escape into it and imagine themselves as the heroine. However, most women don't truly expect that their partners are going to take them to balls, be billionaires or look incredibly attractive in a well-tailored suit. That's dreaming, or wishful thinking.
Romantic fiction offers a way to learn vicariously, without the need to engage in first-hand experience. It tells us about how romantic relationships form, how love might look and the ways that men flirt. It provides what is, in effect, a how-to guide on how to respond in order to achieve a particular outcome.
Based on social psychological literature, we know that people tend to gravitate towards mates who are similarly attractive or have values and interests that match their own. After reading romance fiction, women may look at their mate and think: "I really wish he could whisk me away to a romance location, shower me with rose petals and show me tender affection." But at the same time, they know that they can't really take time off from work; the children need to be watched; or perhaps they just don't have enough financial room to take a spontaneous trip.
Q: At the heart of romantic fiction is a story that never changes: two people meet, fall in love and live happily ever after. What changes is language and context. What do you think are the defining features of 21st-century romantic love stories?
A: In my work, I've noticed a significant increase in single parenthood. Heroines and heroes who are single parents are widows, or their mate has abandoned them. Rarely are they portrayed to have made a poor choice - to have selected a criminal, for example, who's in jail.
Analysis of the covers of today's romance novels shows that more pregnant women are now being presented than before. Novels are also increasingly focused on the couple - the man and the woman - rather than on others, such as those who might be attempting to poach the potential mate. And, of course, the inclusion of modern technology has changed stories, too.
Q: Is it perhaps what a Guardian article described as the "forgettability" of romantic fiction that makes it so popular?
A: The stories all hinge on the same type of interaction: a woman meets a man, and they become romantically involved. I think it's similar to why we enjoy gossip magazines and then put them quickly aside. These magazines, like romance novels, provide a way to learn vicariously about social norms, the potential ways to interact with others and problems one may encounter. These core issues are not usually forgotten, while the story itself often isn't so memorable.
Q: Will men ever become fans of romantic fiction? Or are they already secret fans?
A: Market research from companies such as Harlequin Romance reveals that about ten per cent of their readers are men. I have often wondered about the personality or interests of men who gravitate towards romance fiction. In my opinion, if a heterosexual man wants to know what women fantasize about in a romantic relationship, reading such novels is a great plan!