Jan W Butler for apparently writing the following in an edition of the Romance Writers Report, courtesy of Kate’s blog.
. . . romance isn’t about just any “two people” celebrating “love in its many forms.” Organizations such as the Man-Boy Love Association would certainly refer to themselves as celebrating love “two people” (or more) finding love in one of its many forms” . . . while they actively promote pedophilia.
Think RWA can’t go down that slipper slope? Think again. Under our present definition, we cannot exclude such “love stories” under the category of “romance”. We, as a culture, seem to have forgotten how to say “enough is enough,” but RWA can–indeed, must–do better than that. . . .
And, please, spare us the arguments about “censorship” and “inclusiveness.” Preference for “one man, one woman” stories represents what RWA has always claimed is romance’s target demographic: college-educated, married, middle-class, monogamous, and moral. . . .Only in recent years has a vocal (translate: shrill) minority tried to drive RWA’s focus off that path, under the guise of “broadening its horizons.” But refusing to define romance according to the parameters it has held for centuries doesn’t “broaden” anything . . . it only starts us down the aforementioned slope, and once we’re in that slide, heaven help us.
There’s an old saying, “Go home with the one who brought you here.” What brought romance fiction to its present level of success is a collection of decades’ worth of one-man, one-woman relationships stories, in all their richness, variety, and power. RWA should be the first to endorse that, rather than attempting to placate fringe groups trying to impose their standards upon the rest of us. If anyone’s in danger of being “censored” here, it’s believers in “what comes naturally”: one-man, one-woman romance. We in RWA owe it to ourselves not to let that happen. Jan W. Butler
Jesus. Fucking. Christ.
You know, I’d love to know what the Queen bees of romance think of articles like this. I wonder if they secretly agree, or if they’re disgusted by the absolute drivel that comes from the mouths of people who should know better.
BTW, I didn’t realise that the RWA only targets college-educated, married, middle-class, monogamous, and moral people? So unmarried women don’t read romance?
Angela James
July 23
10:52 pm
I guess not. Glad no one told me that when I was reading romances in high school. No college education, not married and just slightly amoral (hey, I was in high school, what do you expect?)
Kate R
July 23
11:06 pm
I think the reponses at my blog were great.[on the left and right sides of the blog post–I have two kinds of responses possible because blogger has lots of spammers.]
Anyway, Stephen, Teresa B and Nora (Nora!!! Wow. my blog! Wow.) especially provide voices of sanity.
Kate R
July 23
11:09 pm
Oh and yeah –I just clicked on your “queen bee” links and see you wonder what Nora Roberts thinks.
you can see what she has to say. In my blog. On the left commentary thingy. In my blog. wow.
Karen Scott
July 24
12:08 am
Me too Angie. me too!
Kate, I read Stephen’s response and I thought it was fab. How did I miss NR’s comment? I guess I only looked at blogger comments. I’m glad to see she doesn’t agree with Butler. Still, it’s voices like hers that make me wonder if RWA doesn’t really stand for Right-winged Wankerly Arseholes.
I’d love to know what Linda Howard’s feelings are. God I’d be so heartbroken if I thought she agreed with these views. I’m not sure I could keep on gobbling up her backlist if I thought she was a bigoted fool like this ejit.
Let me know if she shows up wont you? *g*
AngelaDionne
July 24
1:57 am
Good Lord… does this woman realize how utterly f*ckspastic she sounds? Though, I am glad that we finally have a definition of what a romance reader should be… (she says as she rolls her eyes)
Dramedy Girl
July 24
2:31 am
You have GOT to be kidding. *scratches head* What century are we living in??? I’m glad to see that Ms. Butler would like to be the guardian of my moral center, now I wonder if she would like to be my PA too…
Desiree Erotique
July 24
3:48 am
What? The cookie-cutter target market stops with “college-educated, married, middle-class, monogamous, and moral”? She doesn’t think there’s other important criteria like race, height, weight, religious affliation or political stance? Aw c’mon, surely she knows about the favorite Beatle and bra size factors!
Ok, that was sarcasm. But tell you what, I know a heck of a lot of people who read and/or write romances that don’t fit her view of how romances should be, and not a one practices or promotes pedophilia. Her comments are totally out of line.
Discerningreader
July 24
3:59 am
Well, since I’m not Ms. Butler’s key demographic, (never finished college, single, and bisexual) I guess it’s OK that I’ll never read any of her books because I don’t count. And you just gotta love the whole gayness promotes pedophilia argument. *rolls eyes*
Laura
July 24
5:23 am
She might think she is an authority on romance, but she don’t know diddly squat about love.
Katie
July 24
10:21 am
In danger of sounding ignorant, but WHO is this woman? I googled her name and couldn’t find it.
Oh my, do I have to marry now in order to continue reading romance? I probably will never marry because I love to live in sin *hehe*. At least I did go to university, puhhh.
Karen, concerning Linda Howard, I hope with you. I can’t honestly read and enjoy an author, who behaves beadly ( to use your words). For me, it’s impossible to differentiate between fiction and (internet) reality. Especially not when the authors discriminates “so-called” minorities. Urggggg.
I am glad about Nora Roberts’ response, her trilogies are absolute comfort reads for me and I would miss them greatly *G*.
Kathy
July 24
10:50 am
I have been reading “romance” since I was 12, with the first Barbara Cartland that my mother gave me. Heh, yeah, mom tried to keep me modest! I moved on to Harlequins, to reading everything else, and I mean everything.
I am a white, monogamous (married and happily) and faithful to one man for 31 years), 51-year-old (tomorrow) mother and grandmother.
I love reading about: M/F relationships, M/F/M relationships, fantasy, multi-cultural, multi-species, werewolves, vampires, witches, YA fiction, mysteries, comedy, non-fiction, biographies, instructional, etc.,etc.
Where would I fit in? I spend $200 to $300 (or more, if my hubby is in a good mood,) a month on books and e-books… reading is my main source of entertainment. (Hubby works nights, heh!)
And, seriously, I thought love could be found everywhere, and in the most unlikely places…isn’t that what makes it romantic?
Karen Scott
July 24
11:00 am
Kathy, I wonder how she would categorise you?
She also writes There’s an old saying, “Go home with the one who brought you here.” in reference to the ‘golden’ age of romance’, but my question is, what if the one who brought you here, decides to get drunk as a skunk, and starts getting abusive? Just a thought.
Karen Scott
July 24
11:02 am
Sorry, Katie, I have no idea who she is, I was hoping somebody would enlighten me.
Kate R
July 24
12:13 pm
She might be an unpublished member of the RWA.
Good writer, at any rate. Too bad she’s all about exclusion.
Sam
July 24
12:37 pm
I wonder if she feels threatened by m/m of f/f relationships, and therefor feels obliged to bring up criminal activity to support her flimsy argument? I mean, the man/boy club is such a small, extreme fringe of society, and is illegal to boot, whereas homosexuals are integrated in society and live perfectly legal, normal, loving relationships.
I believe the consenting adult guildeline should maybe take precidence here – don’t you?
Jane
July 24
12:39 pm
Huh. Where are all the people trying to give advice to unpubbed authors? Shouldn’t she be getting a blog mention and a Deep Throat Google?
On another unrelated topic, I waffle about whether I want to know what the big name authors think of these issues. I remember last years RWA kerfuffle. There were some authors who came out in publicly in support of Nora Robert’s decision regarding the RITA ceremony. But there were others that were curiously silent. I emailed a few who had prominent blogs and received only radio silence.
I guess I wonder whether I truly want to know where these authors come down because if they believed the downfall of romance are these types of stories, I wouldn’t want to read them. And that might make me sad.
Tara Marie
July 24
12:51 pm
I thought love could be found everywhere, and in the most unlikely places…isn’t that what makes it romantic?
Perfect.
When it comes to my favorite authors I’m thinking I’d rather not know what their thinking on subjects like this.
Kathy
July 24
3:04 pm
If I don’t like what an author is writing, I don’t buy it. And what that author says about what we are discussing does influence what I buy.
I love the way romance is moving into other genres. How boring were the majority of romance books in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s: I mean how much of nurse/secretary/maid lusting longingly after her doctor/boss/employer can your read and not yack or yawn?
I would not tell any writer what to write or how to write it. But, I know what I like to read, and I am reading a wider variety due to the growing cross-genre trend in romantic fiction.
5-6 years ago, I didn’t like thrillers, or anybook that had the potential to scare the crap out of me. I probably would not have picked up a book with a guy with his fangs in the neck of a woman. But, because several authors came along, MaryJanice Davidson’s Undead and… was the first that I read, and made it funny and sexy, not so-scared-I-can’t-go-to-sleep. I bought one and that led to the purchase of others…then werewolves, M/F/M witches, and so on.
My son, 29,was home this weekend with his wife and newborn daughter. He picked up my copy of Katie MacAlister’s ‘Sex, Lies, and Vampires’, that was on the kitchen counter, looked at me and said, “Aw, Mom’s gone Goth on us! Heh-heh!”
I told him I bought it because it was funny, romantic, and positive.
I don’t buy books to feel bad. I don’t like the “dark side”…I buy them to feel good. If I buy a book and it is about a loving, positive, realtionship, whether it is vampires, same sex, M/F, aliens or whatever I will keep reading books by that author. Give me that happy ending everytime.
Lauren Dane
July 24
4:39 pm
Seriously, I have a hard time taking anyone seriously who mentions NAMBLA in a letter to the editor about romance novels.
I also have a difficult time taking a person seriously when she complains about groups pushing agendas when their letter is calling for the ouster of large groups from a membership organization with over 9 thousand members. That’s not an agenda?
Look, it’s simple. If Jan doesn’t like my smutty books, she doesn’t have to buy them or read them (although she seems to be thinking about them a lot). That’s what I do with books that don’t flip my switch. I don’t think about books that don’t work for me as a threat to my very soul for heaven’s sake!
It’s overkill and way too much drama and I’ll say right now that she’s got a right to screech about the decline of western civilization because of boysmut and menage books, even when she uses hateful and incorrect rhetoric that seems to make people think it’s okay to harm gays and lesbians – but now that I’ve given in and joined the RWA, I’m certainly not going to let someone like Ms. Butler keep me silent on the matter.
It’s hateful and I’m saying it out loud.
raine
July 24
4:42 pm
…attempting to placate fringe groups trying to impose their standards upon the rest of us.
HELLO????
Katie
July 24
7:14 pm
Hehe, Lauren, I like your idea about this person thinking a lot about smutty books. Repressed feelings and cravings that cumulate in outrageous denial?
And there can’t be any talk about imposing. Any person bying romance has the possibility to choose. I am hetero, but boy do I love a gay romance or ménage m/f/m *G*.
Barbara B.
July 24
9:42 pm
Is it too much to expect a college educated, married, middle-classed, monogamous, and moral person to draw logical conclusions? How do you logically correlate pedophilia to homosexuality but not heterosexuality? A frightening mindset but sadly all too common.
I wonder what would happen if the RWA did go down that much feared slippery slope. Would it trigger global warming, unprecedented greed and corruption in politics and big business, exorbitant gas prices, a failing educational system, a destabilized Middle East, a federal budget deficit in the trillions, and other similar disasters? It’s a pity that in the midst of real calamities Ms. Butler thinks this is an issue worth fighting for.
I don’t think Ms. Butler has the slightest bit of interest in people doing what comes naturally.
If she did she wouldn’t be a homophobe.
Bam
July 24
9:50 pm
I wonder what would happen if the RWA did go down that much feared slippery slope. Would it trigger global warming, unprecedented greed and corruption in politics and big business, exorbitant gas prices, a failing educational system, a destabilized Middle East, a federal budget deficit in the trillions, and other similar disasters? It’s a pity that in the midst of real calamities Ms. Butler thinks this is an issue worth fighting for.
Word to the muthafuckin’ word, Barb.
Selah March
July 24
11:40 pm
I sure do hope her self-righteous hypocrisy and misinformed opinions keep her warm at night. No one that uptight could POSSIBLY be getting any.
Sharon Cullars
July 24
11:53 pm
Wonder why in her description of the targeted romance reader, I have a feeling she left out the word, “white”?
Barbara B.
July 25
12:46 am
You know Sharon, I think “white” was pretty much implied as far as Butler was concerned. It’s coded language. Middle-classed is American code for white. Urban is code for black. Very useful, that coded language.
You can spew your bigotry but never have to use the traditional explicit language of the bigot.
Karen Scott
July 25
6:28 am
Ang, it amazes me that people in this industry can be so close-minded. It’s all about the let’s stick to the way things were.
Sam, she just doesn’t want to change, pure and simple.
Ooh Jane, dish the dirt, who did you e-mail? Erm, email me if you must! As for the silence from certain sections of the crowd, I’m not surprsied by it at all, some authors agree with this stance, whilst others just don’t want to get involved in the politics. You’ree probably right, I guess I don’t really want to know ho wmy fave authors feel.
Tara, when I think about it, I probably just don’t need to know how authors feel about these types of issues, better to live in ignorance, much like this woman is.
Kathy, I totally agree, life’s too short to buy books that make you feel bad, plus it is your choice what you choose to read after all.
Lauren said: but now that I’ve given in and joined the RWA, I’m certainly not going to let someone like Ms. Butler keep me silent on the matter.
Nicely said Lauren!
Raine, don’t ask.
Katie, methinks the cure would be for her to sit down and wade through hours of gay porn. She may just decide she likes it after all, and come out of the wardrobe. *g*
Bam, that was nicely put wasn’t it?
Hi Selah, long time no ‘see’!
Sharon, Barbara, you have to assume that anybody who’s that clearly bigoted, is probably gonna be a tad racist, whether she wants to admit or not. (And I dare say she’s likley to be just ‘wounded’ that anybody would think such a thing)
I bet she never thought her diatribe would end up with her getting branded a racist, but when you choose to show your hand in a public forum, them’s the breaks I’m afraid.
There will be lots of people who’ll object and say that it doesn’t mean she’s racist, but people who are homophobic, are as likely to be racist as anyone, cuz it’s all about intolerance at the end of the day. ‘I hate gays, but black people are ok’, just doesn’t sound plausible IMO.
She alleges that the RWA is a hop, skip, and a jump away from promoting pedopilia (what an idiot), so by that same token, homophobia would also be a slippery slope to racism.
She has her right to her opinions, but so does everyone else.
Nora Roberts
July 26
11:25 am
Butler doesn’t represent RWA. Her opinions are her own. And she’s entitled to them, no matter how narrow-minded and self-righteous they may be. It’s my hope that many, many members of RWA find themselves unable to ‘spare her’ and write letters to the editor of RWR in response to hers.
I believe she’ll discover her definition of fringe is as incorrect as her definition of romance.