Opinion: The rise of dark romance and the controversies behind it

CONTENT WARNING: The article and sources below contain references to items of a sexual nature. Reader discretion is advised.
Booktok —the reading community on the social media app TikTok— has shaped the publishing industry, its dedicated members playing a crucial role in whether a book joins the New York Times bestseller list or gets buried between other titles crowding the bookstore shelves. Romance has become the most popular literary genre in the U.S., making $1.4 billion in revenue in 2022 with the help of Booktok. Dark romance, a subgenre that focuses on messy, twisted, and often morally questionable love stories and explores themes of abuse, violence and trauma, has also gained significant popularity with the rise of Booktok in 2020. The genre delves into taboo, complicated topics, with some of its tropes being mafias, kidnapping, violence and stalking which are often painted as love or desirability.
Dark romance could be considered an evolution of Dark Romanticism, a genre that emerged from the Transcendental philosophical ideas that grew popular in the nineteenth century . The literary movement was often associated with gothic fiction —another origin of modern dark romance— which originated from works such as Horace Walpole's 'The Castle of Otranto' (1764) and continued by English writers such as Mary Shelley, Emily Bronte and John Polidori. However, dark romanticism emphasized the fallibility of human beings while gothic writers attempt to create an atmosphere of mystery and suspense, making readers feel intense emotions by using elements of horror.
Dark romance books are filled with triggering content such as sexual violence, murder and stalking, yet many of their readers —primarily women — find great comfort in the story. Readers often use fiction as a form of escapism , and the argument can be made that dark romance is therapeutic because no matter what the female protagonist goes through, the story always ends with a 'happy ending' and find love. In addition, the intense tension between the two morally-ambiguous characters can be intriguing to many readers. The main appeal of the genre is how it touches on real-life issues combined with the fantasy it creates, in which the protagonist survives and even finds some sort of love and happiness in the end.
Some supporters of the genre, such as bestselling author of the 'Twisted' series, Ana Huang , argue that 'fiction is a safe way to explore those fantasies and experience these visceral emotions without them actually being in danger .' However, studies also show that repetitive exposure to violence through entertainment, particularly electronic media, increases the risk of violent behavior from viewers . In addition, continuously experiencing negative emotions due to violent or gory scenes through media can lead to the habituation of certain natural emotional reactions or 'desensitization.' This means that consuming dark romance can impact one's perception of the world and shape their behavior, even if they do not consciously romanticize its content, especially for young readers with undeveloped minds . Readers often use these dark romance books as a form of escapism, which leads to withdrawal from social relationships, potentially blurring lines between healthy, realistic boundaries and toxic behaviors depicted in fictional novels. For example, many dark romance fans on TikTok depict anger, forceful love, jealousy and over-possessiveness towards a partner to be a sign of strength, passion and love.
'Fifty Shades of Grey' is a popular example of the harm of dark romance. The book is considered the bestseller of the decade and it depicts the abusive characteristics of the relationship between Anastasia and Christian, such as stalking, intimidation, and isolation, as romantic. The study also proves that reading books containing romanticized violence against women is also directly associated with health risks in adolescent and young adult females. Despite the book having multiple explicit and intense themes throughout the story, the book is purchased by many teenagers , who are especially vulnerable to being mentally impacted by the media they consume. The study emphasizes that if women experienced adverse health behaviors first, reading 'Fifty Shades of Grey' or similar works of fiction might reaffirm those experiences and potentially aggravate related trauma. Likewise, it is possible that the book influences the onset of health behaviors in its readers by creating an underlying context for the behaviors. Such books mold young women's perception of what a relationship should be, and overall, can have negative influences, no matter how much the reader consciously separates reality from fiction.
Another harmful aspect of the genre is how it downplays and misrepresents serious, real-life issues. For example, H. D. Carlton's 'Haunting Adeline,' which has become one of the most popular dark romance books online, depicts Adeline being stalked and forced into a non-consensual relationship by Zade Meadows. Not only does the book glorify a stalker and assaulter as a 'love interest,' but it also tries to depict Zade as a hero by stating that he works to protect women and children from human trafficking. This was not used as an opportunity to discuss and explore a serious and relevant topic, but is simply a plot device to make the character more likeable. However, Zade's harmful behavior towards the protagonist overpowers the subplot of his 'altruistic' actions. A Youtube book reviewer, Cindy , argues that the novel depicts human trafficking as something that happens completely randomly, downplaying the many factors, such as ethnicity, disabilities and status , that raise the possibility of falling victim to trafficking.
Dark romance is a subgenre that has been popular in the past and will remain popular in today's world, despite its many faults. However, this does not change the fact that the contents of these stories are extremely harmful and that the consumption and distribution of such novels should be discussed more by fans and critics of the genre alike. Fiction is one of the strongest bonds between people worldwide, allowing it to shape individual minds as well as the society as a whole. This means that the rise of a genre that explores darker themes has the potential for writers to explore and bring awareness to issues that are often ignored, rather than romanticizing them. Related

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