As an avid romantasy fan, I'm constantly seeing posts/ comments (not on this sub but others) looking down on people who read romantasy and hearing opinions from people I know that are completely appalled that I read "smut".
Reading is something that is meant to be enjoyed, getting immersed in the world of fae, dragons and a little romance is like heaven on earth to me. It's not something that should be judged and attacked as "low quality" or "smut".
It might not be for you and that's ok! Let people enjoy their romantasy adventures or whatever type of book they choose to entertain themselves with. We all deserve to escape from the daily strifes and relax with a good book. Happy reading!
by Critical-Willow-6270
12 Comments
No one is stopping you from enjoying it.
Life is too short to force yourself through dense classics you hate just to prove you have taste. If a book gets you to turn the page, it did its job.
As a fellow reader of so-called “smut”, I think you are ultimately just caring too much. People are always going to look down on erotic material: it is trashy and decadent and this is precisely its appeal.
>”low quality”
Most romantasy (and erotic fiction more broadly) is indeed on one of the lower rungs of the literary ladder. I don’t need people to pretend it is Toni Morrison or James Joyce in order for me to enjoy reading it
People like to feel special for having an “unpopular opinion” like disliking romantasy. Life is short! Read what you enjoy!
Not everyone is going to like what you like and that’s just as ok as you liking it.
Just enjoy your books you don’t always have to jump online and be appalled that people call it smut.
I see its mostly from men, who are always going to be upset at women for liking anything.
People looked down on fantasy as a literary genre for decades up until just fairly recently. now we get some culture defining works from it
Who has power over whether or not you enjoy your genre of choice
>(not on this sub but others)
In that case, maybe we’re not the ones who need to hear this.
Who’s stopping you from enjoying? People talk shit about books I like all the time. You can enjoy and others can critique. Let people dislike things.
its classic misogyny.
Sort of funnily enough, my algorithms have been serving me the exact opposite: romantasy/smut readers looking down on other genres, with people saying that they read for pleasure/escapism because they’re challenged and fulfilled in all the other areas of their lives, unlike those sad litfic readers.
What I’m saying is that we’re all existing in silos and the discourse we see online is rarely representative of real life. If you see a lot of the same thing online, try to deliberately engage with the opposite and see what happens to the content you’re served.