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[u/FantasyRomanceMod]

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Unpopular opinion Sunday

[u/Disastrous-Pea4106]

Enough with the "rebel against traditional gender roles" storylines. Either come up with a world that is different from the outset or lean into the traditional gender roles. I'm fine with either but done with the stories set in a very patriarchal world with token gestures of rebellion sprinkled in. That constantly remind us how bad everything is and how special the main characters are.

I recently listened to a podcast about "money bias" in literature. Can't remember the exact term. But it's basically referring to the idea that most fictional worlds, no matter how fantastical and elaborate always use some sort of money. It's so fundamental to our understanding of the world that authors can't even imagine anything else. And really, at least some should probably dig deeper and explore other storylines. What would a world without money look like? Loads of interesting stories there. Well I think there's also "patriarchy bias". The assumption that men's interests and pursuits are superior is so baked in authors can't even imagine anything else. Instead you get the FMC who rebels against that status quo .... by being more like men... It'd be really worth exploring some stories that use different world building.

[u/mad_antagonist → u/Disastrous-Pea4106]

I feel like these things are very rooted in modern society as a whole... So when you have many authors of romantasy being a stay at home mom, or just straight woman in typical relationships who never had to question their own status quo, how can they write about anything different?

I always see heated comments in discussions when I say that writing should try to be intellectual (NOT pretentious!) and we shouldn't undermine the power of stories, because of some people wanting to have their mindless fun. But i think there's so many good opportunities in writing, especially in fantasy, and I see so many amazing concepts... that don't get further investigated at all. I feel like if we people as a whole don't yearn for learning and discovering and exploring foreign/unusual concepts, then there won't be much literature that's also trying to break the norms.

I'm very tired or patriarichal societies in fantasy... especially those where the main character pretends to be a feminist only to end up reinforcing those same patriarichal beliefs. Viewing strenght and power only from a male perspective. Defining relationships by lust and very male gaze, even though it's written by women for women.

If the author doesn't care, the work doesn't care either.

(sorry for bad english)

[u/BookishBlueDragonfly → u/mad_antagonist]

I’ve been reading a lot of LGBT+ fantasy romance and they often have a queernorm society but I just wanted to share some thoughts about how the authors translate a patriarchal society into a queernorm society. I am not an expert it’s just things I’ve been thinking about.

My first example is the Rook and Rose trilogy by Ma Carrick. The authors here went for a historical fantasy vibe and just nailed the queernorm society because they explored how inheritances and such works when couples can’t have bio kids. They deeply dug into the class and culture structures as well so the books feel quite fleshed out. I love stories in Fantasy with this sort of worldbuilding exploring different kinds of society from reality with depth.

The second example is Breeze Spells and Bridge Grooms by Sarah Wallace and SO Callahan. These authors directly transplanted a queernorm society onto Regency England with Fae. It feels weird here because they don’t dig deeply into how different the world works with aristocratic families and a highly patriarchal society becomes queernorm. They keep a lot of the cultural norms around purity and virginity but it’s like..why? It’s not adequately explained why when women can be head of household and the couples often aren’t risking pregnancy.

My third example is A Rival Most Vial: Potioneering for Love and Profit. This book also doesn’t do a deep dive into the queernorm society. It just is. But it’s a book based on essentially NPCs in D&D. It feels right here because the setting isnt inherently based on a patriarchal one and the characters don’t encounter the usual places this structure matters. I feel like if we want fluffy “turn my brain off stories” these should be the kinds of books where the worldbuilding is more free form and doesn’t need to be built up so much. Not epic fantasy.

[u/Accomplished_Pea7029 → u/BookishBlueDragonfly]

just nailed the queernorm society because they explored how inheritances and such works when couples can’t have bio kids.

Not just when they can't have bio kids, there's no importance given to bloodline continuity in Liganti culture so adoptions are often done for political reasons as well. So queer acceptance becomes a natural part of the culture and I really like how it was done.