If Bridgerton Lovers are preparing to return for a new Regency England romance on January 29. Viewers are drawn into a world of lavish parties, beautiful dresses and Lady Whistledown’s gossip. As Benedict Bridgerton and Sophie Baek’s story plays out on screen, more and more questions may also arise about how the show handles consent.
Based on the popular historical novels by Julia Quinn, each season of the Netflix adaptation follows the love story of one of the eight Bridgerton siblings. Each of the first three seasons arrived viewed more than 90 million times during their first 91 days on the streaming platform.
But while the love stories have captivated viewers, the show’s portrayals of consent – which the… National Sexual Assault Resource Center defines this as ‘all those involved have agreed to what they are doing and have given their consent’ – are varied.
Season 1 in particular sparked controversy due to a marital rape scene in which the main character, Daphne Bridgerton, forces her husband to ejaculate inside her after repeatedly making it clear during other sexual encounters that he did not want to. Bridgerton fans criticized showrunners for including the scene from the original book when it premiered in 2020.
In the years since, the show has done just that evolved in his portrayal of consent. Season 3 maybe the season with the best display of consent, with Colin Bridgerton asking Penelope Featherington for consent during several sexual encounters.
But there is still room for improvement when it comes to informed consent– meaning there is open communication about boundaries before, during and after the activities they undertake, and what may result from their actions. Season 4 is an opportunity for that Bridgertona show that combines the historical and the modern, to better represent consent for a contemporary audience.
Evolution of consent in modern novels
While the Bridgerton series has reached new heights in terms of book-based adaptations, the popularity of the romance genre is nothing new.
The concept of the novel as we know it today dates back to the romantic fiction of the 18th and 19th centuries. according to the New York Public Library. While the early days of novels primarily explored the stories of heterosexual, white women, the genre has slowly grown evolved to become more inclusive. New subgenres– such as new adult romance and romance-fantasy (better known as romance) – have also emerged. Figures of speech such as friends with lovers, forced closeness and fake dates have created certain frameworks that structure the stories.
Consent appears to be more and more important for romance lovers. Even this winter the Heated rivalry TV series based on the bestseller by Rachel Reid Game changers new series – was praised for its representation of positive consent.
And the books we read, fictional or otherwise, can shape our real life. Aashna Avachata literary agent and author of young adult novels, said in an interview with Newsgroup rewiring that her expectations of what romance would be like growing up were partly based on the books she read.
“I remember growing up, the romance books I read, whether for teens or adults, rarely had explicit consent,” Avachat said. “It always seemed a bit implicit. And that, I think, was considered quite romantic.”
But as she began her career as a writer and agent, she noticed a shift: Books, especially in the field of young adult novels, included more direct consent.
“[I] I started noticing that even in the first kissing scenes, the characters were asking, “Can I kiss you?” Do you want me to kiss you?'” Avachat added. “And I think that started to feel like kind of an important shift, and I think a positive shift, where we saw consent as a romantic gesture.”
The concept of consent has changed over time in American society, as has the way it is explored in literature. Given that novels are published at different times when definitions of consent vary, discussions about consent can be complicated.
In addition to romance and new adult novels, contemporary romance (set after World War II), historical romance (set before World War II), and romantic suspense (a mix of mystery, thriller, and romance elements) are also popular. popular romance subgenres. Dark romance is becoming increasingly popular and is receiving criticism from what some readers consider romanticized images of abuse and lack of consent.
According to Options Domestic and sexual violence servicesthe subgenre can become harmful if it reinforces harmful myths about abuse, blurs the boundaries of consent, and may lack proper context that may be important to younger readers. (It’s worth mentioning not all readers and critics view dark romance negatively: It can help some people process their emotions and raise awareness about harmful behavior.)
Historical context
Dr. Jayashree Kamblean English professor at LaGuardia Community College in New York City who teaches romance stories in fiction, popular culture, and literature, explained that “readers grow up surrounded by the politics of their time,” and that the period in which readers come to novels can influence the lens through which they read them.
“Commercial novels have a history of more than a hundred years, and novels in which sexual violence was more common, as well as scenes of questionable consent or fabricated consent, are most often found in examples from the 1970s,” Kamblé said. “In the 1980s, readers and editors alike asked writers to change that.”
She added that when examining texts through a cultural studies lens, especially those written in the past, it is necessary to view them from two time periods: when the text was written, and the current moment.
“You always have to wear both hats… because otherwise everything else will fail based on your current standard,” she said.
“I don’t think we have upset anyone,” Kamblé added. “But we also don’t necessarily say, ‘Oh my God, can you believe they did this and thought it was acceptable?'”
Kathleen E. Woodiwiss’s 1972 book The flame and the flower is often cited as a prominent example of the historical “bodice ripper” style of novels, which often feature sexual violence or questionable depictions of consent. This particular book was a bestseller at the time, and the New York Times reported that it helped to grow historical romances in paperback form.
However, the story has since been criticized for the relationship between the main characters, Heather Simmons and Brandon Birmingham. As the story unfolds, he rapes her, resulting in a pregnancy. And they are forced to marry before they finally live happily ever after.
In older novels it is often said ‘rape heroes.” If Salon reported“In the early 1970s, ‘no’ sometimes meant ‘yes’ in novels and a rapist could appear as the hero.”
Kamblé explained that the current cultural conversation around consent is quite new and is shaped by several factors, including feminist movements, increasing awareness of bodily autonomy, and “the practice of sexual activity that has different stages.”
There were different phenomena in different decades: In the late 1960s and 1970s, during the women’s liberation movement, romance readers understood women’s rights — including the right to sexual sovereignty — very differently than baby boomers, who linked sex and consent to marital responsibilities, Kamblé explained. And 1990s romance readers viewed consent through “the broader ideology of consumer culture feminism, which equated initiating sex as a sign of one’s independence and with the implicit idea that such initiation made consent clear,” Kamblé said.
“The idea of consent itself is something that has emerged from that new way of thinking about sexual engagement and one’s own body,” she added. “We’ve also had, especially in the United States, changing laws about when and if you can say no.”
For example, what constitutes consent and marital rape is a concept that is constantly changing in the US. National Domestic Violence Hotline According to reports, the “perception of women being viewed by customary law as objects of property and unable to manage their own legal affairs continues to influence the perceptions of men, police officers, prosecutors and judges.”
They report that marital rape was not considered a crime in all US states until July 1993, although the way it is defined and the associated consequences vary from state to state.
The future of the romance genre
Figures suggest that the audience for romance novels will continue to shape the dialogue as readers continue to influence demand. The Guardian reported that “annual print sales of novels have more than doubled” from $18 million in 2020 to $36 million in 2023.
The number of bookstores dedicated to selling novels has increased internationally, including in the US, Canada and Australia. The Romancing the data database estimates that there are now 218 brick-and-mortar romance bookstores around the world. More than a dozen In recent years alone they have opened internationally, including Books Ever After in Australia, Saucy Books in the UK, Dear Reader in Germany and Perfect Match in Canada.
There is no one way to be a novel reader, according to Dr. Kamblé, meaning that what romance readers get from a book—for example, whether their ideas about consent are strengthened or challenged—is different for each person. A reader comes to a text with special lived experiences, influenced by their culture and family, to name just a few factors.
On the agent side, Avachat said she thinks about healthy depictions of consent when she editorializes on her clients’ books. She believes in the positive possibilities of novels.
“I hope that consent is explored more and more directly in novels,” Avachat said. “But I do think the industry kind of ebbs and flows depending on what kind of content it’s interested in. So I don’t know exactly what lies ahead.”
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