I don’t get the appeal of the filthy rich hero in modern romance today. I just don’t. It lacks originality, it’s too easy. Easy for him, easy for her, easy for the writer. The struggle is always the same. It makes the female look like a bit of a sell-out. Harlequin has built an empire on this tired trope and, sadly, it just keeps growing.

Give me class equality, or make them both lower class, or make HER the one with the money (which I have a tendancy to do when I write). Make him squirm for a change over the difference in their bottom lines.

However, from a reader standpoint (and perhaps writer as well), I do like alpha-male in sex scenes. Not much on fem-dom there. It’s almost like that’s the equalizing factor for me, if that makes any sense at all.

Great post, Joan. You always make me think.

Anyway, where’s the Rich parents Guy who also turned into Made His Own Self Middle Class Guy? Or aren’t those sexy enough to write books about?

I am pretty sure that one only shows up if Rich Parents mightily disapprove of him leaving the fold, and then he proves them wrong.

The concept is so broad, that some of it is more or less how my house works, and some of it is Biblical and LCDD, and some of it is douchey ev-psychers, and some of those people are out of their flipping gourds. I seem to recall they’ve got some “rape as a gifters” types running around.

There’s sort of a running narrative with a lot of gender essentialists that men would be Manly Men, skilled in the Man Arts of Leadership, if only modern women would *let* them be Traditionally Manly (using whatever specific definition they’re fapping about that particular day.) And, I really think that’s bullshit.

As it pertains to mass-market female fantasy, though?

There are a lot of alpha male titles. There are whole lines that demand an “alpha hero.” A good chunk of them are “Mr. BigDeal meets his match” kind of stories. And, a lot of them are about the heroine being rescued from some threat. There just isn’t a lot of Taming of Shrews, that I’ve seen, though.

There are also a lot of “sensitive” hero stories. Funnily, Christian titles, where you could probably get away with Biblical headship themes, tend to be sensitive guy stories. These are church ladies that just want someone to be gentle and wise like Jesus.

I’ve been most surprised with the mainstreaming of “menage” stories in erotic romance. They aren’t *nearly* so into the alpha concept. They *almost* verge on fem-dom, sometimes, and if it’s *not* flirting with fem-dom, it’s absolutely topping from the bottom. The one’s I’ve read have been sort of cheesy, but I *love* that it’s even trending at all. I think it’s a step up from the m/m slash fic. More honest.

His folks still take lots of vacations.

But regardless of his upbringing, he’s just a geek like me. I can’t fathom most of his life, but the part where we’re together is amazing.

Anyway, where’s the Rich parents Guy who also turned into Made His Own Self Middle Class Guy? Or aren’t those sexy enough to write books about?

And having read this, I have to know, what do you think of the Taken in Hand stuff?