What's up with skinny girls in romance novels?
By Pinkie2011
@Pinkie2011 (64)
United States
March 1, 2011 11:04am CST
Hello everyone.This is just an opinion of mine but have you ever noticed that when you are reading a romance novel that the girl that the story is about is always skinny?What is up with that?I have not come across a novel yet with a girl that is plump or overweight or anything.Have you?Thank you for any responses.
3 people like this
5 responses
@perempuaniseng (1)
•
1 Mar 11
no, i don't think so, not always all the girls in the story are skinny. in my opinion, maybe we visualized the girl as a skinny one because we might be think that that is the best describe for a novel.
@Pinkie2011 (64)
• United States
1 Mar 11
That may be the case in some situations.But what about the situations where they explain how the girl looks.They may say 'petite' or 'thin and beautiful'?I have come across some books where they use these terms.
@JoyfulOne (6232)
• United States
1 Mar 11
I think it has to do more with 'what sells' to the general public than anything else. I belong to a few different writers clubs, and you are not the only one who notices this. I personally think there IS a market for the female main character to be overweight and not stick thin. I have read a few novels where the heroine/main character was on the pudgy size, and I rooted for her all the way in her romance and adventures.
@allyoftherain (7208)
• United States
1 Mar 11
What's up with clear-skinned, gorgeous, skinny girls in films and in magazines? It's the standard of beauty. I notice how you say nothing about how all guys in romance novels are muscly macho-men... so I assume that doesn't bother you as much. It's just an idealized environment, so naturally there are fewer books with flawed characters. I assume there are some out there, but I'm not a fan of romance novels so I couldn't tell you any.
@marguicha (215583)
• Chile
2 Mar 11
It seems that whoever determines what should be as beauty goes does that. It also happens with the boy in those stories. Yet in better literature one can find characters that are awesome in spite of being impaired in many ways.
We must thank Disney for his plump Godmothers even if Cinderella was skinny. But then, Cinderella should have had big feet as she walked barefooted
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. @Bookmite (51)
• United States
3 Aug 13
I have noticed the same thing in most romance novels. I think it stems from the fact that in today's society, thin is in! I have to admit that this drives me nuts! In real life, I have some awesome gal pals who are sweet, beautiful, smart and charming and the have trouble getting dates because they are on the plumper side. I would love to see girls of all sizes being featured in the media, including books, movies, etc. I believe this might change society's ideal of what 'beauty' is.
If you like mystery with a bit of romance, there is an awesome mystery series out that features a plus-sized heroine. It's called the Odelia Grey series by Sue Ann Jaffarian. There is also another mystery series with a bit of romance which features a plus-sized heroine with 2 suitors, called the Hannah Swenson series by JoAnn Fluke. As far as pure romance, I haven't read these but they were recommended to me as romance books that have voluptuous heroines. Jennifer Crusie's book Bet Me and there is also a series by an author named Angela Verdenius. Happy reading!
