"Mind candy" critics declare, adamant about the intellect-eroding properties of romance novels which account for half of all mass-market paperback sales. The phenomenal sales seem only to intensify the attacks of those who object to the simplistic plots and flat characters of the novels. Some see these attacks as a chauvinistic refusal to take seriously this popular literature, written and edited largely by women for a mostly female audience. But many of the genre's sternest critics are other women who condemn romance novels as dangerously passive texts that encourage readers to find in the fictional world consolation for the fulfillment that a patriarchal culture denies them.

Romance novelist Danielle Steele.

The very term "romance novel" is used pejoratively, and the image of romance readers as bored and boring housewives who live vicariously through the fantastic experiences of incredible characters persists even in the face of evidence...