So, ladies and gentleman, this is something I’ve been thinking about since I put a post on Facebook a couple of weeks ago that said, “Reading a book and the leading lady is turned on by a COMPLETE STRANGER walking up to her and running his fingers down her BARE stomach WITHOUT HER CONSENT. Uh...no.”
One response I got from a guy *imagine that – cough cough* said, “Hey, if both are feeling the energy and locked eyes before he did it, I say its fair game! The consent is in the eyes.”
I immediately called bullshit, excuse the ‘not-French’. Better yet, don’t excuse it. I felt pretty strongly about it and still do.
Him: “it’s all about the atmosphere, the setting, the connection, there so much involved with a man daring to come up and just randomly touch a woman. It’s not just on a whim like some hip hop club where a good song comes on and u just grab a woman’s waist and hope to not get slapped lol.”
Me: “dude you're making a lot of assumptions here, handsome. When I say COMPLETE STRANGER, that's exactly what I mean. In this particular book the woman is afraid of this guy (he's a big biker dude that looks like a Hells Angel) because she's known him for all of ten seconds and they haven't even spoken. He gets off his bike, walks up to her and touches her [on her bare bikini-wearing stomach]. Sorry, but there is no reason for a man to touch a woman he doesn't know without asking. Ever. CONSENT. CONSENT. CONSENT.”
After that, I started talking with other writers of erotic romance who’ve felt that some of their own work is kind of skeezy because they felt the need to get the hero and heroine into bed faster. By the way, this post topic will make a reappearance on my personal blog soon because I’m ganging up on…uh, I mean teaming up with other authors to explore this topic more thoroughly.
So, what’s the point of this blog post? I’d basically like to know if there are any circumstances in some of today’s uber-hot romance novels that would actually be okay with you in real life?
We’ve ready plenty of books where the hero and heroine meet at a party and end up making out. Or where they’ve run into each other at least a couple of times and end up in a hot embrace or even sex. And considering my example above where the guy touched her bare stomach without even introducing himself, I might enjoy reading about a heroine being seduced by a bossy hot dude but some stuff is just creepy. In fact, in real life, strangers touching me is a total no-go.
Basically, if you’re a guy and you touch me intimately without my permission, I will punch you in the face and then kick you in the balls. After that I will run away screaming bloody murder so my friends will know you’re in need of punching, too. We might, maybe…well, maybe not, let your friends take your punk ass to the hospital to remove the boot marks from your forehead.
Thoughts, people?
TJ the Ball Kicker
Website: http://www.tjmichaels.com
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Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/T.-J.-Michaels/e/B002BMJ1RI
I am with you TJ I find it creepy when guys touch women they don't know. As for when the couple falls into bed moments or even hours after meeting it makes it seem sleezy. I like a book where there is some tension at least for a few days. I will tell you right now if one of my friends hooked up with some man within hours of meeting him I would be calling her out on it. Do people really connect that fast and really can they form a good foundation for a relationship when they basis it on sex and passion.
ReplyDeleteI find it hard to read some books when snap you are for me, la la and bam yeah sure and they are going at it in the first meeting. I hope in real life we have more respect for ourselves
ReplyDeleteDang it my first comment didn't post. I find it hard to relate to a book when within sentences of meeting each other the tangling limbs. Great topic and well done for telling that guy some home truths.
ReplyDeleteCherie I had trouble posting my comment all dang day, so glad you came back and tried again.
ReplyDeleteIn all honestly, I have a hard time writing a book where people are bumping uglies within moments of meeting. In real life, in my last relationship, we'd talked for a good long stretch before we ever met in person eventhough we were introduced by a mutual friend. After we'd gone on several dates before we were intimate in any way. My former dude is 6'3", 220lbs and buffed as hell. But even as big and muscular as he is, he would have been mauled in the junk if he'd touched me without my consent when we first started dating.
ReplyDeleteAs for the book I mentioned in the post, I haven't picked it up since I put it down. I just can't go there.
I picked up the book because I'd heard fantastic reviews about it on Facebook. So just goes to show that what's cool for others may not be cool for someone else. Which is okay, too...just not for me. I hope that made sense :)