My biggest takeaway from SJM on the Call Her Daddy podcast
I, like many women out there, am a whole-hearted lover of romantasy (romance and fantasy combined) books. Yet, as a fan of romantasy books, I have faced criticism demeaning my love for reading. Popular romantasy author Sarah J. Maas went on the Call Her Daddy podcast, not only to announce the release of her next two books (internally screaming), but also to talk about how her work is constantly being devalued for herself and her readers. Just like Sarah, I’m sick and tired of the jokes online stating that any romance or romantasy book that contains sex scenes is just porn, essentially ignoring the fantastical worldbuilding, the politics, the character growth and the themes that are so relevant to our current day.
Sarah J. Maas has written A Court of Thorns and Roses, Throne of Glass and Crescent City, which are all highly read and rated romantasy series. But, online, she faces an abundance of backlash for the “smut” that she writes — making people take her less seriously when the scenes that critics discuss make up a couple chapters out of an 800-page book. To reduce an entire storyline to just certain romance aspects is incredibly insulting to the author.
Sarah brings this up in the podcast, stating “Any time a woman writes something and there’s like even a little hint of sex that’s not fade to black…suddenly it devalues the work, and it doesn’t matter what else is in that book” (Call Her Daddy Podcast). This is a common occurrence with Sarah J. Maas books, especially in the A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) series; those who ignore the other non-romantic parts of the book are missing just how much impact she does have as an author. For example, the complex political systems in her books that can be lessons for today’s political environment.
Sarah goes on in the podcast to talk about people who have left abusive relationships because of storylines in the book that showed readers they could be powerful in situations like that. Personally, when I read the series for the first time, nearly five years ago, I felt confident in my self-efficacy to take control of my life and work towards a future that was my dream just as the main character does in the series.
I think that the belittling of books like this is deeply rooted in misogyny, especially considering the romance and romantasy genres have a majority female audience and a mostly female author space. Books that are popular among women, in the fantasy realm, get much more hate than fantasy books with a larger male audience, such as Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings. This makes little sense to me because the Game of Thrones series also depicts sexually explicit content, but is viewed as a series very focused on its worldbuilding and politics. I have not once heard anyone refer to that series as merely “fantasy smut.” Sarah emphasizes this point in her interview, stating “I find that there is a tendency for people to roll their eyes at things that bring joy, and bring women joy especially” (Call Her Daddy Podcast).
Another key point mentioned by Sarah in her interview was that she wants to write in a way that is accurate to real life. While it is a fantasy book, she lets beloved characters make mistakes, she depicts accurate mental and physical health struggles, and yes, she does include sex scenes, because believe it or not, real life includes sex. But much more importantly, real life includes so much more, and the themes that are interwoven throughout her books demonstrate them; you only have to be open to reading past the generalizations to see it.
When we, as a society, start picking and choosing what is deemed acceptable and what isn’t in books, we lean into an approach of censorship. Censorship in reading is abhorrent because all books have value and lessons to learn from, and we all should have freedom of speech and expression. Just because a book doesn’t evoke emotion or thought in you, doesn’t mean it doesn’t in another person; thus, we shouldn’t be tearing down others for what they read.
Part of why this frustrates me so much is because the books I read have helped me become so much more than I thought I could be, and they remind me that I can have the life that I want. Reading is a core part of who I am, and it has been a comfort to me since I was a child. Whenever I don’t feel like myself, I pick up a book and feel so much better. To see books that have shaped me into the person I am be disregarded as unimportant or irrelevant frankly infuriates me. Do you think that the people who left abusive relationships because of ACOTAR view it as silly fantasy smut?
Once again, I feel the need to remind others (mainly the individuals who make fun of my reading) that just because you don’t like something, doesn’t mean it isn’t something worth liking for others. I, for one, am very excited to read the upcoming ACOTAR books, knowing that they are so much more than what critics say they are.