The time is ripe for the romance community to welcome a new wave of feminist heroes in their novels. Author Sarina Bowen examines how that can easily be done while still making readers swoon!
Editor’s note: The following feature was written by USA Today bestselling author Sarina Bowen.
Confession: I have never been interested in royalty. Kate who? Nothing against ‘em, but I didn’t watch. Until now.
On Saturday, we all watched a self-described feminist marry royalty. This woman who shamed a global soap company into changing their sexist ad copy at the tender age of eleven snagged herself a prince who bit his lip when he saw her in her wedding dress. He whispered, “You look amazing” and we all let out a collective sigh.
Everyone knows I have a thing for gingers. But I have an even bigger thing for feminist heroes. A feminist hero is one who loves his heroine not in spite of her activism and beliefs but because of them. He’s proud of her achievements and can’t wait to see what she’ll do next.
This could really go either way, right? We could see a new wave of books about royalty. Or—and this could actually be better—a new wave of romance with feminist heroes.
Thank you, Harry, for showing us that a pilot playboy can be a feminist, too. We want our heroes to be admirably strong. But they don’t need to be Neanderthals. News flash: you can be a tough guy and still love and appreciate the fiercest heroine.
This is often done well with the adversaries-to-lovers trope. In Emma Chase’s Tangled, Drew and Kate are competing for a plumb account. He says he’ll do anything to win. Until a slimy client sexually harasses Kate. Disgusted, our man won’t play the easy card he’s dealt and snatch the victory.
Boom! That’s a feminist hero, even if he’s never used the f-word.
In The Score by Elle Kennedy, Dean, our deliciously sleazy hero, doesn’t think monogamy is his style. He’s the king of hookups, but that doesn’t mean he can’t see women for their true selves. Allie’s ex tried to corral her into moving across the country with him. And at the end of The Score, Dean hands her another plane ticket. We assume he’s made the same mistake. But in a twist, that plane ticket is bound for the city of her dreams, not his.
Nicely done, sir. Thank you for proving that a real man is bossy in the bedroom without controlling his lady’s life choices. And for making me roll on the floor during that dildo scene.
When I was working on Brooklynaire, I had some real issues to ponder. I’d set up this boss/assistant romance throughout three other books, and had to write the thing just as #metoo unfolded.
The challenge made me tremble, because there’s no mistaking the overt power imbalance between Nate, the nerdy billionaire, and Rebecca, his take-charge assistant. Nate holds all the money and power.
Or does he?
Although Rebecca struggles with becoming that girl—the one who’s sleeping with her boss, Nate is already so hopelessly gone for her. So it wasn’t terribly hard to show all the ways he respects her loyal personality and wit. It helped that my back story included seven years of togetherness. They’d been solving problems together since he was just a nerd with a keyboard and a dream.
The sexiest kind of hero, then, is the pilot prince / ambitious Wall Streeter / hockey playboy / genius billionaire who is completely flattened when the right woman comes around. He sees her in a way that nobody else does. He values what others have missed.
The feminist hero may not even know he’s a feminist, and may never use that word. He doesn’t need the word, because he already holds his woman in high regard.
So what makes him a feminist? Here are five things to watch for:
The Five Qualities of a Feminist Hero:
- It isn’t only her body that he finds sexy, but also her attitude. Confidence is sexy in women as well as men.
- He doesn’t find her accomplishments threatening. Or if he does, it’s only because they’re rivals, and he’s about to learn that there are better things in life than winning. Perhaps he even has a competence fetish.
- He values her judgement. Maybe he doesn’t value it the first time they meet. But he ultimately respects her vision.
- After he realizes he loves her, nobody else will ever do.
- He makes himself emotionally vulnerable to her, because that’s how trust is born.
That last rule is especially confusing. I’m not suggesting that our man can’t wear the proverbial pants. He need not emasculate himself to ask for help, because he trusts in his heroine’s authentically strong self. That’s why he’s able ask for help when he needs it most.
Even the toughest hero—the kind who seem to radiate testosterone into the air—can be a feminist at heart. He can look at the love of his life and see how much value she brings into the world (even the parts of the world that aren’t his bed.) Being equals doesn’t demand equivalent biceps measurements, but rather equivalent respect.
Sarina Bowen’s next novel Speakeasy (True North #6) will be released on May 29. You can pre-order the novel from Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, or Nook.
