Welcome to another edition of Open Book Blog Hop. This week’s question is: “Have you experienced or witnessed genre shaming, where readers/authors degrade a genre? If so, how do you deal with it?
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When I was a teenager, my mother bought me a Harlequin romance novel. I made the mistake of mentioning it at the dinner table. My father said, “Why are you reading that trash?”
Mother stood up for me, but I don’t remember what she said. I do recall that I didn’t finish the book, not because of what Dad said but because I was taken aback by the myriad sex scenes. This might have been something Mother enjoyed when she was a teenager, but it wasn’t for me. However, I would never have called it trash.
I don’t particularly care for certain genres such as horror or erotica, but I would never begrudge someone else the pleasure of reading such material by degrading it. I’m not a religious person, but I believe in doing or not doing unto others what you would or would not have them do unto you. I wouldn’t want anyone to degrade the genres I write and read. So, I’m not about to degrade a genre I don’t like just because I don’t like it.
We all have different likes and dislikes and the right to express such likes and dislikes. Saying you don’t like a particular genre is okay, but making people feel bad because they read a particular genre isn’t cool. So, before you degrade a genre you don’t like, ask yourself if you would want someone to degrade a genre you enjoy reading.
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How about you? Have you ever experienced genre shaming? If so, how have you dealt with it? You can participate in this week’s hop and read what other bloggers have to say by clicking here. You can also learn more about genre shaming by reading this article from The Washington Independent Review of Books.
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For those of you who use the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, The Red Dress is available for download from their site here. No matter how you read it, please be sure to review it wherever you can. That goes for all my books. Thank you for stopping by. Stay safe, happy, and healthy.
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New! The Red Dress
Copyright July 2019 by DLD Books
When Eve went to her high school senior prom, she wore a red dress that her mother had made for her. That night, after dancing with the boy of her dreams, she caught him in the act with her best friend. Months later, Eve, a freshman in college, is bullied into giving the dress to her roommate. After her mother finds out, their relationship is never the same again.
Twenty-five years later, Eve, a bestselling author, is happily married with three children. Although her mother suffers from dementia, she still remembers, and Eve still harbors the guilt for giving the dress away. When she receives a Facebook friend request from her old college roommate and an invitation to her twenty-five-year high school class reunion, then meets her former best friend by chance, she must confront the past in order to face the future.
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My Corner 
Absolutely agree that we should all live by the motto ‘Do unto others as you would be done by’. The world would be a much happier place if everybody did this.
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Quite right, I will try all genres, if I don’t particularly like one, I accept that it’s not for me. Attempting to persuade people not to read it is unnecessary.
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I don’t read horror either, because I don’t enjoy it. As for erotica, I can handle about a maximum of three sex scenes in one book and I’m done, but if anyone else enjoys them and wants to read them, more power to them.
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I think we all need to practice more respect with other people.
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Exactly. Whatever happened to accepting that the guy next to you has a right to his own opinions, likes and dislikes? We seem to have lost that understanding in recent years. And all it really is just respecting the other person and their self-ownership.
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HI Abbie, a super article. I like your attitude and it is the same as mine. I never comment on other peoples reading material although plenty of people make comments about mine. I like classics, I’ve always liked classics, and some people thing that makes me a book snob. I get a bit upset about it so now I only talk about books with my blogging friends who understand that everyone has different book tastes.
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I think it’s good not to associate with people who put down your reading preferences. As for my dad and his opinion on Harlequin romance novels, since he was my father, I couldn’t disown him. So, after that, I rarely talked to him about what I was reading unless I thought it was something he would enjoy. I like some classics, too. Happy reading!
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