Rewired by dark romance

Some people say that novels in the genre of “dark romance” (or even just romantasy) are a form of sexual conditioning that is wreaking havoc on women's brains and sex lives. They say that these novels reprogram the reader's brain and body to crave rape and sexual abuse, and to desire evil men in real life.

The following is an example plot/storyline for a hypothetical novel in the genre of “dark romance”. Let us consider the potential for this storyline to reprogram the brains of readers.

Christopher (the male protagonist) is a powerful and very masculine billionaire with a dominating personality. He is extraordinarily handsome and smart in the opinion of Anna (the female protagonist). When he meets Anna by chance, he quickly becomes enamored with her. He develops an intense desire to possess her. He is proud of his reputation for having unbreakable self-control and self-restraint. However, he feels his self-control wavering whenever he is near Anna. He has never before felt such strong and uncontrollable feelings about a woman.

Anna is initially happy to receive Christopher's undivided attention until she discovers that Christopher's company is the one that destroyed her father's business. Her father has a lifelong feud with Christopher and hates him ferociously. Out of loyalty to her father, Anna declines all of Christopher's invitations and offers.

Christopher's desire for Anna has already grown to a searing intensity. He is unable to stop thinking about her constantly. His famous self-control shatters dramatically. He is utterly determined to possess Anna. He is willing to risk the destruction of his entire empire in order to get Anna and make her his wife.

She has gone into hiding. He tracks her down. She flees, and he chases her. He captures her and abducts her. He forcibly transports her to his private island, and he locks her inside his huge luxurious palace. Inside the palace, he and his servants spoil her with every luxury that she could possibly want. He gives her everything that she desires except for her freedom to leave.

When he tries to have sex with her, she is very tempted to agree, especially considering that her body responds with strong arousal in response to his mere presence. She comes very close to saying yes. However, she is still angry about being held captive, so she refuses to have sex with him. By this point, he is overwhelmed with burning hot lust for her. He loses control of himself.

He claims her for himself. He grabs her and overpowers her muscles. He takes her forcibly, and he conquers her and dominates her sexually. She surrenders and submits to him. She feels intense pleasure, and she begins to enjoy the sex. She ends up having an Earth-shattering orgasm. In the end, she agrees to be his wife.

Now I will describe the impact that such a “dark romance” novel has on the brains of female readers.

🤷🏻‍♀️ Firstly, it does not matter anyway 🤷🏻‍♀️

Firstly, even if a novel has the power to reprogram my brain to love evil billionaires, who cares? It does not matter. Even if I was silly enough to search for this type of man in real life, where would I find him?

What is the chance of me finding an extraordinarily handsome and smart billionaire who desires me intensely and wants to lock me in his huge luxurious palace? It is never going to happen. It is pure fiction.

Sure, I could pay for the most expensive hairdresser to give me the sexiest hairstyle and the hottest lingerie tips, but still, I am pretty sure that my chance of meeting such a man is 0.00000000000001% or even less.

Likewise for “monster smut”. Even if a smutty novel somehow manages to sexually condition you to enjoy sex with a minotaur, it makes no difference, because you can never do it in real life anyway, because no minotaur exists in reality. Thus, it does not matter if you enjoy “monster smut”, because it has no consequences in the real world.

What about regular fantasy novels? Should everyone stop reading fantasy novels because they might start wanting a dragon in real life? And a magic wand to go along with the pet dragon? Perhaps a little bottle of fairy dust as well?

When was the last time a young woman read or watched “Harry Potter” and then rejected a real-life boyfriend because he didn't have a scar on his forehead and could not cast any magical spells? This never happens!!

And why are the puritans only worried about female readers being brainwashed? If female readers can have their brains “rewired” by novels, then male readers can too. However, I have yet to see any man reject a potential girlfriend for the reason of her lacking the magical abilities of Hermione Granger or Ginny Weasley.

What about sci-fi? Have you ever seen any men wearing jet-powered metal suits after watching the “Iron Man” movies? Have you ever seen any women trying to date handsome men in metal suits? Please post a comment immediately if you have seen any of this funky business.

💪 The reader always stays in control ✋

Enjoying a sex scene in a novel is not the same as enjoying it (or wanting it) in real life. Obviously. When I am reading a novel, I remain in control. If the heroine is trapped in a dungeon, then she cannot escape, but I can. I can simply stop reading the novel at any moment. I also have the option of skipping to the next chapter if I hate what is happening in the current chapter.

I have no reason to fear the characters and incidents in a novel, because I know that it is not real, and I am in complete control of whether the story continues or stops. Thus, it is a very different situation, and one does not cause the other.

🤤 Enjoying a story does not mean wanting it in real life 😮

Some people claim that if the female protagonist is raped, then this will train/condition/cause the reader to want to be raped in real life. This claim makes no sense.

For example, many people agree that the “Star Wars” trilogy is exciting and enjoyable to watch. This does not mean that we want it in real life. I certainly would not want to experience the things that Princess Leia or Luke Skywalker suffered, such as:

• Imperial stormtroopers murder Luke's family and destroy his home while searching for the two droids.

• Leia is taken prisoner by Imperial stormtroopers and scheduled for execution.

• Alderaan (the home planet of Princess Leia) is obliterated by the Death Star's superlaser. Everyone dies.

• Luke's friend and mentor Obi-Wan is murdered by Darth Vader in a lightsaber duel.

• Many of Luke's friends and comrades die when the Rebellion's X-wing squadron engages in a desperate attack against the Death Star.

• Luke engages Darth Vader in a lightsaber duel. Vader defeats Luke by severing his right hand. Then Luke is further traumatized by Vader's revelation that he is Luke's father.

• Leia frees Han Solo from potentially-fatal carbonite but is caught by the crime lord Jabba the Hutt and enslaved and chained.

• The Emperor tortures Luke with Force lightning.

• Luke and Leia are nearly crushed to death in a garbage compactor.

Yes, bad things happen in various romance novels, but this is completely normal for fiction novels and movies. Banning romance novels is equally as absurd as banning sci-fi movies such as “Star Wars”.

⚠️ The danger of orgasming with a harmful fantasy 😵

Reading and orgasming are different activities. Obviously. Therefore, they have different effects. Obviously. Simply reading a book (or watching a movie) will not “rewire” the brain. In contrast, repeatedly orgasming while fantasizing could potentially cause sexual conditioning (it is a possibility).

Merely reading a sexy book or watching a pornographic video does not cause a woman to spontaneously orgasm. In theory, a woman could decide to masturbate after reading a book, and she could decide to bring herself to orgasm while fantasizing about the male protagonist or something that happened in the story.

I recommend that people choose their fantasies wisely when masturbating and orgasming. For example, it is unwise to deliberately fantasize about enjoyment of:

• Being raped by someone.

• Being a rapist.

• Violence.

• Humiliation or degradation.

• Sadism (pleasure from inflicting pain or injuring people).

• Masochism (pleasure from being hurt or injured by someone).

• Pedophilia.

• Jabba the Hutt.

Sometimes people have a so-called “rape fantasy” that does not depict an actual genuine rape (depending on the details). In this case, it would be better to call it a ravishment fantasy (alternatively, a domination fantasy). To prevent confusion and misunderstandings, the word “rape” should be reserved for actual rape.

When you masturbate, I recommend that the man in your fantasy be known and very desirable, not a stranger (for example, not a burglar wearing a balaclava). If the man is wearing a balaclava and hardly speaks, he could be a very ugly violent thug/brute with low intelligence (or even retardation).

In contrast, if you fantasize about being ravished/dominated (not raped) by an impressive man of your own choice, and if this man is smart and handsome according to your own personal preferences, and if you ultimately receive various benefits in your fantasy, then the fantasy is at least partially rational/understandable and not something that makes people think, “That's awful! Why would you want that??”