Romance Novels: Agents of Social Change

By Kathleen Rice Adams

Men of sense in all ages abhor those customs
which treat us only as the vassals of [their] sex.
—Abigail Adams (1744-1818)
second First Lady of the U.S.

March is Women’s History Month. While I appreciate the increased emphasis on remembering women’s contributions to science, art, philosophy, and society in general, I’ve always considered it a bit odd that we need reminding women have contributed. Designating a specific month during which to focus on women’s history implies that for the rest of the year, everyone thinks of women as secondary characters instead of protagonists in the grand drama that is the human experience.

I do not wish women to have power
over men, but over themselves.
—Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)
writer and advocate of women’s rights 

Women don’t sit around waiting for men to make all the great discoveries, think all the great thoughts, and fight all the dragons. They never have. Throughout history, as many women as men have explored the unexplored, cured the previously incurable, and given voices to those unable to speak for themselves. And, as has been famously stated, they did it all dancing backward in high heels.

“It would be ridiculous to talk of male and female atmospheres, male and female springs or rains, male and female sunshine...,” women’s rights pioneers Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote in one of their suffrage speeches. “[H]ow much more ridiculous is it in relation to mind, to soul, to thought…?”

Old-fashioned ways which no longer apply
to changed conditions are a snare in which
the feet of women have always become
readily entangled.
—Jane Addams (1860-1935)
social reformer, women’s rights activist, first
American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize

Anthony and Stanton often railed against inequality between the genders and the resulting injustices — like lack of access to education and discriminatory civil laws — visited upon the distaff side of humanity. Today, the philosophy they espoused is, or should be, de rigueur, but until the mid-20th Century, speaking such thoughts in public in many societies carried significant risk to life and liberty. In some societies, it still does.

That is one reason I feel historical romance novels can be important beyond the obvious entertainment. Unlike much literature written in previous ages, primarily by men, romance novels written during the past twenty to thirty years, primarily by women, portray heroines and female villains with courage, determination, and strength equal to the hero’s. Call me a man-bashing feminist if you must, but I believe it is critical for readers, particularly younger ones, to be presented with women characters who are much more than decorative pedestal dwellers.

If women could go into your Congress,
I think justice would soon be done
to the Indians.
—Thoc-me-tony (aka Sara Winnemucca,
1844-1891), Pauite educator, interpreter,
writer, activist

In fact, when one studies history, it becomes impossible to consider the romantic notion of heroes on white horses rescuing damsels in distress anything more than exactly that: a romantic notion. On any frontier in any age, toughness and capability are essential for survival, regardless of gender. Today’s well-researched historical fiction makes that abundantly clear — and like it or not, fiction resonates in contemporary culture, subtly but undeniably influencing attitudes on both sides of the gender divide. Art has always been both reactive and proactive in that way.

The best protection any woman can have
… is courage.
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902)
social activist, abolitionist,
women’s rights crusader

So, readers and writers of romance, take a bow. We’re not wasting our time with ludicrous, lowbrow literature; we’re buttressing ramparts our foremothers built long ago. Could there be a more pleasant, if stealthy, way to celebrate Women’s History Month?

The day will come when men will recognize woman as his peer, not only at the fireside, but in councils of the nation. Then, and not until then, will there be the perfect comradeship, the ideal union between the sexes that shall result in the highest development of the race.
—Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906), social reformer, women’s suffrage leader