Did your obsession with romance novels mess up your sex life? Did you grow up wishing it was Femi on the cover, not Fabio? This week, the aunties Malaka and Nana Darkoa return to their teen reads and question how the genre tantalized and traumatized them.
Inspired by an Adventures From The Bedrooms of African Women blogpost written by contributor, Voluptuous Voltarian – or VV – they dig into the problematic power dynamics of novels from Mills & Boon and Harlequin Romance. “I had just poisoned my brain,” VV says. “That stuff had given me a blueprint for romance and sex that was totally, totally, totally, totally unrealistic.”
But they also excitedly discover that new generations of African girls have more to look forward to as Black women reclaim and rewrite the genre. “My commitment is that girls who look like me will see themselves in my books,” best-selling author Nana Malone says.
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