‘I'm Alright, It's Just so Horrible’: Teaching Romance Fictions, Pre- and Post-#MeToo

Abstract

This article discusses the author’s experiences of teaching the history of romance fiction to undergraduate students from 2013 to 2024, with a particular emphasis on changing approaches to teaching romance media that romanticisesor eroticises sexual violence. The #MeToo movement is noted as marking an inflection point in the ways in which such texts have been approached and interpreted by students, reflecting the increased priority given to issues of consent in romance fiction. The article discusses some of the risks and difficulties inherent in teaching such material, and how a trauma-informed pedagogy might be used to mitigate these in practice.