I imagine it's a disordered desire in the same way men's desires are disordered by visual pornography. An unattainable masculine ideal is fetishized, romanticized, and radicalized. I could go on and on about an ingrained need for complementarianism in both women and men that gets twisted beyond recognition...
I'm pretty sure you have it right. With what's being pushed in the world and the whole view on women getting so twisted and degraded, and with sex being so prevalent and in easy reach, there's no boundaries anymore. Kids are exposed to this stuff much earlier than should be while confusing what anyone is anymore. I think, in a way, this genre is a reflection of the heart, the confusion leading to numbness and a need to feel. But in that feeling, they go in a direction that is destructive. The view on love is warped while seeing sex as a validation of their worth. The more twisted, the more they feel like going after what is taboo has a bigger emotional impact. And as we know, emotions is what dominates everything today. It's become the end goal that defines you. Of course its warped but this is the world we live in. For men, and the studies are there, the more porn they watch, the more they crave something crazier, more dangerous. It's a disease society has gone silent on because if you say something, you're attacked for being hateful.
You wrote, "But these are the books that dominate the fantasy book charts, destroying any chance for an actual real fantasy book to top the charts and get known. "
I think that this is the best time for an actual, real fantasy book to top the charts and get known. Sure, sex sells. It always has. But for a lot of the market, it's always trumped by better storytelling. So we'd better get busy! If the Halflings can overthrow Sauron, we can overthrow porn.
I imagine it's a disordered desire in the same way men's desires are disordered by visual pornography. An unattainable masculine ideal is fetishized, romanticized, and radicalized. I could go on and on about an ingrained need for complementarianism in both women and men that gets twisted beyond recognition...
I'm pretty sure you have it right. With what's being pushed in the world and the whole view on women getting so twisted and degraded, and with sex being so prevalent and in easy reach, there's no boundaries anymore. Kids are exposed to this stuff much earlier than should be while confusing what anyone is anymore. I think, in a way, this genre is a reflection of the heart, the confusion leading to numbness and a need to feel. But in that feeling, they go in a direction that is destructive. The view on love is warped while seeing sex as a validation of their worth. The more twisted, the more they feel like going after what is taboo has a bigger emotional impact. And as we know, emotions is what dominates everything today. It's become the end goal that defines you. Of course its warped but this is the world we live in. For men, and the studies are there, the more porn they watch, the more they crave something crazier, more dangerous. It's a disease society has gone silent on because if you say something, you're attacked for being hateful.
You wrote, "But these are the books that dominate the fantasy book charts, destroying any chance for an actual real fantasy book to top the charts and get known. "
I think that this is the best time for an actual, real fantasy book to top the charts and get known. Sure, sex sells. It always has. But for a lot of the market, it's always trumped by better storytelling. So we'd better get busy! If the Halflings can overthrow Sauron, we can overthrow porn.