Romance novels: Eighties to the nineties

I've noticed the change in style from romance novels of the eighties to the enlightened nineties. I classify them in terms of the caveman chauvenism of the eighties and the enlightened, sensitive new age nineties.

For instance, the “hero” of Mills and Boon and Harlequin novels of the eighties tended to consist of a glowering, professional, handsome but somewhat surly man. He was chauvinistic, would often have contempt for the “heroine” and would easily believe all sorts of awful things about her. 

He might believe her to be an embezzler, a gold-digger, a liar, a cheat, capable of fraud, an adulteress, a slut, a two-timer yet his overpowering desire managed to be in spite of all of his rational feelings.  Thus, animal lust would overwhelm his feelings of logic meaning that the “hero” would tend to mistreat the “heroine”, verbally abuse her, on occasion physically abuse her and put her through some form of test and mental torture before finally declaring his love for her when he discovered that he had wronged her. 

In contrast, the woman was frequently somewhat submissive and forgiving.  If she was a “professional”, she tended to be in admin, she would tend to have fairly low esteem and even the “spirited” ones would tend to fold under pressure and she would be blown along by whatever desire the hero happened to be feeling. 

For instance, she would be verbally abused, yet when his lustful feelings overcame him, she would yield and thereby invite his greater contempt of her.  Even early Nora Roberts novels like “Irish Thoroughbread” or Anne Stuart’s novel “Hearts Ease” demonstrate such traits.

They really make you wonder why the hero and heroine end up together.  The hero seems to despise the woman, the woman suffers so much hurt and humiliation at the hands of the hero that you wonder when it is she has the time to fall in love with the bastard of a man who might possess oodles of sex appeal and machismo but has the charm of an angry polar bear.  Nonetheless, it was obviously what we expected from a “romance” novel in the eighties.

Contrast it now to the enlightened, new age nineties.  Nora Roberts is the perfect example of the new wave of romance novels (which I happen to rather like).  The women are truly spirited – they’re professionals, they’re savvy, they’re smart and sexy and mouthy.  The men are usually quite in touch with their feelings.  There’s none of this jerking women around by the arm and accusing them of fraud in one breath and kissing them breathless in the next breath.

Perhaps it’s a lot more unrealistic, but there’s something more plausible to me about a hero and heroine that fall in love in these circumstances.  I really cringe at the ones where the woman is mistreated incredibly badly by the “hero” yet comes to love him.  So he’s sorry?  Too bloody bad if you ask me.