<p>In this week’s episode, we discuss Romantasy, the Franken-genre that has conquered the publishing world and defined the libidinal landscapes of a generation of women. We decode the genre’s DNA from dimestore bodice-rippers to high fantasy epics, examine the sociological profile of its authors and audiences, and explore how it’s mutated in the digital age via AI visualizers and high-budget audio erotica. We also talk about Renaissance faires, fujoshi discourse, the mirror image of male vs. female gooning in popular culture, Emerald Fennell’s <em>Wuthering Heights </em>as the BookTok movie of the century, and more. Links: <a target="_blank" href="https://pin.it/1TneAynz1">Image board</a></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3Phxt8FjSSlQWfpgPfchE0?si=uaACxkuaRdi9ZTLzlcvXqg&#38;pi=LnnriKZlRg22o">Sam’s Romantasy Spotify Playlist</a></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://archive.is/qzngl">“Did a Best-Selling Romantasy Author Steal Another Writer’s Story?” by Katy Waldman in </a><a target="_blank" href="https://archive.is/qzngl"><em>The New Yorker</em></a></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/technology/ai-boyfriend-chatgpt.html">“She Fell in Love With ChatGPT. Then She Ghosted It.” (r/MyBoyfriendIsAI profile) by Kashmir Hill in </a><a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/technology/ai-boyfriend-chatgpt.html"><em>The New York Times</em></a></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23303334/">“Gender difference in brain activation to audio-visual sexual stimulation” by Chung et. al. in PubMed</a></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://is.muni.cz/el/1423/jaro2016/PSY109/um/62130424/Simon___Gagnon__Sexual_Scripts.pdf">“Sexual Scripts: Permanence and Change”</a><a target="_blank" href="https://is.muni.cz/el/1423/jaro2016/PSY109/um/62130424/Simon___Gagnon__Sexual_Scripts.pdf"><em> </em></a><a target="_blank" href="https://is.muni.cz/el/1423/jaro2016/PSY109/um/62130424/Simon___Gagnon__Sexual_Scripts.pdf">by William Simon and John H. Gagnon in </a><a target="_blank" href="https://is.muni.cz/el/1423/jaro2016/PSY109/um/62130424/Simon___Gagnon__Sexual_Scripts.pdf"><em>Archives of Sexual Behavior, Vol. 15, No. 2</em></a></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/renaissance-fair-origins-elizabethan-theater">“How the Renaissance Fair became America’s favorite fantasy” by Kelly Faircloth in </a><a target="_blank" href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/renaissance-fair-origins-elizabethan-theater"><em>National Geographic</em></a></p><p>r/AskAHistorian discussions about medievalism and high fantasy (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/td1j2w/why_is_fantasy_set_in_the_middle_ages_where_does/">one</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/jhp172/how_did_the_modern_genre_of_fantasy_become_so/">two</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/kpmepf/why_is_most_medieval_fantasy_media_inspired_by/">three</a>)</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/34281"><em>The Oxford Handbook of Victorian Medievalism </em></a><a target="_blank" href="https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/34281">ed. Joanne Parker and Corinna Wagner</a></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP4KSXq5V7E"><em>Hard to Be a God</em></a><a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP4KSXq5V7E"> (2013) dir. Aleksei German</a></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://romancewiki.bham.ac.uk/index.php/Candlelight_Ecstasy_Romance_Guidelines_Circa_1980"><em>Candlelight Ecstasy</em></a><a target="_blank" href="https://romancewiki.bham.ac.uk/index.php/Candlelight_Ecstasy_Romance_Guidelines_Circa_1980"> Romance Guidelines c. 1980</a></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.pulpmags.org/content/info/love-story-magazine.html"><em>Love Story </em></a><a target="_blank" href="https://www.pulpmags.org/content/info/love-story-magazine.html">magazine ed. Daisy Bacon (1921–1947)</a> (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.philsp.com/mags/love_story.html">see covers here</a>)</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED263528.pdf"> “The Uses of Reading Mass-Produced Romance Fiction” (</a><a target="_blank" href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED263528.pdf"><em>Harlequin </em></a><a target="_blank" href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED263528.pdf">study) by Susan B. Neuman (1985) </a></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://wordhistories.net/2023/01/12/sex-and-shopping/">History of the “sex and shopping” genre by Pascal Tréguer</a></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.vulture.com/article/heated-rivalry-fujoshi-fan-fiction.html">“Girls Who Love Boys Who Love Boys” by E. Alex Jung in </a><a target="_blank" href="https://www.vulture.com/article/heated-rivalry-fujoshi-fan-fiction.html"><em>Vulture</em></a></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-au/audio-erotica-quinn">Interview with Quinn founder and CEO Caroline Spiegel in </a><a target="_blank" href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-au/audio-erotica-quinn"><em>Refinery29</em></a></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.vogue.com/article/celebrity-audio-erotica-quinn-app-chris-briney">“Aural Fixation: Celebrity Audio Erotica Is 2025’s Answer to the Centerfold” by Hannah Jackson in </a><a target="_blank" href="https://www.vogue.com/article/celebrity-audio-erotica-quinn-app-chris-briney"><em>Vogue</em></a></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025/12/pluribus-romantasy/685382/">“The Importance of Critical Thinking in a Zombiefied World” (Why romantasy is crucial to understanding Apple TV’s hit show Pluribus) by Maris Kreizman in </a><a target="_blank" href="https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025/12/pluribus-romantasy/685382/"><em>The Atlantic</em></a></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://electricliterature.com/liking-books-is-not-a-personality/">“Liking Books is Not a Personality” by Hannah McGregor in </a><a target="_blank" href="https://electricliterature.com/liking-books-is-not-a-personality/"><em>Electric Literature</em></a></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.instagram.com/shauna_the_author/">@shauna_the_author on Instagram</a></p><p></p><p></p><p></p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. 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