Chic Lit and Representation

I have been reading what is considered “chic lit” lately. I already of course have issues with marketing Sophie Kinsella as chic lit but Jane Austen isn’t and also the marketing of romance specifically to women is more conditioning but whatever. They can be a fun read. (Books about female friendships are not considered chic lit, right?).

I was reading a Mhairi McFarlene book which I only completed so I could give it one star on goodreads (It was very, I lost weight and LOOK AT ME NOW) but it got me thinking: Who, in fiction, gets to meet “the one”? And what does that mean for us who don’t feel represented?

I am not even writing anything new here but let me say what I need to say.

At this point…… – NOW…. NOW as I read these books – it is so clear to me how we are conditioned to see things or feel things a certain way. Like how there is the ridiculous notion that ALL women have thought about their wedding day and even how we think love should look like and suffering for male attention etc etc. Shoot me.

So, finding romance books with non white protagonists is already hard, now imagine finding one who is fat and doesn’t desire to lose weight in order to “find” love. Near impossible.

The McFarlene book I read was of a former fattie who was now BEAUTIFUL and could get ANY MAN and REVENGE on high school bullies …… like it was such a frustrating book to read because I expect better stories and surely, this cannot be it.

Now, the other thing I have been seeing is how men are always “struck by beauty” and how the beauty is described. It is never dark skin or fat thighs or nappy hair and even as you read this sentence you know exactly how beauty is described. Isn’t that something?

ANYWAY…. I’m still jumpstarting my reading so yeah.