Dubious consent is a feature, not a bug, of many romance books. Pretending otherwise is weird. Most people don't want to say that out loud, so I'll take one for the team. And hopefully people who have muted Bridgerton talk won't see this dumped onto their timeline.

I'll try to use the show name in every tweet here, but this a general observation (I've only see the first two Bridgerton episodes, haven't gotten to E6 yet). Often, this dub con is in unexpected kisses. On the page, where the reader knows this is going to end well, it's safe.

As a consumer, I can think of many books and movies and TV shows that have thrilled me BECAUSE of this kind of "wouldn't want that in real life, LOVE to see it happen to these characters" conflict.

It's super messy. #Bridgerton

This is something psychologists and cultural experts talk about at length, in nuanced terms. Random tweets you see about this topic are not always nuanced and they don't need to be. Liking something messy comes with some boundaries around that pleasure. Enter the Bridgerton show.

Something can be very excellent and also very problematic at the same time. Something can be entirely excellent to some people, and entirely problematic to others. And here on Twitter, we have this "don't bash romance" discourse which complicates everything. Enter Bridgerton ...

And also preemptively Sweet Magnolias, btw, because I think in the next season we'll have the infidelity plot line of that series, and that's almost as divisive as consent. But both SM and Bridgerton are successful books (and now shows) in part because of mess. Feature not a bug.

Given that so many of the most successful titles in our genre are messy, Bridgerton etc., and we could all be more honest that we like that mess and conflict when handled by creators we trust...we should also respect Content Warning discussions and not try to defend or debate.

I will never try to convince someone they should watch 365dni, for example, if they don't like dark romance or dub con.

Frankly, Bridgerton deserves the same boundaries from its fans, and for some of the same reasons.

Time to mute this thread! Apologies if I don't respond to anymore responses. Bridgerton viewing will return to this station once my book is done.