Romance Novels Seduce Women into Unsafe Sex?

Jupiterimages/Thinkstock(LONDON) -- An essay in Britain's Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care says that romance novels portray an idealized vision of love and sex -- and some women may not be able to distinguish fact from fantasy.

Susan Quilliam, a British sexologist and advice columnist, writes in her July 6 essay that women who read romance novels tend to "suspend reality" in their real relationships.

Although romance readers say they know the difference, "when it comes to making life decisions, are they not more tempted to let the heart dictate simply because they are romance fans?" she told ABC News.

"Women and men need to be less driven by emotion and making sensible life choices," said Quilliam, a respected health professional who updated the classic guide, Joy of Sex.

"Romance novels are great fun -- I used to read them myself -- but society's value of romantic novels needs to be taken into account when we, as health professionals, look at our patients and the decisions they make about their sex and love lives," she said.

Quilliam cites research at Indiana University that found romance novels rarely talk about condom use: "And within these scenarios, the heroine typically rejects the idea of a barrier between her and the hero."

"To be blunt, we like condoms -- for protection and for contraception -- and they don't," writes Quilliam, who cites a recent survey that shows only 11.5 percent of romantic novels studied mention condom use.

One website devoted to the romance genre -- SmartBitchesTrashyBooks.com -- called the article "bollocks, rubbish, horsecrap, all of it."

"We have some pretty outspoken fans of romance novels in our community," said Sarah Wendell, a Montclair, N.J., romance writer and co-founder of the website. "Devoted women read them and write them and have taken a lot of crap for a long time for their love of the genre. Nothing is more insulting than to be told we are sexually unsatisfied and less intelligent just because we prefer that kind of fiction."

Wendell said readers were particularly irritated because the survey of romance novels that Quilliam referenced was 11 years old and sampled only 78 books in the Cleveland area. Those novels were written in the 1980s and 1990s before public education about sexually transmitted diseases.

The contemporary romance novel, they say, is much more grounded in reality.

As for condoms, "either they are referred to specifically or you know the foil packet reference," said Wendell, author of the 2009 romance novel, Beyond Heaving Bosoms.

"If they don't address contraception or condoms, we notice and think they're stupid in this AIDS era," said Wendell, whose second novel, Everything I Know About Love, I Learned From Romance Novels, comes out in October.

"I absorbed so much from reading -- female autonomy and satisfaction and confidence," she said. "The woman always wins."

Quilliam, who was surprised by the backlash to her essay, said it was written not as scientific research but as a provocative caveat for health professionals. "I pushed a lot of buttons," she said.

In her work with young women, Quilliam said she encounters women who get "swept away by emotion...One of the things that happens is they enter into a dysfunctional romantic relationship and the emotions can be very strong. And they think if it's strong, it's true love."  

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Study: Parents Reading To Hospitalized Infants Can be Beneficial

Photo Courtesy - Getty Images(PHILADELPHIA) -- It may come as no surprise, but reading to a newborn child can help improve the relationship between parent and infant. A new study in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics shows that 69 percent of children spending time in the neonatal intensive care unit after birth responded positively after being read to by a parent.

The study sought to find if there was a difference between newborn children spending time with a parent immediately after birth, if going into the NICU made a difference. Surveying 120 families, the study showed 69 percent of parents reported that reading helped them feel closer to their baby, and 86 percent reported it was enjoyable.

Parents also reported an increased sense of control and more intimate feelings with their child after reading.  One study participant shared her feelings on the results with Time magazine.

"Reading gave us a way to stay close. I couldn't talk to her or touch her, but she heard the sound of my voice. That simple activity helped me get through the situation, and I have beautiful memories of the experience,” said Mélissa Asselin, who has a five-year-old daughter with pulmonary hypertension.

The study concluded that parents who read to their babies in neonatal intensive care were three times as likely than other parents to continue to do so in the future.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio