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180: Labels and gatekeeping in romance novels

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180: Labels and gatekeeping in romance novels
Apr 15, 2025 Episode 181
Sagan Morrow

Is it rude to refer to a romance novel “smut”? Not to me ;) You can call my books whatever you want! …BUT, there’s a lot of nuance to this (and context matters) — so in this episode, we’re exploring important questions we need to ask around the labels we use, our intentions behind our word choices, and the problems with gatekeeping in the romance novel community. 

Examples we discuss in this episode include: Smut, enemies to lovers trope, spice levels, smutty vs spicy vs sexy, and “fairy porn” in romantasy.

Resources mentioned in this episode: 

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