Have romance novel characters become, well, too romantic?
Fabio Lanzoni, the Italian American actor and model popular known as just Fabio who famously flaunted his muscular body on the covers of scores of romance novels, thinks so.
In an interview with the New York Post, published Saturday, Fabio, 64, criticized modern romance novels for their depictions of “soft masculinity,” a trend he says stems from the “progressive woke movement” peddled by “the political far left and the Biden administration.”
“Hogwash!” he said. “In life, there are trends, and this is nothing more than a trend. It’s ridiculous, like all the rest of the woke movement.”
He continued: “I talk to many people, I talk to many women and the women say, ‘We can’t find real men anymore,’ and they say, ‘We want a real man, not a metrosexual,’ so what they say is happening in the new romance novels is detached from reality. It’s La-La Land.”
So what exactly is this “soft masculinity” that has Fabio up in arms? The New York Post story cited a report from Publishers Weekly earlier this month that describes an emerging subgenre of romance novels featuring male love interests who are “sweet, supportive, and kind.”
These types of characters, according to Publishers Weekly, are called “cinnamon rolls” or “golden retrievers” in the world of romance novels and stand in contrast to the rough, sometimes controlling and abusive male love interests seen in stories like “Fifty Shades of Grey.”
More:10 swoon-worthy romance books coming out for summer 2023
“More readers are asking for ‘cinnamon rolls’ and ‘golden retrievers,’ ” Kaitlin Olson, senior editor at Atria, told Publishers Weekly. “We’re seeing changing views on identity and masculinity and consent in the larger population, and readers are looking for romance novels to reflect what they’re seeing in the culture.”
Fabio told the New York Post he thinks the cinnamon rolls’ expiration date is coming.
“This is just a trend and masculinity in those books is eventually going to come back,” he said.
Following the New York Post story’s publication, romance novel fans took to Twitter to defend their cinnamon rolls.
“I like squishy centered men, and so do many romance readers,” @SweetRazzberrie wrote.
“plot twist: women liking romance heroes who actually listen to them,” @lesseraliterary wrote.
“Sorry your time is over old man,” @BookMarxbooks wrote. “guys with 2 to 5 cats are the Hunks now”
More:Jesse Q. Sutanto’s ‘Four Aunties and a Wedding’ wraps up March on a sweet note. See the other March rom-coms
