( TW: Mentions of sexual assault)

Dark romance has found an audience among readers drawn to morally complicated characters, taboo, themes and relationships that push boundaries, but at what cost to readers?

Kassie Baron, a University of Tennessee at Martin English literature professor, said that dark romance stands apart from other romance subgenres through its emphasis of morally gray love interests and taboo sexual themes.

“There are so many types of romance already,” said Baron, “but dark romance, the emphasis on morally gray love interests or taboo sexual proclivities is really what is separating from previous popular genres within our larger romance umbrella.”

The genre’s appeal, however, does not necessarily mean that readers want to experience these situations firsthand just because it is depicted in stories and they enjoy reading it. Baron noted that readers can explore fictional relationships without endorsing them in real life.

“I think there is a risk of making the assumption that people who are reading dark romance are doing the same thing that we assume of those authors that because they’re reading it, writing it, they condone it, they support it and they encourage these sorts of behaviors in their real life relationships,” Baron said. “And that is almost certainly not going to be the case.”

For sophomore Kelsey Freeman, a mass media and strategic communication major from Memphis, Tennessee, tension is a major part of what makes a story engaging and makes a person want to read it. Freeman takes issue with narratives that turn traumatic experiences, especially with subjects like sexual assault, into something romantic.

“That’s a traumatizing situation, and you’re turning that traumatizing situation into something that it’s not, and that should not be romantic,” Freeman said.

This very direct distinction matters because depicting harmful behavior and presenting it as desirable are not necessarily the same thing and are not mutually exclusive.

Baron said readers benefit from approaching fiction with critical thinking, asking what a story means and deciding which parts, if any, to apply to their own lives.

With a major part of these things being portrayed on TikTok, promotion is about how your novel is portrayed and how you want to sell it in dark romance is not necessarily a bad genre.

For Avalyn Purden, a sophomore Veterinary Science Major from Lyles Tennessee, the concern is not that dark romance exists but how the harmful behavior can be framed and promoted as romantic.

“I don’t have a problem with the literature. In general, I hate censorship and stuff like that,” Purden said

Instead, Purden worries that the way some stories are marketed can downplay the harm portrayed in them.

“They make it mainstream, they downplay a lot of the stuff that happens in it, they’re desensitizing people, they normalize it. It’s the way they’re handling it, it is not good,” Purden said.

Booktok, the book focused community on TikTok, has helped bring dark romance into the light. Penelope Douglas’ “Credence” offers one example of the conversation surrounding the controversial books in this genre. Book content creator Lexi Newly Nova criticized “Credence”, arguing that its popularity did not make it well written.

Baron said the popularity of a genre cannot be separated entirely from the publishing industry and the marketing strategies used to sell the book. She also pointed to social media as an important part about how books gain attention.

For Purden, the language used to describe harmful behavior can influence how an audience interprets it.

“When you’re depicting harm, it should be in a very clinical and cold way. You’re just stating the facts,” Purden said.

She also emphasized that readers should not be shamed simply for enjoying fictional scenarios that they would not want to experience in real life.

“You’re not dirty or gross for wanting to read about it and enjoy it, even if you don’t want to be in that position,” Purden said.

Her position reflects a distinction of the debate that a reader can enjoy a fictional character or scenario without accepting the behavior as appropriate in a real relationship.

Baron said romance novels can offer more than escapism. They can also reflect how the culture thinks about relationships at the time it was written. She suggested that some readers may be exploring their own desires, emotional needs or ideas about relationships through fiction, even when the dynamics in the story would not translate well into real life.

“It’s not that they want to have all these red flags in their relationship, but there’s something that they are seeking out,” Baron said.

She added that readers can enjoy a fantasy while still thinking critically about its meaning.

“I think that romance novels take a lot of heat for being surface level, and that there’s no more depth to them, but there absolutely is,” Baron said.

The concern behind these dark themes makes readers ask: does it explore harmful behavior thoughtfully, or does it gloss over the consequences for the sake of reading?

Dark romance can offer us a lot of fantasy and things to think about, but that doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily a good thing to enact these things in real life. After all, it’s just a fantasy, right?