Notebook: Don't Yuck Someone Else's Yum

I want to start off by simply saying I believe you should unabashedly enjoy whatever it is you enjoy, as long as it isn't exploiting or hurting others. Pickles on ice cream? Let it rip! Monster smut? Get it! Covering yourself in jelly and crawling around your apartment pretending to be a slug? Uhhhh, sure, I guess!

That last one was weird, huh? Anyway, I was inspired to write this post because of a common theme in my life recently. That theme is people telling other people that the things they like are dumb, have no merit, or aren't really [genre], so stop pretending they are.

I hate that. What does it cost you to let people enjoy what they enjoy? Nothing! But you need to be mommy's special little porridge boy, don't you? Have to show everyone how smart and pure your beliefs are.

This all started years ago. Someone close to me would not stop complaining about the proliferation of romantasy. "I hate that all the tables at B&N are covered in slop." "I can't find anything I like because the market is catering to women." "People need to be challenged!"

Oh, shut up. First, let people like what they want to like. Second, publishing is a business. They're going to fast-track the stuff that sells. Third, it's a good thing that waves of women feel like there are finally books made for them that they want to read. Fourth, go walk around the store and count how many books are catered to men, then come back and whine. Fifth, you sound like a little bitch.

Recently, I ran into similar discourse about medieval horror and grimdark fantasy. "Fantasy is about whimsy!" Says who? If I want it darker, more morally gray, then why do you care? You don't have to read it.

And most recently, the whole cozy horror thing came up again. "Horror is meant to be challenging. It shouldn't have any boundaries." If horror is truly meant to have no boundaries, then excluding cozy horror is itself imposing a boundary on the genre, one that arbitrarily demands discomfort as the price of admission.

Look, I read extreme horror and splatterpunk. I am no prude when it comes to boundary-pushing. As far as I'm concerned, if a story explores fear, dread, the macabre, or the unknown, it's horror. Whether it leaves you sleeping with the lights on or feeling warm and fuzzy doesn't change that.

I think I can sum this whole thing up as some form of WHY THE FUCK DO YOU CARE SO MUCH?!

Really, just let people enjoy what they enjoy. You don't have to enjoy it. No one is sitting you down and shoving romantasy, grimdark fantasy, or cozy horror into your face. If you're reading, I think that's a win in and of itself.

Okay, rant over.

As always, thank you for trusting me with your time, and thank you for reading my words.