I finally read The Kiss Quotient and it was truly stunning, sexy, cutting-edge, couldn’t put it down.

But — and I know this is specific and I’m not knocking the book because it’s a modern classic for a reason — there were multiple stigmatizing comments about STIs.

So many romance novels depict STIs as things that happen to *other* people, *bad* people who the heroines are NOT. They’re used to distance the leads from less acceptable characters, especially if the hero is “experienced.” He may be a rake, but he doesn’t have DISEASES.

Many, many romance readers have STIs. It may seem like a small bone to pick, but these little stigmatizing moments and asides jar me out of what I’m reading. They remind me that society doesn’t consider me a heroine of a romance because I have genital herpes.

I’m so many ways, the romance genre is at the progressive cutting edge of entertainment. Writers push it to be better, more diverse, more representative. And there’s also more incorporation of safe sex and condoms, which I love! So where are the characters with STIs?

Romance authors don’t need to go out of their way to write about the STI statuses of their characters if they don’t want to, but I would love to see more awareness of STI stigma. It’s not that hard to remove once you’re aware of it as a writer.

I've been thinking and writing about this topic since 2015, and I'd LOVE to hear what other romance authors and readers think about STIs in the genre. https://elladawson.com/2015/01/24/my-characters-care-about-safe-sex-because-i-have-to/

P.S. On the off-chance you want to read some herpes+ erotic romance, I shared a short story on my website that was supposed to be part of an STI erotica anthology that went defunct and never published. https://elladawson.com/2019/08/30/thursday-night-on-campus-a-herpes-positive-romance/