There are so many great points here I’d like to respond to, I may just have to revisit this evening and highlight the bejeezus out of this piece. 😆 I think this conversation has been creeping up on us for a while; it actually goes hand in hand with recent social discourse between women about de-centering men re: their general happiness & goals. And since it’s true that life & art keep mutating each other into oblivion, I’m VERY interested in hopefully seeing this reflected in the genre over the next several years. Seeing romance exist outside of those constructs would play with more gravity & intrigue—you know, if studios will even give those stories a chance. 😕 Really enjoyed this piece!