Okay, so there has been a bit of a spat recently about the number of M/M books which contain children .... pauses for mental image of squished flat children tucked in between the pages to disappear....
Now as far as I can tell, they've always kind of been there - usually in the guise of younger siblings or left overs from a previous relationship.... and in some books some of these kids are majorly aggravating little shites, in others they are cute and get all the best one liners........ oh and in others you wonder if the author actually ever had anything to do with children as they just don't act at the age they are meant to portray....(even saying all that... I am still going to be even more picky about how domestic animals are portrayed - in terms of irresponsible or unrealistic ownership practices, inappropriate behaviour and training, wrong breed descriptions etc... etc... yeah I know, but personal bugbear)
The trend recently, and which appears to be getting the most negative comments, is the fact that no relationship seems to be complete to the Happy Ever After unless the couple has a child or two - whether that is adopted, via a surrogate or bequeathed somehow.
I'll admit now that I am not huge fan of children turning up in M/M books.... though as a reader it's my choice what to read and I would never say a writer shouldn't introduce children if that is the way the characters are going and it's best for the story. Though obviously, it may influence my enjoyment of the book, or even if I read it in the first place.
The real point of this post though is why I feel this way. Now I've seem some comments that these children are interfering with the reader's enjoyment of "hawt" men.... for me this isn't the case.
There are very few genres I dislike, but the one I really cannot stand is termed here as "chick lit" ... which is basically romance fluff and can be summed up as woman feels incomplete despite successful career, good friends etc... because she hasn't got a man.... woman finds man... woman becomes completely helpless and dependent on man... woman is now complete... but... wait for it.... everything will only be perfect if she has children..... and they all live happily ever after...... allegedly.
Now, whilst I am a woman, this character does not represent me....... obviously as a lesbian I am not looking for a man in order to be a completely fulfilled person who is happy with their life .... and quite frankly the concept that this type of story sells, that you have to have a man and children to be happy just makes me annoyed, but it also can make me upset.
As someone who likes children but for medical reasons cannot have my own, and would never be in a position to adopt because of the strict criteria for adoption, the whole concept that I cannot be a complete person because I don't/can't have children is not something I actually believe, but it's there lurking in the back of my mind and I really don't want reminding of it in every other book I read.
When I discovered M/M fiction I was fairly newly single after an abusive relationship. M/M for me is fantasy ... obviously.....and it gives me a chance to read stories where you can get a happy ending without the whole sell out and become the little woman bringing up the children. So as more and more M/M stories seem to be reaching the conclusion that the couple cannot possibly be a complete family until there are children the less I am enjoying reading them and the more picky I am becoming, particularly when I find that some authors appear to be shoehorning the obligatory child into the relationship just because it's popular.
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