Mills & Boon is best known for what is euphemistically described as “escapist fiction for women”, a genre it first embraced in the 1930s. The company is reported to account for almost three-quarters of sales of romantic fiction in the UK. In 2008, a Mills & Boon paperback was sold in a UK bookshop on average every 6.6 seconds.
However, far from being universally beloved, Mills & Boon novels have been attacked by the feminist movement over the years for everything from misogyny and reinforcing gender stereotypes to repackaging rape as romance. Titles from the past decade have included The Greek Tycoon’s Unwilling Wife and The Billionaire’s Captive Bride. The recent title A Mistletoe Kiss With the Boss tells the story of a woman whose superior demands a date as a condition of making an investment in her charity. Hardly the stuff of feminist fairytale.
So it might come as something of a surprise to see Mills & Boon apparently trying to stake a claim in the feminist literature market with a new series, called Modern Girl’s Guides. The company describe these as “funny, feisty and feminist” – although the latter claim is arguably undermined by the decision to describe women as “girls” in each title.
It’s clear that the books, while setting out to show a new, modern side to the brand, have a firmly tongue-in-cheek tone, following hot on the heels of recent novelty titles such as the spoof Famous Five and Ladybird guides. They have more in common with Five Go Gluten Free than The Second Sex.
The four short hardbacks are each dedicated to a specific topic, such as relationships, 21st-century life and self-improvement at the office. They consist of short vignettes, most only a sentence or two long, designed to contrast with accompanying vintage photographs. Attempts to tap into the modern feminist zeitgeist are overt – the books are liberally peppered with references to mansplaining, Blurred Lines, feminazis and smashing the patriarchy. But readers will be unsurprised to find the focus is more on poking fun at a concept than unpacking it. “Simone and Rosetta are worried about their biological clocks,” begins one passage. “But they’re more worried about how close they are to killing the next person who reminds them that time is not on their side.”
Other content takes aim at the idiosyncrasies of 21st-century life, with topics ranging from Tinder to Netflix and chill, rather than specifically gendered concerns.
Although each book reads a bit like a series of greetings cards, they generally steer refreshingly clear of the tired sexist tropes we’re used to seeing in such a context. They riff on well-trodden feminist discourse around rejecting unwanted advances, or analysis of the disturbing “pick-up artist” trend. But there are also fairly tired references to eating doughnuts, rejecting “detoxing” and ditching exercise fads as subversive acts of female rebellion.
These books aren’t setting out to redefine modern gender relations and they don’t so much smash the patriarchy as wave an ironic middle finger in its general direction. They are more whimsical stocking-filler material than ideal gift for your feminist friend who wants to stab out her own eyeballs when she hears the word “feisty” being used as a marketing tool.
