are romance novels assur (again)

The Babysitter just included MM in her latest blog roll and she commented that my post on Romance Novels was one of her faves!

It was one of my earliest posts, so for those of you who only discovered me recently, I've decided to republish here for you today!

I hope I dont sound like some stuffy Hashkafah teacher for bringing this subject up...

But haven't you ever wondered whether those Danielle Steele/Judith McNaught/whoever-it-was-that-wrote-the-Devil-Wears-Prada novels could be assur?

Ok, you're probably protesting right now that you don't read those types of books.

I call your bluff. I know you snuck those books home from your friend's house when you were 13 trying to figure out what exactly was going on with those two main characters. How else do you learn about the birds and the bees? And don't tell me you didn't feel the tiniest tinge of guilt as you were flipping through those pages... Maybe you still feel it, but you've learned to squash it...

Couldn't you technically say that reading these novels that would be rated R if such ratings existed, is just as bad as watching pornography?

Wish I knew some halacha to back it up right now.

Maybe we're scared that if we stay away from reading "garbage", that we'll have to stop watching and listening to "garbage" too. And garbage these days is everywhere. (junior high kids doing "it" on Gossip Girl, most of the Top 40 on the radio, even the Cartoon Network!) Would that mean that we'd have to limit ourselves from EVERYTHING? Maybe we should. Maybe all that nonsense is really bad for our neshamas. Maybe those crazy Chassids have a point....

But.... there's no way I'm giving up Gossip Girl!