Romance has helped me understand relationships more and navigate my own: Rant ig?
I was always a consumer of queer media but only recently got into romance and subsequently mm romance books (this is mostly what I have been reading so that’s why this is being posted here). I didn’t have good relationship models growing up and reading this genre has been oddly healing and informative (especially bc I have autism so like I really don’t get a lot of social rules). As I read these books they are pretty good at modeling both healthy and unhealthy dynamics and communication in a way that a lot of movies and tv kind of gloss over. Like how to apologize to your partner and mean it was never something I was taught how to do and seeing it modeled has helped me be more secure and communicative in my own relationships. I especially appreciate when authors depict growth in a character when they deal with something poorly, acknowledge it, apologize, and do the right thing in the future. It sounds so trivial but idk it makes me feel good. I know it’s not a perfect model of real life but even the slightly dramatic outline I think has been helpful.
This has been my wholesome rant :) let me know your thoughts