GOODNESS HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT
K D: I think the double standard is alive and well in mystery literature. Guys fall into bed readily (they're 'studs') while girls are practically celibate (they're not 'sluts'). Before I read too much into this, though, it might be the authors making sure we can identify and admire our protagonists. Would you follow a woman protag who hopped into and out of bed? Maybe not.
For example, I think Janet Evanovich's "bounty hunter with an attitude" doesn't get into bed with Joe Morelli till the fourth book in the series. Not exactly a hop into bed type of girl.
Can you think of some female protags that moved a little faster?
Kaye: Definitely. Lisa Scottoline's character Cate Fante, in *Dirty Blonde.* (This blog is probably a BIG spoiler for two of Lisa's books, by the way.) I was a little shocked when I got into this book, then a little titillated, then a lot fascinated. The main character is a judge who has a sexual hangup. She picks up strangers in bars, has sex with them, then goes back to her lawyerly, orderly life. Well, not all that orderly, since she has murder to deal with. Ms. Scottoline's Natalie Greco, in *Daddy's Girl,* also has a secret life, but, if I remember correctly, her secret is a secret even from herself.
K D: But did they get punished for it? You know, the plots of my least-favorite operas: "Guys Can't Share." Woman sleeps with more than one guy, woman winds up dead. That plot. I hate it.
Kaye: Scottoline pulls these off beautifully. I don't think her characters are punished for their promiscuity. They're well written so that the characters are sympathetic and the reader is rooting for them. The author takes care to establish that they've become the way they are through no fault of their own. I highly recommend both books, by the way. Even with these spoilers, I think they'd still be fun reads.
K D: Well, I do like Cleo Coyle's book , Murder Most Frothy. Clare and her daughter are spending the summer in East Hamptom, working for a rich friend who is setting up a high-end coffee shop in town. Clare is concerned that her daughter (age about 20, I think) is having a summer fling and will get hurt. Then Clare finds herself considering her own possibilities for a short-term romance. Is summer fun okay, or must morality rule even at the beach? It's one of the few books shows a little balance, in my opinion.
Click here for info on the book.
Kaye: I admit I haven't read any of hers, but I intend to remedy that!
K D: I enjoy murder mysteries that include some sensual pleasures. Chocolate. Quebecois food. Pleasant sex. Why not? I think that word Slut should be banished from the vocabulary. How about Wanton Woman instead?
Kaye: One of Laurell K. Hamilton's characters can fit the Wanton Woman image. (Although I might bring back Slut here.) Her fantasy heroine, Anita Blake, started out proper enough, torn between a vampire and a werewolf. According to my daughter, whose reads this genre more than I do, Anita held off until book 6 (*The Killing Dance*) when she slept with one of them. Then by book 10 (*Narcissus in Chains*), Anita, had become, in essence, a different character, sleeping around with abandon. Her fans were not happy about the switch. Her later books are considered erotica and she has lost fans along the way. So, in this case, the writer didn't get away with it, even if the character did.
OPEN QUESTION: Do any readers of this blog have experience in other genres where the gender difference plays a greater or lesser role in bed-hopping? I know romance has greatly evolved since I was reading it. I would imagine science fiction would not have as much of a difference?
