Does chick lit give a false impression of relationships?

[ImJustMadAboutSaffron]

I would say it does, but I don't a) read that much of it or b) take it seriously. I did read a thread here by someone who was having self-esteem issues once, and one of the replies stated that they (the responder) had had no good role model for a family or relationship growing up, having got their ideas of what a good relationship should be from Jackie and Just Seventeen magazines, song lyrics, novels and films.

Genuine question by the way, not a journalist here or someone seeking to use the answers, other than satisfy my own curiosity.

Several of my friends are successful novelists, not chick lit but contemporary women's fiction I guess, and one in particular features strong women, good friendships, phoenixes rising from the ashes, but they do often fall in love, but it isn't mushy.

Having said that, get thee some Carole Matthews. Her books aren't designed to hit all the romance tropes.

Agreed OP. People (but yeah, women usually) who take the romance genre and chicklit too seriously are setting themselves up for nothing but trouble - good that there's some posters on here who recognise it.

We have all got read a variety of stuff (and that goes for blokes who think McNab and co. are the only things worth reading! :-) )

If you haven’t grown up looking at a good relationship between your dps, I don’t know where or how you could learn about it.

Romcoms feature stalkers and commitment phobes, Mills & Boon specialise in rapists.

The mumsnet relationship board is pretty good at setting the record straight. I don’t know why they got rid of this sticky though because it should be a required gcse text imo.

Whilst it's true that books and film are a form of escapism, it's also true that pop culture is a very powerful agent of socialization. Even if we're rationally aware that it's unrealistic, there's still a subconscious influence.

For instance, most of us grew up with the classic Disney films. Of course the premise of a mermaid losing her voice to gain two legs is entirely unrealistic, but The Little Mermaid still conveyed some very concerning messages to young girls.

I think there's more of a variety of stories and messages out there though, because people are realising how important it is. Again to use Disney as an example, there's an increasing prominence of strong female characters.