[quote=@Zurnt]
I don't see what's wrong with people of that generation carrying over their power-play fetishes for the reading pleasure of other members of their generation. It's just like you said, most young people know that these stories are bad and weird, but they're not the target audience. 

Just let them have their cheap sex books until they die, and then the next generation can make fun of how our romance books have "couples" and "love" involved. 

[/quote]

Is it dying off though? Fifty Shades and Twilight get into some weird shit. It might be that the old book-factories like Harlequin will die off, but there doesn't seem to be a romance industry based on healthy relationships coming up to replace it.

I suppose it is human nature in some sense. Might be unavoidable because really, we're all awful people in some way. Do and say good things in the light of day, masturbate furiously to horrible shit when the sun goes down.