“I would argue that a huge number of the issues we see in our clinics and therapy rooms are influenced by romantic fiction,” writes Susan Quilliam, a popular British “agony aunt,” the U.K.’s version of Dear Abby and a regular contributor to the journal…

In the course of writing her opinion piece, Quilliam, a sexual health educator, analyzed previous research on romantic novels and scrutinized a few herself. “I realized they are not helpful,” she says. “Often the woman is seen as the weaker subject who does all giving and bows to what the man says,” says Quilliam. Sometimes she is almost raped and she thinks that’s absolutely wonderful that her man will ‘take’ her.”