What is a reverse harem

Sarah S.

This weekend I came across a post on Reddit discussing the Reverse Harem genre and how what we call it may or may not have unanticipated connotations. I have been thinking a lot about how the Reverse Harem genre has evolved since I first became interested in it and, more recently, how requests on the blog have evolved. After researching this topic off and on, I decided it was time I actually took a stab at articulating my thoughts. In my university days, I had a fabulous professor who focussed heavily on the etymology of words, word choice, and their deliberate use in literature. Etymology looks at the root of a word, with a focus on its evolution and usage over time. When researching the Reverse Harem genre, I focused on the word harem and its usage and evolution over time. The best historical summary can be found in Urban Dictionary of all places!

What is a reverse harem

Books featuring a single heroine and multiple men, all of whom she is in a committed relationship with, are hardly new. Their golden years were from roughly to , give or take a few years. From a sociological perspective, there are a couple of things I could discuss — the increasing acceptance of alternative lifestyles, the new ease with which indie authors can get themselves recognised, etc, etc. Manga of course gets an honourable mention. Harems are common there, and from that we get the shiny new genre name: reverse harem. Suddenly, these books have managed to rebrand themselves. One reason behind this sudden surge is that the reverse harem genre has managed to diversify. In many books the men now have relationships with each other as well as the female. And there are sometimes other women in the harem too! As the genre has gotten more complex, so too has the language involved. A reverse harem means that she will have more than two partners. Here are a couple of other definitions:. As with any genre, there are the absolute gems…and the non-gems.

I was fortunate to talk to reverse harem author Smauggywho has written the popular Eternals seriesabout writing reverse harem romance.

Home » Reverse Harem Romance. Your email:. A new sub-genre is on the rise in popular romance fiction: the reverse harem. In the five years since its beginning, the themes of these novels rose from obscurity to a buzzword thrown across book titles and descriptions. The reverse harem novel stands apart from other romance novels due to many of its basic characteristics, the most obvious of which is the makeup of the main characters. Just as a harem is made up of one man with multiple women, a reverse harem consists of one female protagonist and three or more male love interests.

Namera is currently an English student at the University of Cambridge who loves romance novels, Harry Potter, true crime stories, and cats. You can find her over at her blog, The Literary Invertebrate. She can be contacted by email at namera. View All posts by Namera Tanjeem. Books featuring a single heroine and multiple men, all of whom she is in a committed relationship with, are hardly new. Exhibit A. Their golden years were from roughly to , give or take a few years. From a sociological perspective, there are a couple of things I could discuss — the increasing acceptance of alternative lifestyles, the new ease with which indie authors can get themselves recognised, etc.

What is a reverse harem

But what does it mean? What is Reverse Harem anyway? Simply put, Reverse Harem, also known as RH, is a romance story that involves multiple love interests of 3 or more men. You get the picture. Then I read one.

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The year was a big year for reverse harem romance. Willa is absolutely hilarious. According to The Naughty Book Box , there are additional reverse harem words to know, like: Male harem: the focus is on a female protagonist who has at least two male partners and only male partners. Controversies within Reverse Harem Romance Perhaps the main controversy is with the very term itself. The focus is on the female main character, and there may be male-on-male action, but not a fully-fledged relationship between partners; the focus and relationship remain with the FMC. What do readers like about reading them? Reverse harem had a meteoric rise in and , at least from my perspective as an indie author and publisher. I love the dark and bully books but, I feel like that is all there is. Archived from the original on November 16, If this is not an already accepted dynamic within the community, often the group is forced together due to outside circumstances.

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The Wikipedia page on Harems only includes harem examples in anime and manga, with not a single reference to Western novels, as they are less mainstream. CreateSpace, Controversies within Reverse Harem Romance Perhaps the main controversy is with the very term itself. Though the subgenre is only five years old, it is already making an impact on the western romance reader. Scott, Veronica. However, there were enough of us affected to make a guess that RH had been a popular target for scammers. When Winter surrenders to them, a beautiful thing happens…this reverse harem romance sees male-on-male action. The focus is on the female main character, and there may be male-on-male action, but not a fully-fledged relationship between partners; the focus and relationship remain with the FMC. Stay Connected. Suddenly, these books have managed to rebrand themselves.