>>49262
Anytime porno has been brought up, it served no benefit to the woman to admit to watching porn other than interesting conversation. Such as, "do you watch it?" followed by a yes or no, then conversation moves on. Women and men aren't as different as you may think when it comes to sexuality, but again, maybe it's redundant to discuss this. This was just my personal experience, women definitely do watch pornography and many different genres. A woman who is geared towards emotional bond to satisfy her sexual needs may turn to books, while a woman who just wants to "get one and done" may watch porn. We are all human, and though there are differences, humans also do enjoy touching their genitals. Women (though not all) do get aroused by watching others get sexual pleasure, perhaps it's not something you've had the opportunity to discuss with women, so I will leave it as my personal experience.

Most of the men in the covers do seem to be the traditional "hunk", and a lot of them are clean cut to fit that image. One of the most famous models for these covers was Fabio. He's the guy who killed a bird with his head when riding a roller coaster, and also did some "I can't believe it's not butter" commercials. He had long wavy hair, and long hair is definitely a theme among these romance stories. I'm not sure if this is a preference by women or perhaps inspiration from Conan, but it must work since the man was a sex icon.

I will say that for centuries past it has been the norm to have a larger age difference between men and women. It's always been of benefit for a woman to be with an older male, as stated earlier, he has much more experience than a younger man to take care of her. This is why it's traditional for an older man to marry a young girl, why the father hands off the bride to the groom. Men are to protect women, and it's difficult for a young man of her same age to do so, he has had no additional time to build up his experience to handle the responsibility of supporting a family. Things are different now, more and more we see women being heavily outspoken against age gaps (by social conditioning), so societally things are shifting away from dating/marrying outside of a few years of your age range. I think from a biological perspective, women naturally are attracted to signs of male fertility/development, older age, and survival. Preference and culture can influence or shift this, as attraction is subjective.

>It's not rape if somebody wants it.
While I agree, there are plenty of women who have rape fantasies, or an intense power dynamic where she is being overpowered greatly. So while it may not be rape as in a woman walking down an alleyway gets attacked, some women do crave such a scenario. The covers give an embracing feeling, but often the books contents are that of a powerless woman being dominated by a male. Of course I wouldn't encourage you to read this just for this conversation, but if you have a chat with females who indulge in this media, you will learn just how interesting the female mind is. The females in these books are powerless and always being coddled or protected or dominated. Something you wouldn't expect a woman likes, or maybe it is.

In regards to the 50 Shades of Gray book, it was "the fastest-selling novel of all time that isn't Harry Potter". At the time of it's release, I couldn't hear the end of it, people loved it or hated it. While critics are typically harsh with reviews, and perhaps it received poor or mixed reviews from readers, the supply and demand doesn't lie. It's accepted that the book was essentially a rape fantasy written in form of an erotica, and it sold very well.

I don't want to shift this conversation so far from the topic of this thread, Christmas. Perhaps we can work in some Christmas themes into the discussion of women's preferences? For example, all a girl wants Christmas is a hunk.