Quote:
Originally Posted by hildea
The thread about sex reminded me of another one: It bothers me when a couple have sex which could lead to pregnancy in a situation where a pregnancy would be a disaster. I'm not saying it's not realistic -- people have been doing dangerous, short-sighted things because it seemed a good idea in the moment since the dawn of time. But when it happens in books, it tends to make me wince and get pulled out of the story. And if it happens in a romance, and all the risk is on her side (which it usually is in historical settings) it makes it harder for me to believe he actually cares about her, when he's willing to gamble with her future.
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I agree. While browsing library listings I've seen descriptions of Regency romances with plots like "Lady Mary is bored with her life and has decided she wants one night of passion, and she knows just the man for it". This just doesn't make sense in a time where premarital sex and unwed pregnancy were (as you said) a disaster for the woman. Sure, people are human and undoubtedly some of them got carried away and things went farther than they intended, but for a woman to intentionally set out to have premarital sex with no expectation of marriage just isn't realistic for the time period.