Harlequin Books in Canada is trying to get regular men to pose for the covers of their romance novels, instead of the usual beefcake models. Is this a good or a bad thing?
Do you want to have some super buff model gracing the cover of the next steamy romance you pick up, or would you prefer a more genuine, yet still fit, man? Evidently, they are interviewing men that are in their late twenties and up. They don't want the typical 20 year old model. They feel that the readers want a more mature man for the hero. I'm not sure about that. I do, but then I'm not twenty either. My son is closer to twenty than I am, so no, I'm not interested in 20 year olds. But what about the younger female readers? Do they want an older hero?
If the move is a success and 'real' men become more the norm for the covers, will the women models also change? Are they going to start looking for the 'real' girl-next-door? Or the 'real' single mother? Or is this starting a whole new area of double standards? Where the men can be more regular but the women need to be super models?
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