I was skimming Dear Author last night.  I’m so weird… I got four days without internet connection and I come back worrying I missed some hot and heavy blog drama.  😉

Jane had a post…. When a Snark is Ruined by a Bad Rant.  She came across a rant snark aimed at the writing guidelines at Ellora’s Cave.  Honestly, most of this guy’s rant came across as somebody, yet again, picking on the romance genre.  Either because he doesn’t get it, doesn’t like it, or something.

Guy was poking fun at the idea of safe sex within a romance novel.  You can like it or not, but me, I admire somebody who addresses that issue within a book without changing the overall atmosphere of a book. 

But the thing that really pushed my buttons was …

I much prefer to have characters behave in a way that’s REAL. People cheat. If a writer is worth his/her salt then they’d be able to include this antiquated “taboo” and still make a story work.

Note to this commenter….whoever you are.  Not everybody cheats.  Not everybody sees cheating as acceptable.  Not everybody sees the idea of respecting your vows as outdated. or antiquated.  **I don’t really want to give this guy(s) any more blog hits, so if you wanna read the whole post, head over to Dear Author and follow Jane’s links.  She’s nicer than me.

I skimmed the original post that Jane was referring to and overall, my general reaction was just to roll my eyes.  But the insinuation that remaining faithful is antiquated just burns me.  Rubs me raw and irritates the hell out of me.   If you can’t respect the vows you made on your wedding day, you can’t respect much of anything else (the “you” here is completely general…not directed at anybody in particular).

So tell me your opinion… is the idea of fidelity outdated?