Dear Mr. Alexander,

I understand the media’s fascination with the whole Tiger Woods sex scandal. I respect your need to report about it and know that stories like this draw interest. I myself waited around this morning to hear the Today Show segment about the recent Vanity Fair article regarding Tiger’s mistresses. What I don’t respect, or understand, is your need to link a $1.37 billion dollar industry, one that comprises the largest share of the consumer fiction market at 13.5%, and the 74.8 million people who read romance novels to Tiger Woods and his scandalous affairs.

If you read a romance novel, you would know that Tiger Woods is not romance novel material, nor is his sex scandal or his trail of mistresses. If you read a romance novel, you would know that romances are centered around two individuals falling in love and the trials and tribulations they go through along the way to grow and develop that relationship. If you read a romance novel, you would know that romances have an emotionally satisfying and positive ending where sacrifices are made by one or both characters to ensure the continuation of that relationship. And finally, if you read a romance novel, you would know that scorned mistresses, lying, cheating celebrities and hurting one’s family all in the name of selfishness are not elements of a romance novel.

Before you make a blanket statement linking romance fiction with Tiger Woods, perhaps you should do your research. The majority of romance readers are highly educated, smart, savvy women who don’t appreciate their fiction of choice being linked to Tiger Woods. Comments like yours are the type that perpetuate the negative stereotype of romance novels. I for one can tell you, you didn’t hit the mark. Not by a long shot.

For more information about romance novels and the romance genre, I invite you to visit Romance Writers of America®, a non-profit trade association dedicated to advancing the professionalism of career-focused romance writers in this country. And if you’d like to read a real romance novel that perpetuates a lasting, committed relationship, email me and I’ll be happy to send you a book. Nowhere in a romance novel will you find “Tiger Woods”.

Sincerely,
Elisabeth Naughton
PROUD Romance Reader & Author of Romantic Suspense and Paranormal Novels

The full article by Peter Alexander via the Today Show 3/31/10: