/2011/05/why the navy seals are mens sexual heroes/

They have secret identities! They dive into the sea from submarines and leap from airplanes at 30, feet! And such good manners! It's an archetype the romance novel industry has latched onto, The Washington Post 's Annys Shin reports. Then, there are those who want to know what it might be like to, well, 'be' with one. Romance publishers, which accept a huge number of unsolicited manuscripts, are bracing for an onslaught of SEAL-themed pitches in the coming weeks.

The way the teams work, the training the men have gone through. A man who can pick up on the smallest little nuance is bound to be able to please a woman, if you catch my drift. Chen's piece gets at something that seems to be forgotten in all the completely-deserved accolades of the SEALs is that they're not Olympic athletes who just happen to find themselves in Taxi Driver -esque situations overseas.

All that training is not to look good in tight t-shirts. It's to kill people. At least California Rep. Duncan Hunter, who served as a Marine in Iraq, appears to have not forgotten that. These are smart, hypermasculinized, honorable, heterosexual men who are in good shape physically, good with a gun, and good in bed.

Alpha males are the rough, hard-edged, often tormented heroes at the heart of the vast majority of bestselling romance novels. The description of the SEAL alpha hero in romances is particularly important because of the idealized masculine and heroic attributes he embodies, especially as experienced through the eyes of the heroine:. Military heroes, whether SEALs or not, embody the characteristics many contemporary romance readers want; however, they are embellished to meet fictional expectations.

When such heroes finally fall in love and recognize the feeling—usually when the woman is in some sort of peril thus perpetuating the damsel-in-distress trope common in romances , it gives the reader the literary and emotional satisfaction of watching a gigantic redwood fall. SEAL alpha heroes might also be considered popular culture representations of the Jungian warrior archetype, 10 whose appeal is explained by romance author, librarian, and scholar of romance, Jayne Ann Krentz:.

Her research highlighted their use of stealth and being able to slip into a location unnoticed; their tight bonds with teammates; the fact that SEALs are alpha males who prefer to take action, they are in topnotch physical shape, highly intelligent and top scholars, intensely motivated and highly driven.

Other authors have been extending these situations in their stories, imitating her and capitalizing on the audience she created ever since. While neither Brockmann nor Hamilton is in the military, nor is one of the most successful recent authors of the genre—M.

Buchman, whose Night Stalker series about Black Hawk helicopter crews has garnered feminist praise for strong women characters, the military romance subgenre includes other authors with more personal military experience. Beyond the psychological satisfaction for readers of watching big, bad, ripped SEALs fall in love, and the demands of genre plot conventions that must provide an empowered heroine something big and bad to conquer, the question remains of why the military warrior archetype and a stereotypic representation of hegemonic masculinity resonates within the most female-gendered of all literary genres.

For those who feel romance fiction is anti-feminist, it is easy to suggest that the objectification of men is logical for such novels, but whether romances are anti-feminist or not is highly contested by both scholars and fans of the genre. The increasing focus of romance novels on military heroes, taking their cues from the headlines, has increased along with the number of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

These heroes promise strength, safety and military-grade sex. The soldier has long been a heroic image of masculinity. This could be a description of any of the military heroes in romance novels. As Cindy Hwang, vice president and executive editor of Berkley Books, says, commenting that romances featuring military or ex-military characters and themes have been popular for years. Military men and women exemplify what readers want in their romantic heroes: bravery, loyalty, strength, and the willingness to make extreme sacrifices.

Besides the character and dramatic plot-driven appeal of the warrior hero in military romances for hardcore romance readers, the stories offer a crossover appeal for suspense and action thriller readers that can be exploited by knowledgeable readers advisors, if they can get potential genre crossover readers beyond the scantily clad torso covers.

Assuming certification by Pentagon leaders that military readiness will not be harmed by letting openly gay men and women serve — they can handle Osama bin Laden, but not gays?

Folks opposed to it can fight the change every inch of the way, but it seems clear the nation is ready to move on out, with gays in the ranks. The view from here is that it will only be as big a deal as opponents make it.