Reading time: ca. 3 minutes (without the further reading suggestions)
What hyper-masculine male characters and petite female protagonists have to do with viral trends like looksmaxxing, SkinnyTok and their connection to modern day fascism and right wing extremism.
I don’t read a lot of romantasy, but I often see promo content about it and also character portraits. I also see videos by book bloggers who present romantasy. And what I read and see makes me worry. Because the beauty standards which are presented have already been a thing in the 1930ies, in fascism.
What do I mean? Hyper-masculine characters with defined jawlines, „hunter eyes“ and extremely muscular bodies who are also mostly very tall and very strong. The trend „Looksmaxxing“ says hi.
Take a look at historical propaganda images from Nazi Germany. Take a look at propaganda film images of the films of Leni Riefenstahl. And then compare these with the descriptions of male characters in Romantasy novels, or with respective character portraits.
On the other side, there are almost always very small, tiny, petite female characters, which are literally weak on a physical level. Yet somehow, for no realistic reason, they often can fight „like a man“. I see parallels here to the recenty beauty ideal for women which gets promoted by SkinnyTok and such: very thin women. Why this is not romantic at all, but bad? I have written a blog post about this – sorry, only in German. But I have linked a couple of other articles about this topic down below, as further reading suggestions.
Following the right-wing backlash of recent years, apparently a lot of folks long for, in reality or in fiction, old role models to be brought back. To put it bluntly: The strong, competent man who takes care of the (weak, tiny) woman.
So my question to you is, do you really want to represent these old-fashioned and out-of-touch gender roles and beauty standards in your romantasy stories? Hate to break it to you: This isn’t romantic and it’s also not hot. It’s a conversative, right-wing, fascist ideal.
I have another suggestion for you: Body Diversity. How about a hero who is not super trained and brawny, yet still sets out for his adventure bravely? Battles and fights do not always need muscular strength, you can also use flexibility. How about the male love interest with a soft chin instead of a hard jaw line? How about a protagonist without „hunter eyes“, but a different expression to his eyes? How about a female main character who is as tall (or almost as tall) as her love interest, so that both can literally be on a par with each other? How about a heroine who isn’t petite and small. And how about characters who have some kind of physical „flaw“, so they are not perfect? This can be a range of this. A physical disability. Moles or scars. A battle wound which cannot be healed. Alopecia (loss of hair). Or maybe you have another idea?
Because to be honest, perfection is boring. Especially when all the heroes and heroines in all the romantasy novels are described as so perfectly looking, that they become completely interchangeable. Treat your characters with body diversity. This makes them more interesting and unmistakable.
Further Reading Suggestions:
„The Necessity for Diversity: Beauty Standards in Novels“ by E Dunsmuir.
https://www.strikemagazines.com/blog-2-1/the-necessity-for-diversity-beauty-standards-in-novels
„Body Fascism: SkinnyTok, the Far Right, and Why You Think You Want to Be Thin.
How diet culture, wellness aesthetics, and authoritarian politics collide — and what it’s costing women’s health, autonomy, and power“ by Bec Cameron
https://beccameron.substack.com/p/body-fascism-skinnytok-the-far-right
„How the far right is using thinness to radicalise women and teen girls – The far right has normalised much of its ideology within mainstream politics – and ‘body fascism’ is part of that“ by Lois Shearing
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/far-right-radicalise-thin-skinny-fat-shame-women-girls-social-media-tiktok
„Looksmaxxing, Mogging & the Sexual Market Place: the latest far-right manosphere subculture“ by Harper Cleves
https://www.solidarity.ie/2026/03/looksmaxxing-mogging-the-sexual-market-place-the-latest-far-right-manosphere-subculture