The idea that women are too old to read smut once they reach their mid-20’s is deeply rooted in patriarchical ideas of gender roles. Women in their 20’s must get married and stop desiring sex from anyone but their husbands, or to not “desire” sex at all but to perform sexually for their husbands. The idea of women reading and writing romance novels has been seen as dangerous for as long as romance novels have existed. Male scholars have been complaining about it for decades because women having and acting on sexual desires threatens a very old status quo.
So: are you a woman over 25? Do you participate in fandom? Do you read or write smut? Then congratulations, you’re participating in a long tradition of threatening the very foundations of the patriarchy. Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re “too old” to do any of that. Ignore them and keep on smashing.
