Romance is the genre being referred to, smut is the slang for the sexualized content within some subsets of romance novels. Slinging the word smut to denigrate an entire group of artists (authors are artists) then gaslighting them because “this post isn’t that serious” is what we should leave behind. All this did was say “I’m too good and passively want you to know it.” As women, as readers, as a community- can we do better? Bookthreads