"The Single Standard": Towards A Unified Theory of the Transmasculine Origins of Romance Novels

Previously in this series: Forced-Masculinization Fantasy in Georgette Heyer, Daphne du Maurier, Anne of Green Gables, and Star Trek.

I recently picked up a copy of the 1928 novel The Single Standard, Adela Rogers St. Johns’ (what a name!) novelization of her own screenplay for the Greta Garbo film of the same name. If you know Rogers St. Johns at all, i…