Women are feral for Heated Rivalry. What does that say about men?

The explosive popularity of the gay hockey TV drama reveals women’s desire for sex and romance without violence or hierarchy

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he first time gay hockey romance crossed Mary’s radar, she was warned off it. A 64-year-old non-profit executive from Toronto, Mary recalled mentioning the Canadian author Rachel Reid’s Game Changers series to her son, a twentysomething queer writer and fellow hockey-obsessive, a few years ago.

“I said: ‘Have you heard of these books?’ and he said: ‘Yeah.’ I said: ‘Should I read these books?’ And he said: ‘No. They’re not for you.’”

Mary took her son at his word; after all, she considers herself “basically a cynic”, hasn’t cracked a romance novel since she threw a Danielle Steel book across the room in disgust about 40 years ago, and declares that she would have to be “hogtied” to watch a Hallmark Christmas movie. “I’m divorced. I’m old. I’ve had men in my life and I’ve had romance in my life,” she said. “I watch TV and I’m just like, it doesn’t happen like that. No.”