USE IN THE CLASSROOMAsanadjuncttothisgrowingacademicinterest,readingandanalyzingromancenovelshasbecomeapopularactivityinthewomen’sstudiesclass-room. (Crawford, 1994; Ricker-Wilson, 1999) Although previously consid-ered alien to the academic environment, romance novels are currently seenas providing an entry into an important aspect of popular culture. Under-standing their popularity, impact, and content, tells us something about theexperience of a large number of women. Feminist scholars, in particular,have utilized textual analysis of romance novels to demonstrate patternsof female/male relationships in our society. Allied to this is an interest inthe meanings and influences of popular culture.During the last several years, I have taught a course,Women and Psy-chology, in which students have been assigned to read romance novels.After reading a novel which they have selected, students write papers inwhich they describe: 1) their initial feelings about romance novels; 2) theiranalyses of the relationships and societal images portrayed in the texts; and3) their understandings of the reasons for and impact of repeated readingsof the texts. These guidelines are there to stimulate them to explore theirprior assumptions about, as well as their actual responses to, the experienceof reading the romance novel. After they have completed this assignmentand had time to reflect on their own reactions, there is an extensive class