[LMB] genre embarrassment, was TSK: Passage cover art

[Tzivia Adler]

> *** Yes, exactly.  This is, above all, not an *embarrassing* cover.
>
> Granted, anyone who reads F&SF has pretty much got to be immune to
> embarrassment to start with, but still.
>
> Ta, L.
>
that's actually true.  but why is that?
why is liking fantasy more embarrassing than, for instance, mysteries? 
apparently one can read (for instance) 'the cat who...'* and other dog and 
cat-based mysteries, where the --animal-- is solving the story, with no 
embarrassment what-so-ever, but put a princess-type in shimmery pastel 
colors on the cover, and suddenly the reader feels compelled to make 
excuses.

2 questions here:
is preferring F&SF over mystery, romance, westerns, etc. somehow different 
than preferring extra salty potato chips to sweeter candy or chocolate or 
organic-all-natural-flavor added separately candy?

and
are mysteries where animals help solve, or 'cottage mysteries' where the 
sweet little old lady solves, more realistic?  or cop procedurals where 
endless paperwork never happens, sitting at a stakeout always results in 
finding the target, somehow more realistic?
don't even get me started on western realism.  or romances, either.


* lest any cat lovers be offended, please note that I am not bashing the 
series.  I read most of them until the main character got so rich he didn't 
know what to do with himself.