I personally see the rise of monster romance in line with some larger societal trends. More and more, people are marrying later or not at all. Meanwhile, toxic behavior continues to be called out and exposed. One cheeky way to process all of this is to say that people still crave romance but are rejecting humans, who just aren’t worth the trouble these days. Queer monster romance is very much a thing with its own ethos, and plenty of the merch is devoid of gender implication. But there is a distinct vibe with some monster romance swag implying the pairing of human women with male monsters. Its message is: forget humans, I’m into monsters now. I demand more: horns, claws, maybe even tentacles. If you’re a monster romance lover, are you into the idea of letting the world know via a sticker on your water bottle or a T-shirt? If so, I’ve got some amazing recommendations for you that have elements of both queer monster romance and the human woman+male monsters pairing.