I’ve loved science fiction and fantasy my whole life. I saw the first STAR WARS in the 70s, played with the original Battlestar Galactica toys, wrote a fan letter to “Buck Rogers” Gil Gerard, and never missed a TWILIGHT ZONE or STAR TREK rerun. Some of my favorite movies were THE TIME MACHINE (1960), TIME AFTER TIME (1979), THE LAST UNICORN, THE HOBBIT cartoon by Rankin & Bass, and all the Disney fairy tales. I can’t say I “loved” ALIEN but my dad let me watch it at age 9. He made me cover my eyes during the stomach part, but I saw all the rest!
There are a million reasons to love SF/F — robots, unicorns, social commentary, lasers, magic, good triumphing over evil, just to name a few — but a huge reason to love it is what the genres taught me about love. Short, tall, fat, thin, human, alien, pointy-eared, green, blue or hairy, anyone can be a sexual creature and everyone wants romance.
Our society has a very insidious and destructive way of constantly telling us that we can’t be loved unless we’re attractive enough. And by “attractive” they mean light-skinned, tall, young, thin and hairless — or at least hairless in all the “correct” places, but heaven forbid on the head.
This ideal of beauty is not MY ideal.
Thorin Oakenshield and Tyrion Lannister have proven that you don’t have to be tall to be hot. Brainy beauty falls in love with the big, hairy Beast in Disney’s version of the tale. Speckle-skinned G’kar flies off into the universe with telepath Lita, promising to push the limits of her “pleasure threshold” in BABYLON 5. Bald, blue Zhaan of FARSCAPE is a radiant spiritual and sensual being. STAR TREK? One word: Klingons. Strong, bold warrior women like Xena and FIREFLY’s Zoe aren’t “scaring off” men. Zula of CONAN THE DESTROYER isn’t bothered by slut shaming — if she wants a man she will “grab him and take him.” Hellboy might be a giant snarky red demon dude with a tail, horns and red skin, but I still cry when … (SPOILERS)
Could SF/F go further in representing a variety of races, genders, relationships and body types? YES. But at least it serves up a much greater range of romance than mainstream Hollywood culture. Especially if you do more than scratch the surface or watch the popular movies, but dig deeper into lesser-known authors, small press, independent studios, etc.
A couple more of my favorite stories are DESERT BLADE by Ella Drake and the TALES OF THE UNDERLIGHT series by Jax Garren, wherein disfigured — or differently figured — characters find true love. What are some of your favorites?
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J.L. Hilton is the author of the STELLARNET SERIES published by Carina Press, including Stellarnet Rebel (January 2012) and Stellarnet Prince (November 2012), and is a regular contributor to the Contact-Infinite Futures blog and CharlotteGeeks.com. She also creates cool wearable things that are featured in the books Steampunk Style Jewelry and 1000 Steampunk Creations. Visit her at JLHilton.com or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Goodreads and deviantART.
Contact – Infinite Futures 
YESSSSSS! I’ve always loved fantasy and Sci-fi and it showed that there’s a lot more than just the typical ideals, because there’s more that can be attractive without that “hollywood beauty”. I remember being younger and falling for Aladdin’s genie, because he was so fun and caring, and he was blue and magical, for me he was the ideal of a perfect man! I never did care for the good looking hero, and it made me weird between my classmates. They never understood why I liked that big blue guy instead the hot looking Aladdin… But I did and Genie was not the only one (tHe Darknes from Legend, or Predator for naming some), and not only in my childhood, I’m 33 and I still find sexier Bofur the dwarf or Abe from Hellboy than any of Brad Pitt’s roles. There’s more different kind of beauty that the one the society wants us to like.