I do have to wonder if at least some of the blame should be attributed to all the crass, stupid, and sometimes even misogynist movies of the last 20 years that have been labeled "romantic comedy."
Case in point, the hideous, horrible "Love Actually" - here is a great takedown in The Atlantic: Love Actually Is the Least Romantic Film of All Time.
Although I do have a beef with this article - the things he considers "quibbles" I consider pretty damn significant, and why this movie isn't merely a failed "romantic comedy" but a scourge upon the earth:
There are plenty of other aspects of Love Actually with which one might reasonably take issue: the frequent references to how much women weigh, the recurring motif of men wooing their much-younger subordinates, the movie’s peculiar conviction that weddings and funerals ought to be livened up by (respectively) the Beatles and the Bay City Rollers, and so on.
It's the misogyny, stupid.
The fact that this movie is considered a romantic comedy Christmas classic leads me to believe that the world is brimming full of insensitive, oafish, misogynist, stupid people.
And that my therapist is right.