The “Does anyone here think porn is bad?” thread got me thinking. A lot of women chimed in that they were not comfortable about some of the rough aspect of porn, with the remark that they preferred to read erotica instead.
I’m an atypical male in that if I had to choose, I would pick erotica over porn vids. But there is a lot of rough kinky stuff in erotica. Incest, beastiality, gangbang, non-consentual, mind control, bondage. The list is long. And it’s pretty prevalent as well. This must mean that a lot of people are reading about things that they would not feel comfortable watching or doing in real life. I know I do.
So we get to the sticky question. I can ask what story codes you look for, but I would assume no one would respond. So let me put it this way. Do you ladies read hardcore erotica? Are you reading stuff that you wouldn’t watch on video? Or are you reading romance stories with a lot more sex?
I have read hardcore erotica, and it did make me a little uncomfortable. I’d prefer to read what is being referred to as “romantica;” in other words, as you say “romance stories with a lot more sex.” I don’t mind reading something with a threesome, or some light bondage, but when it gets more hardcore (read: rape fantasies, bestiality, etc.), it’s hard for an author to provide readers with the same emotional attachment to the characters.
I also write erotica, and most of the publishers I’ve published with prefer that their authors include an emotional element in their story rather than straight “stroke” fiction, which is essentially fiction you’d just read for quick masturbation. Higher-paying publishers of erotica usually like a story that’ll stand on its own but that has lots of graphic sex between consenting adults, though the quality of the story differs greatly from book to book and author to author.
I write romantica, but if I’m going to bother reading it, I might look for “hardcore” stuff if it fits my particular kink and my particular mood at that particular time.
That’s the only kind I read, and if I could find video that covered the same material in the same way I would likely watch it too. However, I think a lot of the mind control/forced orgasm/rape fantasy erotica (which is my preference) wouldn’t translate very well to film because a lot of the appeal is in the "victim"s thought processes.
Romantica??? Never heard of it until today. Wow, I consider myself well versed in these things, but that flew completely under my radar.
I was wonder what was going on, because people were saying they were uncomfortable with porn but okay with erotica. ‘Erotica’ to me means hardcore. Pretty much all you find at asstr.org, kristen’s archive, forbidden fantasies, alt.sex.stories.moderated. Even in print erotica, authors like Marcus Van Heller and stories like Autobiography of a Flea.
I am not well versed in such matters since I have my genre and I stick with it, but I always considered erotica as sexual stories with or without plot and romantica fluffy light stories full of plot.
A lot of women who read erotica read it about things they wouldn’t enjoy seeing in video. I like a lot of manga (either bl or h), which I consider erotica with pictures. Because it is happening to drawn characters, I can handle a lot more than I would if it were actual videos. One of the things that really turns me on is male on male rape. If I saw a video of such I would probably be horrified (never have, so can’t say with absolute certaintly) even if I knew it was fake. On the other hand, with stories and with manga, I can put myself in the situation and it turns from something highly disturbing to something highly erotic.
A lot of women must feel similar to me based on the level of kink that is found in such comics. I sell them at a convention devoted to fans of comics about male sex made for females and I assure you that the kinkiest ones sell the fastest and have the greatest level of fans. BDSM is extremely popular, and most of the adult comics contain some element of it. In fact, it is hard to find comics without it!
I like most erotica, but my favorite is victorian lesbian erotica. And there quite a bit out there believe it or not. Lucky for me I actually have a pretty good collection I’ve been working on.
I don’t mind the hardcore stuff. Lots of people fantasize about things that they would actually hate to do in real life. Including me.
I never thought “erotica” meant hardcore. I always thought it just meant…I don’t know…tasteful. As opposed to porn…which is not. I don’t know, it’s hard for me to define or explain the boundaries I put between the two areas. I know when I’m writing erotica and I know when I’m writing porn, and they’re not the same. Shoot, if you get five people in a room and asked them to define erotica, you’d probably get five different answers. Even so, I never understood the term to mean “hardcore” because that’s how I always defined “porn”
I like and own porn, but I prefer erotica. I never thought of it in terms of genre until recently, when I told my new BF that I’ve written a little erotica and he asked me “what kind?” I think that what I’ve read so far is a little of what’s being called “romantica” (e.g. the A.N. Roquelaure/Anne Rice Beauty books) and a little of what might be more “hardcore” (e.g. Adam & Eve customer fantasies). I like it all.
Yep: I take “erotica” to mean “written,” whereas I think of “porn” as meaning “visual” (pictures or video). I don’t consider one to be inherently more/less tasteful than the other.
If the Anne Rice Beauty books are considered Romantica, then I’m confused. Pony-girl play, bondage, sexual captivity. Hey, we’re reading the same stuff.
Eh, I like porn, but erotica does it much better for me. And I tend to read the hardcore stuff, it’s just what works best for me. “Romantica” tends to bore me to tears. I’d probably watch the same kind of thing on film, but I never have, and I don’t know how well it’d work for me without the ability to imagine what’s going on and know the thought processes of the people involved.
As pepperlandgirl mentioned, I think this is one of those situations where you ask multiple people what erotica or romantica is and you get many answers. Like you, I wouldn’t really consider Anne Rice’s version of erotica romantica, either. When I think of romantica, I think of Bertrice Small and Robin Schone. Both include fairly graphic scenes, though the language in Schone’s books is often more graphic, while Small has more sex, but less graphic language (if I recall correctly anyway). However, that’s just my opinion.
All those authors - Rice, Schone and Small - try to include some emotional attachment to the main characters, but I always mentally placed Rice in the more hardcore arena. But again, that’s just my opinion.
I don’t read published erotica but I do read an awful lot of slash on the web. There’s definitely darker themes in the stuff I read than I would feel comfortable with seeing acted out in a video. Plus, when I first started reading slash, I did read fairly explicit stuff and didn’t really care about the writing. BUt now that I’ve read so much, the sex scenes have started to bore me. There’s only so many ways to write about sex. I tend to be more interested in good writing, character development, and interesting plots than I am in hardcore sex…
I’d be interested in reading some erotica–if I knew where to find it! Where does one acquire hard-core erotica?
I looked at quite a few sources of free material online, and didn’t really like what I found. They were generally badly written, which made it very hard for me to concentrate on the story, regardless of the subject matter.
As far as the question of whether I prefer prose or video–I have read some erotica I’ve liked. I’ve seen virtually no video I’ve liked. And I like reading. So, I’d prefer prose, but I’m certainly open to video.
I was just trying to understand how women view erotica. Seems like a lot of women are uncomfortable with some of the rougher aspects of porn, so I trying to determine if there was discomfort with erotica.
Ghanima, just to clarify I wasn’t making fun of Victorian Lesbian erotica. I know that there is a lot of that genre, but when you actually say it out loud, it sounds so esoteric.
I actually have a pretty good collection I’ve been working on.
I don’t consider one to be inherently more/less tasteful than the other.