By Suzanne Carré
In the final part of this series, I want to ask the question—why write about sex? What is it about the subject of sex that has intrigued us, as a species, for millennia? Erotica, as art or writing, is as old as human culture itself, so it is valid to ask, what is the fascination with sex?
Does it have anything to do with the old adage—you’ve probably heard it—where if you can’t do something, you read about that something, and if reading about it is a no-can-do, then you write about it? So if we now consider the something is sex—we have the problem that if you can’t have sex, you read about it. If you can’t read about sex (all words, no pictures), you watch it (I’m thinking porn, not the horny neighbors). And if you can’t watch sex (not even the exhibitionists next door), you must be absolutely desperate and deranged. So you write about sex, and create your own kind of fantasy.
While the image of the sex-starved, socially dysfunctional writer is popular, there is scant evidence with respect to the volumes of erotic and sexual writing. From all that I have read about the study of sex, and the motivation to put pen to erotic prose on paper, it appears even the more debased works fulfill a sexual wish more than a glimpse into reality (especially the writer’s reality).
Unfortunately, due to the difficultly in writing sex, most sex writing is bad. While I commit the cardinal sin of judging such writing as porn, it is certainly inferior. But does this mean it is a product life’s experience? No, sex writing that is bad can fail its primary objective to arouse, when the simple text doesn’t have enough description to excite the imagination. If such writing is a confession of some writer’s sex life—our only option is to pity them.
Reasons for Sex
Okay, so we are not in danger of reading sexual writing and degenerating into the same type of creature who inspired us to copy their ravings. Then why do writers write about sex if it is not a form of self-help, writing about their libidinous adventures, to make us sympathetic to their erotomania?
Sexual Rights
Writing about sex does many things beyond the obvious, of providing mental stimulus, and eliciting a sexual response. Sex pushes boundaries. Writing then about sexual activity challenges mores of accepted society because the sex in print provides a medium for debate and social change. Do the countless writers of contemporary erotic romance, their books filled with sexual details, stand to alter civilization as we know it? I think not (so don’t worry).
For erotica to claim the title of inciting, it not only has to have historical notoriety, Lady Chatterley’s Lover for instance, but we applaud the efforts of its creator in hindsight only. Presently the flood of sexually explicit literature seems to follow an accepted trend (unofficially) approved by society. Women can be sexy beasts if they want to, they ask for sex, and dictate sex, not by shy, helpless seduction, but by will alone. This is hardly radical and revolutionary now (it was before the 1960′s).
Sex Sells
It is true, we use sex to sell just about everything in our consumer market, from toothpaste to motor vehicles, but I would question the use of sex to sell books. In writing, sex only makes money if your story makes money, so more sex in a book doesn’t mean the book is more successful. I think the common use of sex in adult fiction is more a case of expectation than necessity. Women are liberated these days so the heroine can’t keep her legs crossed even on the last page. Modern affairs are realized physically so the sex scenes confirm the love. Sex is tantalizing and keeps the romance exciting, but that doesn’t mean it guarantees the sales of a book.
In terms of money, fiction for children sells more than romance, and the success of the genera is possible with the complete absence of sex. Romance sells better than other adult literature but I believe it is the pursuit of love that drives the interest in romantic books more than sex. And even if the sex is there, it must be good or it will be ignored. Sex cannot by itself create a story. The writing needs its own voice, structure, and substance. Beyond a good story, the sex scene(s) just makes the affection mature and spicy.
Meaning of Sex
Foremost, sex is an instrument for probing the intricacies of our very existence. We suffer an instinctive sexual drive, our biology allows for sexual pleasure, and our intellect demands necessity for our sexual appetite. We have many reasons to ask about sex. Because sex is provocative, then it gives us the perfect arena to examine the human being from a personal and emotional platform. We might not get the answers we want but the process offers insights into our nature that few topics allow.
Some writers of sex have sought answers to the riddle of sex, while others have used the enigma of sex as a reference point to explore contemporary issues of love and relationships. Romantic erotica concerns itself with the affairs of the heart in boy meets girl story lines, but even in this simple use, sex allows the writer to ask awkward questions. Why do we seek love? Why are women not completely equal to men? Why can’t we find true, perfect love? What drives us to lust? What is this thing called love and is it the same as sex?
Not all sex questions are deliberate but apparent only upon examination. Maurice Charney in his Sexual Fiction, asks an interesting question—why is erotica concerned with details of female sexuality—no matter if the writer is male or female? Male writers depict women in fantasy to serve the male sexual needs, yet the fictional females have depth of character the males of the story lack. Women writers create their own form of perfect female, serving male ideals of sex, while reducing the male (hero) to an object of sex, but become complete women only during sex (with a man).
Charney claims this focus to idealized female sexuality, and not the sexual design of the man, is a mystery. A sadder fact is the propagation of the male mythology of female sexuality, in terms of acceptable sexual behavior, suppression of the female factor, and denying the female rule in sex. Men still control our sexual culture, especially in writing and art, and women allow them by complying. It is not surprising then that men do this successfully as the shadowy, nondescript males of fiction, defying analysis, and therefore criticism.
Vampire Wisdom
But as with all questions sex prompts us to asks, the reason behind sexual nature is often not generally found within our experience but from without. This brings me to answer the question, why did I write about sex, particularly about vampire sex? Simply because vampires take me out of the human sphere and free the sexual activity from any preconceptions. The reader can accept that vampires are different to us, and then their sexual preferences are no longer shocking but become interesting. Our brand of female sexuality was first created by men, and adapted by women. Our erotica serves to excite the mind according to what men think women are, and what men think sex is. Our sexualized fiction does not describe reality, and fiction should not give anatomy lessons, but it needs to address the female factor of sex and glorify female control of their bodies.
Vampire sex is everything human sex is not. For the vampires, sex is a reason for existing, when it provides the escape from their curse. Sex for the vampires is not the little death feared in the human psyche, but a force of life, where the control of immortality is through the orgasm. Sex doesn’t drain and deny energy of the lovers if in the embrace, the climax is projected into your partner, amplified and returned. The psychic sex of vampires is the source of their supernatural abilities, and the derivative of female power.
In my novel, Marie follows the instructions of her vampire lover Vincent, transforming from the accepted “male concept of woman” to a vampire female. Her lessons of the vampire sexual secrets enable her to learn the extent of her sexual abilities, and gaining her sexual power. She loses her shame and guilt over her body, where anything less than perfection would make her less sexy in the human world, and she becomes truly liberated. With vampire instructions she separates love from sex, and experiences sex in its purest form, without any psychological cost and exchanged freely without bias. When she becomes a vampire, she experiences perfect vampire sex. With her lover, she learns of eternal love.
My novel is about sex, especially experiencing vampire sex. It is a romance between a vampire and a women, explicitly detailing her transformation to vampire sex goddess. The female factor is a contrast between what is expected in the human world compared with the vampire freedoms. My male characters are sexually distinct, especially Vincent, as a vampire male he is more than the sum of his sexual parts, and with his direction gives a meaningful discussion on what is masculine sexuality.
Erotica
What does this mean for the sexy novel? I can only hope the current sex habit doesn’t destroy what women (in particular) have achieved since the 1980′s. If the sex scene becomes repetitious and predictable, encouraging readers to always flip the pages, then there is the danger the sex scenes will disappear. While this might not sound detrimental, it threatens the identification of feminine sexuality, along with the opportunity to develop what “female” is to women, separate and distinct from the male fantasy. All this might be lost. Women have long fought for a voice, for their rights, but the pen gave women the freedom to create. It is the definition of women that we are only just discovering. To lose this would be a tragedy.
