Welcome to Beginner's Ball #6! This series was started by writers Helia Brookes, Marina St. Clare and myself. We hope to address issues of interest to new eroticists and more experienced writers as well. This series travels blog to blog. Scarlett Greyson will be joining us soon!
Okay, I'm going to play devil's advocate for a moment. Bear with me.
Totally ignoring the whole futile erotica vs. porn debate - if pornography is such a horrible problem (7.5 million Google results for "problem of pornography") that is destroying marriages and the very fabric of civilization as we speak (stop rolling your eyes) - isn't writing "erotica" just contributing to said problem?
I ask this because it's something I'm pondering as I prepare to let more friends in on the "secret" that I am writing erotica/smut/pornography/whatever and blogging about it. What will I say if someone asks me this - or some variation?
Because I know I will come up against this - I know some of my friends - and family for that matter - decry the music and dress and general decline in decency - and up till now I've just quietly let their tirades roll off me all the while thinking "if only you knew…" (yes, I have some strange friends)
Erotic depictions (paintings, sculpture, photographs, dramatic arts, music and writing, have been around a very long time. (That wikipedia link, if you're new to it will keep you busy a long time - I had to tear myself away.) What I find amusing is the insistence by some (still!) that all the very old (read Paleolithic) depictions are touted as "fertility symbols" - and not just depictions of stuff that made those skin-clad hunter-gatherers horny. I'll save that rant for another time. Side note: So, I kept reading about erotic cave art, but so far have not been able to find any images online - they trying to protect us from something?
But back to the original thing I was getting at. What was I getting at?
It would be nice if I could claim to have always been so enlightened. But. There was a time in my life when I was horribly ashamed of my own attraction to "erotic depictions" - I was sure it was proof of some damage - And I was even ashamed of writing some of my own. Seeing images and reading words that turned me on tended to lead to self-loathing. Yup. Me. Erobintica. And the reasons why and how I got from there to here are for another time and place.
The point is - I got to here. I'm writing what I'm sure a lot of folks would consider vile pornography (and yeah, in their minds that would be redundant). And it's one of the best fucking things that I've ever done in my life (and I'm just getting started). I finally feel comfortable in my skin. I finally have a lot more self-confidence than I've ever had. I joke with my husband about "empowerment through porn." But I'm serious. I've found freedom by embracing this previously hidden part of my psyche.
This is a subject that can't be hardly touched on in a single blog post. But I was wondering what your thoughts on the matter are. What would you say to someone who accuses you of being "part of the problem"?
