Werewolf Erotica and the Most Awesome Review Ever

My friend and fellow erotica writer Mathilde Gregory has a hilarious piece in The Guardian talking about the fact that a US prisoner sued for the right to read her werewolf erotica book.

After Martinez's request for the book had been denied because of its depictions of sex and violence, he had gone to court and an American judge had carefully worked his way through the whole thing to deduce whether or not it had literary merit. And then ruled that it did. I'm not a lawyer, but I assume that means that it is now the law that I have literary merit.

The court report includes a full plot synopsis, that is probably more detailed and well put together than the one I produced when I proposed the actual book. It goes on to ask the opinion of a creative writing teacher, who seems to like it, and is quoted as saying its themes of freedom are proof of its "literary merit" and that it has "characteristics of literary fiction". And "considerable effort went into the creation of the book, and the plot is more than a sham." More than a sham? Aw, shucks. Later, the report calls my book "Perhaps less than Shakespearian?" Perhaps? Well OK, as long as there's only a little doubt as to whether I am better than Shakespeare, legally.

Here's the article in Time magazine describing the werewolf erotica case.

On Twitter Mathilde has said that out-of-print copies of the book were going for over $80. It currently is only available as an ebook but will be re-released in paperback next year.

What Is "Erotica For Women" Exactly?

The phrase "erotica for women" is pretty broad and it means different things to different people.

"Erotica" can refer to both written and visual content that deals with sex. A lot of people assume that "erotica" is more artistic or socially redeeming that "porn" although ultimately that definition is simply in the eye of the beholder. There's an old joke that says: "Erotica is when you use a feather, porn is when you use the whole chicken."

The "for women" part is also a little tricky. Which women, exactly? Not all women want the same thing and women aren't a homogenous group. There are straight women, queer women, ciswomen and transwomen. Some women like romance, others like hardcore rough sex, some like soft focus, beautiful-style sex, others want BDSM. Trying to cater to all women is not possible.

Still, it's important to acknowledge that most porn and erotica leaves women out of the picture. It's designed for men, whether gay or straight, and the assumption is that men are the primary audience. Female fantasies and perspectives are often ignored.

Thus "erotica for women" is a way of flagging sexy content that at least acknowledges a female audience or tries to depict sex from a female point of view.

Kaleidogasm - An Unusual Erotic Video

This is a rather mind-bending video called "Kaleidogasm". It takes images of sex and mirrors them so it all becomes surreal and strange. It's also a little bit arousing.

The video comes from my new site Bright Desire which is a feminist, sex positive site with lots of different, interesting and HOT porn videos.