Erotica
From Encyclopedia of Sex and Sexuality
Erotica may be best understood by comparing it to pornography. Although the distinctions are often legal in nature and sometimes confusing to the public, many observers—both lay persons and professionals—agree that the two are very different. Verbal communications (books, song lyrics, telephone messages), pictorial communications (movies, videos, photographs), and live performances that portray a demeaning, humiliating, or exploitative image of sexuality and are without artistic merit can be considered pornographic. Works acknowledged by art critics and other critical viewers or readers to have artistic or literary merit can be judged erotic, as can warm and sensual depictions of individuals in mutually satisfying sexual situations. However, both pornography and erotica are often sexually arousing. Many times the line between the two is blurred by the fact that “community standards” are the main criterion for the distinction, and communities are often divided on this subject. A further complication is added by changes in community standards over time.
Erotic art has existed in most cultures and throughout history. The ancient Greeks, for instance, were intensely interested in the concept of beauty, first symbolized by idealized perfection in naked men and later in naked women. The Greek notion of beauty—it stood as a paragon until the early twentieth century—recognized that the appreciation of beauty is mixed with sexual desire. Statues of Aphrodite, the goddess of love (called Venus by the Romans), almost always showed her clothed or at least partially draped, until the Greek artist Praxiteles created a nude sculpture for a temple on the island of Kos. According to Pliny, the people of Kos rejected the statue because it was nude, but the people of Knidos cheerfully took it instead. It became one of the most celebrated sculptures of antiquity. In contrast to the modest poses prescribed by Greeks and Romans for female nudes, male statuary was shamelessly naked. Even less inhibited were ancient depictions of satyrs: lusty creatures with goatlike ears, horns, and even an occasional tail.
Almost every culture with a strong tradition of visual expression has produced some artistic works that depict positions for sexual intercourse. In Japan, volumes called “pillow books” were placed in the bedclothes of newlyweds to advise them on the delights that awaited them. In Renaissance Italy, Giulio Romano produced a set of engravings called I Modi (The Positions) that outline some sixteen different variations for coitus. The ancient Greeks displayed diverse positions on wine jars and drinking vessels.
It is thought by scholars that the sexual activity displayed on Indian temples is an aspect of Tantric belief, in which sexual acts are one of five offerings made to the deity. As that society evolved, it is theorized, ritual sex that once took place in magic ceremonies was replaced by sculptures of sexual acts on temple facades and interiors. On these temple walls we find highly detailed carvings of persons involved in twosomes, threesomes, foursomes, and more. In Japan we find beautiful prints of heterosexual and lesbian activities and illustrations of all commonly known variations of the sexual act, as well as the use of dildos and other devices. Other forms of erotic art from Europe, Asia, and elsewhere depict masturbation — both male and female — with a variety of imaginative positions and techniques.
[edit] Erotica for Today’s Women
Historically, erotica was created by men and directed at a male audience. Of course there were exceptions: Lady Chatterly’s Lover is certainly a story that has excited women ever since it was published, and the diaries of Anaïs Nin are arousing to both sexes. However, since males have constituted the bulk of the consumers of erotica, the field has been dominated by them creatively as well. In the 1990s this is changing. Bookstores now have sections devoted to erotic literature for women alongside shelves filled with mainstream fiction and cookbooks. Erotic books aimed at an audience of women are advertised in popular magazines, and women are not ashamed to display them at home. In fact, these books are not usually found in porn shops catering to men.
To some degree these books are an outgrowth of the romance novel, a literary field that has exploded in recent times. While romance novels follow a fairly established format, the obligatory love scenes have gotten steamier over the years. Under the circumstances, it is not surprising that women readers would want to go one step further and read genuine erotica written for them.
What distinguishes the books written for women, with titles like Touching Fire, Erotic Interludes, and Slow Hand, and standard erotica is that most of these novels and short stories are written by women. A female writer probably has a better understanding of what a woman will find arousing, both in terms of what is going on within the pages of the book and what the reader must feel in order to respond physically to the story. Women are often interested in reading a story with greater emphasis on teasing anticipation and a gradual build-up than two people meeting, tearing their clothes off, and jumping into bed.
Many of these authors also make the effort to describe more than just the physical attributes of the lovers. To a woman, vivid descriptions, such as a garden bursting with flowers, lovers covered in silk and velvet, and the sensory stimuli that fill the air, are all exciting details that must be included for a story to be truly satisfying.
The very fact that such literature exists may begin to change the way women respond to sexual stimulation. It has been scientifically shown that women take longer than men to become fully aroused, but what is not known is whether this is a physical attribute or merely a conditioned reflex. Women have been told that they should hold back their feelings of excitement and that “nice girls don’t enjoy sex,” but these stories tell women that it is not necessary to wait for anyone’s permission to become aroused and enjoy a sexual fantasy.
One positive aspect of erotica penned by women is that these writers do not idealize the female form. Not every woman in these books looks like a Playboy centerfold. These books show that women of all shapes and sizes, tall or fat, with small breasts or large thighs, can have fulfilling sexual lives. Another difference from the myths surrounding women’s sexuality is that these books’ heroines are aroused just by seeing an attractive man. In many stories the women have frank discussions about male anatomy, talking about which parts they find arousing and which they do not, while making it clear that the size of a man’s sexual apparatus is not the most important factor to them. Society usually frowns on women who look men up and down the way men look at women, but in these stories women are given the freedom to do just that.
Not all these books paint sexuality in an entirely positive light. Some female characters do give in to the urge for casual sex, which, in this day and age of aids and other sexually transmitted diseases, can only be described as foolish behavior. Another dangerous theme running through some stories is one of women being overpowered by men, either physically or emotionally. In such fantasies the women give up their own sexuality to please others, usually men. Such story lines do women no favor; they should be reclaiming their right to being sexual beings, not ceding them.
How these books are used also differs among the sexes. For men, erotica is often used to enhance self-pleasure; while women who do not have a partner can certainly masturbate while reading such novels, women with a partner often use such literature to lead up to a genuine sexual encounter. Not only can reading such stories make a woman sexually aroused, but by incorporating the story lines into love-making, either by experimenting with some of the activities described in the book or by using them as fantasies, she can make her bedroom a more exciting place for her and her partner.
