Over the years the attitudes to sex and the people who write it have changed quite dramatically, as has the attitude to sex in general. A few years ago I 'came out' as a writer of erotica to one of my closest friends, I hadn't told her before that point because we had never really been in a position where we could sit down over a cup of tea.
Now I had known her for many years and she was almost exactly like me, therefore when I told her I didn't think there would be any problem whatsoever. I couldn't have been more wrong! As soon as I had stopped talking she looked at me aghast and then requested I never talk to her again because she couldn't be friends who 'did that sort of thing'. Seven years on and we still haven't talked and I'm much more cagey who of my friends I tell.
Writing erotica is nothing to be ashamed of, one of the most popular questions I get asked when people find out I write it (and have then read some of my work) is: Did you really do this? - You wouldn't go up to a horror writer and ask the same question so why do it to an erotica writer?
Last year that book came out and things changed in a big way. Now writing erotica has become more of a norm and sometimes even an exciting norm for people, people who find out you write such a thing will ask you more questions before admitting they happily read it and get their husbands to do so too. You just have to walk into any book store on the high street and see the stands of erotica books for sale, something that was just not seen before that book came out.
Hate it or love it no one can deny how much that book has been good for erotica writers and how it has helped change the sexual attitude of people, how long it will stay like that we can't tell but for the moment I think now is a good place to be. As a writer I always like to try and present subjects in a way that will open people's eyes. The best compliment I can have from someone reading any of my work is that it made them think.
The book Best Sex Writing 2013 was one such book. Edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel and selected and introduced by Carol Queen there is a lot of very interesting articles/essay's upon the modern attitude to sex and the state of today's sexual culture. They do not shy away from saying it how it is and allowing people to widen their perspective. I won't pull out any single piece of writing because in all honesty I couldn't they all have their own slant on the sexual culture and all do it in their own unique and very interesting way (Far more then my babbling above this paragraph!).
Tomorrow (14th May) the blog tour is stopping at: http://huntingforsex.blogspot.ca/ so don't forget to pop over and say hi!
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