tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7396437919069310850.post6333299032986893582..comments2023-05-30T08:29:42.770-04:00Comments on The Erotica Readers & Writers Association Blog: All About Pleasure: Changing the WorldCroco Designshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04417265522875605547noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7396437919069310850.post-11047050932440663932012-02-19T14:10:48.371-05:002012-02-19T14:10:48.371-05:00RG, I cannot wait to read your dissertation! Ever...RG, I cannot wait to read your dissertation! Every point you make resonates with me, beginning with the supposed open sexualization of our culture, when in fact we are just chasing distorted Platonic shadows of what sex and eroticism really are (not that I know much about philosophy :-) I know it's considered cool to claim advertising does not affect how you see the world, but I know it has worked on me in insidious ways and suspect it is shaping others' views as well. (A favorite example--that the ideal woman doesn't require much attention emotionally or in bed or she's "high-maintance").<br /><br />Anyway, I do believe well written erotica can slowly make the case that we don't have to follow these safe, and misleading, ways of expressing sexuality.<br /><br />And please do let us know when we can read your dissertation :-)!Donnahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13615190390845433428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7396437919069310850.post-33612585403549867772012-02-19T14:02:18.734-05:002012-02-19T14:02:18.734-05:00Thank you, Lisabet. That BookStrand/Paypal list o...Thank you, Lisabet. That BookStrand/Paypal list of what was acceptable amused me even as it horrified me. The definition of acceptable bestiality (werewolves) and necrophilia (vampires) just pointed out how some fantasies, especially those that make money, are okay. And it's okay to write about rape if it's not for "titillation," but what about violence against beautiful young women in bikini's? That's not sexual?<br /><br />Anyway, not to get off topic, I heartily agree that your work is a political act, first of all because the writing is smart and elegant and that alone challenges the stereotypes we face in a big way :).Donnahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13615190390845433428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7396437919069310850.post-38793075664405013392012-02-19T07:19:36.898-05:002012-02-19T07:19:36.898-05:00Hello Donna!
What a marvelous post. It's a to...Hello Donna!<br /><br />What a marvelous post. It's a topic very close to my heart and, to a certain extent, forms the basis of my PhD proposal.<br /><br />And, of course, I agree wholeheartedly with Lisabet on this because in filling out world with those simplistic and idealized images of sexuality. In a way it is a brilliant piece of what magicians call 'redirection'. It appears we're all being very open and coping with sex as a subject, but since those images don't even come close to approximating the real lived experience of sex, we're still actually avoiding it.<br /><br />I think writing erotica is very much a political and transgressive act because, when it is written well, it does come as close as possible to asking us to contemplate our true relationship with eroticism, sexuality and sensuality. <br /><br />I blame Aristotle. His Nicomachean Ethics passage on the inability to pursue rational thought in the face of pleasure, especially sexual pleasure, has been so valorized and expanded to encompass even the contemplation of pleasure, that it has been very easy to caricature our genre as 'dirty trash'.<br /><br />I firmly believe that culture has suffered greatly from our retention and unquestioning adherence to this exaggeration of our rational limitations (on one hand) and a devaluation of emotional intelligence on the other.<br /><br />I live in hope that what Barthes said is true: that "the reintroduction of the sentimentality of love into sexuality would be the ultimate transgression".<br /><br />We shall see, I guess.Remittance Girlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07902713020074243375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7396437919069310850.post-42150011623555765432012-02-19T03:41:01.631-05:002012-02-19T03:41:01.631-05:00How timely this essay is, given the recent BookStr...How timely this essay is, given the recent BookStrand/PayPal kerfluffle as well as your experience of censorship trying to add a link to this very post on Facebook!<br /><br />Of course I agree with your point. Though I don't normally consider my writing to be a subversive or political act, it really is. And I suspect that the world would be a far happier and more peaceful place if individuals were not (still!) forced to suppress their sexual urges - or to despair because they feel inadequate when faced with the simplistic and idealized images of sexuality in the media.Lisabet Saraihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05162514190572269660noreply@blogger.com