Writing Erotica: A Big Deal for Female Writers?

Women in Indian society have often faced repression and criticism whenever they have tried to express their sexual desires or sexuality. There are few Bollywood movies that talks about female sexuality but some are banned, some are censored and our society often questions women about their moralities, indecency, and obscenity. Thus, sexual freedom is eventually truncated.

Sex is a subject that everyone finds interesting but when talked about it in public, people consider it a “taboo”. People in our society like to read erotica as it is one of the popular genres in reading and actually doesn’t matter whoever writes it but if the reader sees it’s a female writer, he/she gets all surprised and many thoughts crop up into mind. Isn’t it?

"People tend to think erotica is all about sex, yes, it does include sex but then it has a strong storyline, a good plot and a good number of characters as well. It’s like any other novel or a book!"

A female erotica writer needs to deal with many trolls on social media and it's perfectly fine to cope up with such trolls as we need to break the stereotype!

We do write many articles related to social issues, relationships, travel, fashion, lifestyle and so on with our own identity but why do we fear writing an erotica and even if we start writing it, we are not sure of whether we should give it for publishing or not and one more question upsurges, if we give it for publication, can we give our own identity?

And the answer comes “NO”.

There are many female erotica writers who hide their identity for publishing their erotica write-up.

If you are a female erotica writer, you are not doing anything wrong, be proud of what you are writing, doesn’t matter if it’s erotica. If you love writing erotica and you are good at it, go for it! Give readers a chance to read yours with your own individual name!

Here’s why,

• Erotica can be extremely beautiful as it is actually about our most vulnerable part and imagination. It is an exposure to both our passion and blemishes.

• Erotica induces our emotional, intellectual and instinctive reaction.

• Erotica pushes the characters not just in the pursuit of pleasure but into the formidable space.

I feel writing about sex is actually a part of homo sapiens, it’s a literary subject. You do not have to struggle for what you have to write, just say it, go with the flow and let your reader wonder about it and leave them perplexed.

Don’t You Feel Writing Erotica Would Be An Amazing Experience?

Rosalyn D’Mello, who has authored many erotic stories and has edited an anthology of women’s erotica, says,

“A pen name allows your artistic freedom, and gives room for subversion. Given the kind of moral policing that is rampant in Indian society, there is always the danger that a writer may indulge in self-censorship in order to go under conservative radars. There is also a tendency for people to relate explicit writing with the writer’s personality, and to assume that the accounts being narrated are first-hand, which can be invasive to the writer. It is also beside the point, as presumptions about the writer’s personal life then take precedence over the writing.”

We tend to choose pseudonym as we fear judgment from the family as well as society. We feel when we hide our identity we can express ourselves better, we have that freedom of expression. We actually need to let our kinky side loose and make efforts to write more erotica because if we like it we should do it.

It's actually a kind of sacrifice that female erotica writers make to hide their identity as they don’t want their close family members or friends to know about it else the society will be a pain in the neck.

I feel it’s time for the women to say “I love what I write and I am proud of it, be it erotica. It’s all about me and my creativity. No one is there to judge.”

We have few female erotica writers who are doing extremely well and are applauded for their writing.

Blue: The Tranquebar Book of Erotic Fiction For Sri Lanka, Ameena Hussain

Ameena Hussain is one of the well-known names in the Sri Lankan Literary Sphere, she is a publisher at the Perera Hussain Publishing House and a writer as well. Ameena was always interested in writing erotic fiction as she thought this would do really better in the future but she was not sure how Sri Lankan would react. And when she started writing none of the established writers were interested to contribute. However, she got many new and upcoming writers who wanted to share their part.

The book is one of the few erotic reads of the Indian subcontinent that paved its way to the mainstream. The novel comprises of sixteen short stories rumbling with the Sri Lankan way of life, arousing sensuality with a hint of fantasy. It’s a mixed bag of prose and poetries from professional to amateur writers.

Erotic Stories For Punjabi Widows, Balli Kaur Jaiswal

Balli Kaur Jaiswal is the author of Inheritance which won the Sydney Morning Herald’s Best Young Australian Novelist Award in 2014.

While writing the novel she had to undergo a process of unlearning and relearning as her previous books were completely different from this one. She read different erotica books to know about the language and also discovered a wide range of subgenres within erotica.

The novel is hilarious yet it has a thought-provoking story. The writer narrates the stories and secrets of the women shirked by the society. The novel unveils the colorful inner lives and dark secrets of women in white.

Office Quickies, Sanjana Chowhan

Sanjana Chowhan is the author of the “Office Quickies: series and “My Best Friend’s Brother” and published on the Juggernaut app. The author is interested in writing about women who are breaking away from suppression. She believes that one should not hide their identity while writing erotica. It’s something that you have written from experience and imagination so let the world know about it.

Her writing is bit funny and snappy and this is how the author likes it!

A Pleasant kind Of Heavy and Erotic Stories, Aranyani

If you are not a novel-reader, you must try reading the short stories written by Aranyani. Here, we are not clear about the gender of the author but people say it should be a female as the way of writing is feminine but you actually don’t know, how can people be so sure?

Writing erotica does not necessarily mean writing a book or a story, you can even write a sexy birthday or anniversary letter. And writing your feelings will surely make you confident in what you do for sure! This is out of my experience! Women are free to express their kinks!

You know I don’t think writing about sex in a book or newspaper column or any website and blog would be shocking as internet porn. It is all over and everyone enjoys watching it though there are people who will never admit it. And then there are magazines where the girls and guys are portrayed in a way that could be called as “soft porn” I suppose. So, why a female erotica writer is seen with a raised eyebrow in our society?

If you write romance, keep in mind that you are doing more than just indulging your readers and their fantasies. One kiss, one sensuous sex scene can make a change! Don’t you think so?

So, here is a question: “Women expressing their sexuality in the form of writing or any other form of art isn’t a way of empowering themselves?"

"In every living thing, there is the desire for love."

– D. H. Lawrence

Reference:

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/features/Women-writers-take-to-erotica-under-pseudonyms/articleshow/20815227.cms

https://thegoodbookcorner.com/2015/05/22/interview-with-ameena-hussein/