Erotica outside the lines

Erotica publisher Raelene Gorlinsky describes erotica succinctly – as something that makes one “pleasurably sexually turned-on.”

“Of course what’s ‘pleasurable’ can be different for every person,” Gorlinsky said in an interview with USA Today Books in the Feb. 22 article “Happy Ever After.” “But the current use of erotica is intended to have a positive connotation,” he said.

Nowadays it’s rare someone would begin a search for any low-risk, low-commitment, sexually “pleasurable” thing anywhere but the Internet. More often than not that leads us to cheesy porn sites like Youporn and Pornhub, where we end up watching 12 minutes of a scene that essentially “gets the job done.” The quick fix takes our attention away from the other options that may take longer to dive into – but offers a more satisfying reward.

We just have to be willing to explore and adventure.

Literary erotica has come a long way since Harlequin novels. Perhaps the recent novel Fifty Shades of Grey by London-based author Erika Mitchell (pen name E. L. James) just crossed your mind. The “kinky f*ckery” of Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele swept over us this past year, undeniably driving countless happy moments for readers – not to mention big sales at Fascinations.

But while 50 Shades was quite a national focal point last year, other options can truly take us on a long tour of the power of the written word to hit the sweet spot.

To me, erotica (defined by Merriam-Webster to encompass any literary or artistic erotic work) exists in the words on a book spine, in the naked silhouette painted on a canvas in the student center and even in the throaty, suggestive whisper against my ear. It’s an expansive definition, and for this reason I want to share more than erotic books – I want to mention blogs and websites, too.

Literotica is a site that offers a duality of literature and erotica, with various fantasy and fiction categories, and interest categories like gay male, interracial love, lesbian sex, etc. Completely free to visit, Literotica.com is a place where amateur and professional writers alike can submit any story they wish, for anyone to see.

There are also erotic chat rooms, bulletin boards for members and a place for audio files – sometimes to accompany written stories, sometimes the stories themselves narrated out loud, and often just people moaning or breathing heavily into a microphone. There’s something strikingly evocative about listening to someone get off, versus watching a three-minute clip of it on Xtube.

Sex blogger, author, columnist and web celeb Violet Blue is a major advocate of erotica, who, on her blog Tiny Nibbles, demonstrates various genres – artwork, books, podcasts and more. In one Jan. 25 post she lists porn stars and female models wearing socks; to her there’s something distinctly titillating about that.

Katherine Brock, a 23-year-old graduated Women’s Studies major, said she learned a lot from Tiny Nibbles and hopes to start a sexuality blog of her own.

“Violet has such a powerful way of conveying erotica through her blog,” Brock said. “She literally just throws you right into it as soon as you click on her link. I think it probably has something to do with the strategic ad placement, too.”

When visiting Blue’s blog, you could be reading about the dos and don’ts of dirty talk when your eye drifts to the side of the page, where naked men and women lure toward websites for fine art nudes, porn stores owned by women, and more.

I personally find sites like Tiny Nibbles, Literotica and Viviane’s Sex Carnival more sincere – and more erotic – than heterosexual porn sites I feel zero connection with because they’re meant for men.

Erotica carries different meanings or connotations for different people, this 20-something sex columnist and college student can only hope that some of you find your own reward stepping out of your comfort zones, thinking outside the box, and exploring that wide world.