These are women from different parts of India have risen against not only the larger social structure but also their immediate social relations who denied them the power to articulate their own perceptions about a body, a mind, a social position which belongs to them. Dr. Sarojini Sahoo And it should go without saying: Production companies should prioritize their performers’ safety and pleasure. This book left me hot, bothered, and pining for more equality. Which is generally my default setting…but still. This is the kind of fantasy that gives us what we really want: men who understand emotional labor and an immortal Ruth Bader Ginsburg.”

Karen: And I would think, and I so appreciate how thoughtful you are about that, which I feel like is also a feminist, just that notion of being so incredibly thoughtful about it and that placing erotica in the context of real people’s lives makes it both more accessible and that it resonates with people in a completely different way. And I feel like both having the fantasy aspect of it and the aspect that sexuality is a part of everyone’s lives and this is what it looks like in the context of their lives. And so I’m going to ask one more question then Jera, I promise I’m going to stop talking. Because I refuse to get my nuts off of the Christian Greys and Massimo Torricellis of the world who thrive on controlling women, I have cobbled together a list of feminist erotica for your reading pleasure: a world where sex isn’t demeaning to women, but a tool to embrace their own sexuality as a primal being without being deemed a chaalu Charu. Subsequently, the fantasies that first emerged in pornography have begun to filter into the mainstream media and marketplace, giving birth to a new mode of femininity organized around sexual entrepreneurialism. Sexual entrepreneurship Cruising the internet for masturbation materials is normal and healthy, but when people hear the word “porn,” they tend to focus on visuals of unrealistic bodies and sex. While such erotic materials can indeed be wonderful, feminist, and queer, sometimes you want to snuggle up with erotic literature rather than videos of orifices. There’s something inherently intimate about reading erotica — it’s quiet and allows your mind to paint the pictures of the characters.Dipsea is a female-founded startup and story studio, and the emphasis on storytelling is apparent in their content. The platform promises to always be relatable, feminist, and celebratory of sex in a positive way. Wanna get even more into it? Dipsea also accepts voice actors and writers to contribute to their new content. They have categories for “her and her,” “her and him,” and “her and them” stories as well, offering more inclusivity than a lot of mainstream, traditional porn. The stories range from 5 to 20 minutes. And did we mention that more than 300 new stories and sessions are added every week?! 15. Lady Cheeky’s Smut for Smarties Tumblr There are healthy, ethical methods to consensually combine sex and pain, as numerous experienced BDSM practitioners have continually stressed. To make sex safe and mutually satisfying, they all require self-awareness, communication skills, and emotional maturity. The issue is that Fifty Shades of Grey casually links passionate sex with violence without providing any of this context.

An earnest sex diary turned into an erotic novel, these incredibly detailed, to-the-point stories chronicle a married couple’s real sex sessions as documented by the author Tessa Desalada. They can’t seem to keep their hands off one other no matter what setting they’re in, which makes this book a captivatingly sensual read. Sexual entrepreneurship encapsulates how, in recent decades, sex and intimate relationships have become subject to market logics of consumerism, investment, and enterprise. Together, these trends reflect a “pornification” of culture, by which porn tropes and narratives become embedded in popular texts, highlighting and normalizing particular kinds of sexuality.And I think having a partner or partners who can not do it for you or not coerce you into it, but work with you on the things that you want to do and understand it from your perspective, that is something really valuable. And that again, whether it’s feminist or not, I don’t want to be the total arbiter of that. But to me that is feminist because it’s in that story, that partner is helping that character explore something that they want to explore, but maybe didn’t know was a possibility to actually explore in real life. It is essentially female-voiced erotica, focusing on a woman’s (Pandora’s) journey of tapping into her wild side. Enter the sexually omnivorous and carefree Cerise, a character who sometimes stole the show from Pandora and her husband Ty. This professed authority allows women to attain a sense of equity within their intimate relationships that does not always have the intended effect. For example, some women may use oral sex as a way to control their relationships and bodies, avoiding cunnilingus yet perfunctorily engaging in fellatio. In return, these women may feel entitled to reciprocal demands often in the form of gifts, nights out, or the assurance of an exclusive relationship.

It features people who are technically amateur performers who also happen to have the skills to create a high-quality film. A threesome gives one single gal more than she can handle (literally). By Whim Grace Sleeping Booty But, unlike Fifty Shades, the essential to BDSM is something Sunstone makes very clear: consent and trust. Described as the Netflix of adult indie films, Pink Label TV offers pretty much everything by way of ethical erotica and feminist porn. Not only are there plenty of options that feature “blurred gender lines and fluid sexualities,” but the company makes it a mission to help industry professionals by offering courses, newsletters, events, and fair pay to better the lives of sex workers and the progression of ethically-made porn. 29. A Four-Chambered Heart Sex acts in every conceivable configuration are depicted in technicolour across a long narrative that is sure to jar the reader’s knowledge of at least a few great classical works.

This sense of empowerment takes on a different meaning behind closed doors, where women are more likely to embrace a submissive sexual role in ways that re-eroticize traditional power relations. And then for the past five, six years, I’ve been editing the Best Women’s Erotica of the Year series, which sometimes has a theme, sometimes doesn’t, but the themes are more open versus a specific topic. So I’ve really edited and written erotica about, I mean, not everything under the sun, but a wide range of sexualities and types of sex and characters. And yeah, I’m always kind of looking to expand both my own knowledge and offerings to people, because I think especially within anthology, you have the opportunity to give people something. Maybe they didn’t know that they would enjoy, but they can discover it within others that, are more, I guess, traditional to them. Jera: Yeah. It really feels like erotica thrives on these anthologies. That it makes sense for those reasons. Rachel: I think it does. I mean, I love short stories. I love short fiction in general. So, I really enjoy that format. There are some people who it’s, I guess, frustrating for them. They’re like, ‘Oh, I just got into it. I spent 10, 15 minutes reading this and now I want more and it’s over. ‘And I totally understand that. And that’s totally valid. And I want to encourage people to keep publishing and, maybe they start with a short story or two or three and then go on to do larger work. So that’s important to me as well. And I think it’s good for readers to hear different voices. I think one of the things I love about erotica is that you don’t need an MFA. You don’t need a certain amount of sexual experience. That’s something that people also ask me: Do I have to have done the things I write about? And no, you just have to be able to convincingly convey them. Like, you should sound like you know what is happening, but I’m not going to ask you if you’ve done it. I don’t really care. Like that’s not really relevant. Jera: Do you have any wishlist items or types of identities or situations that it’s harder for you to find? Rachel: I would say, and this is starting to change, but I’ve received more submissions about partners of trans people, especially partners of trans men, than I have received stories from the point of view of trans women. That is starting to change. I mean, that’s not an absolute, but that is something. Also, I don’t receive as many stories about like more rural areas. I feel like it’s more suburban and cities and I’m always interested in that. And also, I don’t know if this is something totally underrepresented, but I’m always interested in stories set outside the United States and in different cultures that American readers might not know as much about. And what sex is like for someone living in another country or another culture — how does sex play into that for those characters? Those are a couple things. It’s challenging because I do have to reject a lot of stories that I think are good stories, but that feel like similar to things I’ve read before, or that I’ve published before.