Archive for 'pornography'



The Oversexualization of Romance


Romantic Times convention took place a couple of weeks ago. Since the convention, a few people spoke up about their experiences which included a negative reaction to the antics of the Ellora’s Cavemen. SB Sarah said that the Cavemen acted like cavemen and were overly grabby. JC Wilder reported a poorly thought up 9/11 tribute which included strippers and a porn star grabbing themselves in military regalia and later one of the cavemen simulating a sex act with a woman. (Note, according to a pro-Caveman commenter and author, Trista, the stripper remained a whole 12 inches away from the woman at all times while simulating the sex act.) Lori Foster’s report praised the event, cheered the harmless entertainment (the costume balls), but was disturbed by the acts of the Cavemen.

The push back against this is that those who do not wholesale condone or appreciate outward displays of sexuality are prudes or anti-sex. This latter sentiment echoed the arguments of those who defended the Open Source Boob Project. (I refer to this argument as The Ferret Chorus). …

Agent to the Romance Stars Claims Vampires New Alpha Male and Erotica Is Porn

I read the Writer’s Digest Popular Fiction report and I had to check the date, twice, because of what it contained as it related to romance. Steve Axelrod, agent to romance heavyweights like Suzanne Brockmann, Jayne Ann Krentz, Julia Quinn, Christine Feehan, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, was interviewed on the topic of what was hot in romance and according to Axelrod,

“The vampire is the new alpha male,” says Steven Axelrod, a romance agent for the past 30 years. “He’s definitely alpha—after all, he wants to suck your blood.”

Aren’t vampires on their way out? I can’t read another vampire story. I’m into shifters and in a poll I had a few weeks ago, shifters were preferred 3 to 1 over vamps.

He also stated this about erotica:

“You give a group of romance writers a couple of drinks and they’ll admit it’s pornography,” he says. “It’s hard to see it as true romance, and it has a limited audience—they can’t seem to grow it. Very few good storytellers seem to be staking their careers there.”

I know that agents before have said that there is a capped audience for erotica and erotic romance, which is essentially the same …