Does Writing About Sex Have to Be Sexy?
January 2nd, 2006 by Melissa Gira
Just in case you don’t read post titles and skip to juicy images:
Does Writing About Sex Have to Be Sexy?
We here at Sexerati say, Fuck no. No — unless — that is, like us, your definition of “sexy” has room for all of that hot, mental friction aroused from teasing out what’s so good about sex in the first place. If there can be anything inherent about sex, which we’re still not quite sure about — it’s that it’s messy. Sex is complex and it feels good, and to us, that’s precisely why it feels good still. Even when the sweat and skin doesn’t quite end up splattered and positioned as we planned. It’s why we say, When bodies collide, brains best follow.
Which is why we rejoice when other media nerds get it, too. Check this snip from Salon’s recent review of both “Best Sex Writing 2005″ and “The World’s Best Sex Writing 2005″, trying to sort out sex as it hits the page:
Then again, the juxtaposition between the frivolous and the humorless, jarring as it is, may be the point. What makes sex such an eternally compelling topic is, after all, the schizoid role it plays in our lives. Sex is all about pleasure, except when it causes pain. We are freest when naked, except when it puts us in jail. The very act responsible for our birth can, under certain circumstances, result in untimely death. In America we celebrate cartoonish images of sex (pop princesses, porn stars, etc.) to keep it permanently ghettoized in the realm of fantasy, the better to pretend it doesn’t really exist. The great thing about primal impulses, though, is that, finicky as they are, they can be repressed and intellectualized for only so long. Eventually, the mind hands over the reins to the body, at which point the real fun begins.
More, harder, faster, yes, please.
BONUS TRACKS
The World’s Best Sex Writing 2005, by Mitzi Szereto
Best Sex Writing (2005), by Violet Blue