Let's start with a bang:
Erotic Romance, Erotica and Porn -- can you see a difference?
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Feb 1, 2008
Hot Topic - ER, Erotica, Porn - can you see a difference?
Let's start with a bang:
Erotic Romance, Erotica and Porn -- can you see a difference?
Feel free, reader and author alike, to weigh in and tell us what you think about our hot topic for today!
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11 comments:
I feel it's all somewhat subjective.
For me porn would be flat characters having sex with no real connection to the reader.
Erotica would be more developed character and plotwise but still with sex being the main focus.
Erotic romance (or erotic historical, erotic mystery etc)would have much deeper characterization and general plot.
But as I said that's just the way I see it. ^_^
My DH has a great definition of porn. It's that old "Miami Vice " scene:
{knock-knock}
Hunk: Are you the lady who called for the plumber?
Scantily-clad woman: Yes, but I don't have any money. I don't know how I can ever repay you ...
Erotic romance, in my view, is about falling in love -- and having great sex along the way. Just like in real life, love doesn't always last forever, so I'm willing to accept happy-for-now endings. But it's definitely about the relationship, both physical and emotional.
Erotica is about sexual expression, about people connecting to each other through their sexuality. It does not seek to explore the wider relationship, and sometimes there isn't one. But in that moment, the lovers are as involved in each other as couples in an erotic romance are. The difference is that it is one moment, not the whole arc of the relationship.
Porn is "wham bam thank you ma'am/sir". Lots of action, very little dialogue, lots of lights so you can see the action. Getting off for the sake of getting off.
Erotic romance is all that sex with some thought behind it. They're going at it because they can't keep off of each other, not because they're scratching an itch.
I agree with all the above except to say that porn is naked with black socks. That's the last thing my hubby takes off before getting in bed. I kid him every night.
I'm cheating and have taken this from something I wrote but it expresses my views perfectly:
So what makes an erotic romance as opposed to a romance that just has sex in it? Authors and readers debate this constantly. It’s the age-old question: art versus porn and in many instances, you will know it when you see it. Drawings, paintings, sculpture, we generally see as artistic, but this can apply equally to photographs. It is in the pose, the intent, and the skill of the artist. The same applies to the written word. I can only tell you what the definition of an erotic romance means to me. The sex has to be essential to the story. It has to move the plot, integrated, progressive. It doesn’t matter if the story is a sweet tale of two people meeting or a high adventure. If you can remove the sex from the story and still have a story then the sex didn’t belong there to begin with.
Romance is the defining word. I think Barbara Sheridan did a precise, concise job with this. My dh likes to tease me about the "sex" in my stories. He's a big horror fan and now, whenever there's "sex" in one of the books he's reading, he grins and says, "You'll like this one. It has lots of people f*** in it!"
He still hasn't quite gotten the difference between "sex" in a story and "erotic romance".
sigh - but men can be slow learners!
Great definitions for the various types of stories. I love Erotica and Erotic Romance (historical, etc) I agree with Barbara S. - most porn is very flat and is hard for me to "relate" to in any way. My preferences will always be Erotic Romance because of the emotion and connection between the characters.
Porn seems very male oriented--in other words the focus is different and doesn't turn me on as much. Erotica often seems very literary, like it's about sex and being controversial, but doesn't always feel like it's meant to turn on the reader. EroRom is perfect--explicit sex that comes after some obvious attraction and plot and that evolves as the love relationship does throughout the story.
Barbara said it best. In ero rom the focus is the characters rather than the sex.
Porn is flat interchangeable characters sticking tab A into slot B or what have you with no connection beyond the physical. For me that's very unsatisfying.
Though I did get a chuckle out of "porn gussied up for the prom." Lol!
It's easier if you start by definining the differences between romance and erotica -- because it's pretty much the same (although different -- if that makes sense).
Porn versus erotica is a matter of sensibility. It's not character or plot or subject matter or men writing versus women writing. It's all about the emotional content and the choice of language. It's a matter of sense and sensibility. It is a more romantic and emotional approach, although it is at the same time explicit and frank.
I agree that porn is meant to be visually stimulating. It's arousal for the sake of arousal.
The erotica I've read was written by women, also meant to arouse but contained romantic elements. It was one slice of time out of a couples life, or one woman's sexual coming of age story.
Erotica romance? I like Ellora's Cave take on it - Romantica. It's romance that erotic. If you know what romance is, no further explanation is necessary.
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