History of Sex in Literature

 

Romance and Spice

Erotic literature has a long history. The oldest love poem we know of was found on an ancient Sumerian clay tablet, dated back to the 3^rd millennium BCE. Ancient Sumer produced a lot of erotic poetry. So basically it’s existed as long as the written word has existed.

Moving ahead in time, we find a lot of erotic verse and poetry from Ancient Greece and Rome. A notable one is Sappho from the island Lesbos, she wrote a lot of poetry and symbolises desire and love between women. We get the terms ‘sapphic’ and ‘lesbian’ from her, terms used to describe romantic and sexual relationships between women.

The only poem that survives intact is Ode to Aphrodite. Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, fertility and sexual pleasure. There is a lot of literature that describes same sex relationships and acts. Proof that homosexuality is as ancient as humanity.

Another famous text related to sex is the Kama Sutra: an ancient Indian text written in Sanskrit and dated around the 3^rd century BCE. The text covers a huge range of topics related to romance, courtship, miarriage, adultery, sex and sexual acts, including positions and same-sex relationships. There is even coverage of S&M and group sex. The text has been translated and published many times.

During the Romantic period in Britain, there was a decline in erotic works. Explicit content was suppressed when the Obscene Publications Act of 1857 was introduced. This made it unlawful to sell ‘obscene material’ and it was a statutory offence. The definition of ‘obscene’ was never included so it was left to the courts to decide if the material was classed as obscene.

That said, French writers kept the erotica going, including works by the Marquis de Sade who influenced a lot of S&M included in fiction. Clandestine works continued this trend in the Victorian era and many explicit works were circulated in secret.

In the 20^th century manyu works were published and sexual content has found its way back into the mainstream. Especially with the advent of the internet, allowing people to publish written works in a new way. Fanfiction became a thing, and there were some issues with explicit content that got banned from certain fanfic archives like fanfiction.net. There are archives specifically for the MA (Mature Adult) rated fics.

There was renewed discussion when 50 Shades of Grey was published. A trilogy of books by E. L. James featuring a BDSM relationship that brought erotica and romance into the mainstream again. These books started out as Twilight fanfiction, but took the world by storm. For me, the books are problematic but that’s a discussion for another day.

That said, it has paved the way for other authors and we now have a vast array of books featuring ‘open door’ sex scenes and centered around romance themes. Particularly fantasy romance or ‘romantasy’ novels which have become very popular. The term ‘spice’ has been adopted to refer to how much explicit content is in books while avoiding censorship on social media.

Recently there was a bit of drama around this, where a content creator posted a video on YouTube mocking readers of the ‘romantasy genre’ and implying they had mental health problems and needed to ‘touch grass’. The backlash led to the video being unlisted and an apology on Tik Tok.

Here’s the issue. Not everyone likes ‘spicy scenes’ but plenty of people do. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s clear among the demographics of readers that these books are popular among women but plenty of others enjoy them too. And that’s okay.

I don’t mind spice, but I also don’t need it in what I read. It’s not a deal breaker for me, but I don’t hate it when it’s written well either. I’m not easily shocked or naïve so it’s good either way. The point is, it’s okay for people to read what they like, and not read what they don’t like. Nobody should be made to feel ashamed for enjoying what they like.

As long as it’s not glorifying dangerous things like serious sexual assault or paedophilia, it’s all good. We all know that the pornography industry is highly exploitative, but erotic fiction is a lot less so and sex is a part of life. So it makes sense that it would fit into some stories.

There’s also nothing wrong with reading straight erotica where there’s little plot. If you enjoy it, and you’re not harming anyone, what’s the problem? People raise concerns about the effect that ‘spice’ can have on sexual assault survivors, especially in the ‘dark romance’ sub-genre. However many readers who are survivors say that reading the content helps them heal from their experiences and I can see why.

Reading about these things could help reset their view of sex and take back control of their bodies and sexuality. There will be survivors who don’t want to read this stuff, and that’s fine too. If it’s not for you, it’s not for you. But nobody should be shamed for liking spicy books, and nobody should be shamed for not liking them. Deal? 

Great, glad to hear it. Come back on Friday for another book review!

Emi the Cat Lady 💜