Erotica versus Pornography

The difference between pornography and erotica is a markup of about 12%.

Edit: It’s the same difference between “used” and “pre-owned” cars.

jehoram said:

I forget where I heard this, but somebody said that if you can remember anything of the plot after the orgasm, it's erotica.

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I think you got that from me. And I got it from a (now-ex-) boyfriend. (Or did I get that from you? I can't remember now.)

For me, erotica is more about the journey than the destination ... what the character thinks and feels on the way to the bed, rather than what happens in the bed.

Personally I prefer a lot of pornography in my erotica.

Pornography vs. erotica is a useless debate.

The more interesting question to me is what is erotica (or porn), per se, vs. any old writing that is "more or less sexual."

Stephen King's stories sometimes have naughty/porny/erotic bits, but they would never be classified as "erotica." Is Lolita erotica?

Question for writers: are you aiming to write erotica, or are you just tossing in some sexy bits into your writing.

I tend to draw the some what flexible line like this:

Erotica is a character driven story, in which some sensual activity plays an inciting role (causes the core conflict in the character)

Pornography is a description of sexual activity, in which characters are "necessary elements" as participants in the sexual activity.

So, character focus (to impact of sensual/sexual events on character) versus action focus (descriptive sexual encounters).

Erotica is "hot" because we as readers can relate to one or more of the characters and what they are going through.

Pornography is "hot" because the author vividly describes sexual action in a way that we as readers are aroused by that description.

I find the point irrelevant, since there's probably a d*** being rubbed while reading it somewhere.

nosebone said:

I find the point irrelevant, since there's probably a d*** being rubbed while reading it somewhere.

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Lol, right!

The real difference is in the self-image of the consumer and in the social image of the producers and consumers.

And times do change; after all, Joyce's "Ulysses" was originally banned as pornography, and that is a character and classically driven tale. In 19th Century art, one could paint rather sensual nudes as "art" if they were on Mt. Olympus, but paint a real woman naked in bed, and that was pornography, even if you titled it "Olympia."

Carnal_Flower said:

Pornography vs. erotica is a useless debate.

The more interesting question to me is what is erotica (or porn), per se, vs. any old writing that is "more or less sexual."

Stephen King's stories sometimes have naughty/porny/erotic bits, but they would never be classified as "erotica." Is Lolita erotica?

Question for writers: are you aiming to write erotica, or are you just tossing in some sexy bits into your writing.

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I like your last question. That, to me, is an interesting way of recasting the debate -- what's the author's intention?

I aim to write erotica. I don't write stories with sex thrown in. Every time I write a story to be published on this site, the point of the story is explicitly and intentionally erotic. By that I mean the story typically concerns a sexual subject and is written to stimulate or arouse a sexual sensibility, desire, or interest.

But I would also say that most of the stories I write are intentionally pornographic, in the sense they nearly always graphically describe sexual encounters, and I am aware they may be used by someone to masturbate to. I know this from the comments I receive.