Where are the happy, chill lesbians?

[Kelliezgirl]

What an odd remark to make. Given that their portfolios are ablaze with red H's, I think it says more about you than them.

I've been assured by all the best people that Red Hs don't really mean anything, and are in no way a measure of quality or literary merit.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

D

You need to stop with these bizarre comparisons. Comparing the experience of LGBTQ+ people to incest is frankly deeply offensive. Drop it!

Don't be a bigot. Who are you to judge other people's choices in relationships?
Kink shaming is unacceptable.
Love is love.

 

[stickygirl]

I'm a metric girl and they only ever come with imperial tools.

A half inch and 13mm are the same, but who cares?

 

[Bramblethorn]

For that matter, bdsm and fetish involve no small amount of "self discovery clashing with internalized societal norms" but those categoryies do not have the same motif.

There are some parallels between BDSM and queerness (and a significant overlap) but there are also important differences. People's sex lives are not normally expected to be discussed in public, so keeping a BDSM relationship under wraps is a very different thing to keeping a same-gender partner under wraps.

Suppose one of your friends died, and at the funeral nobody talked about the deceased's sex life. Would that feel like a weird act of erasure? Or would that just be normal levels of discretion?

Now, suppose one of your friends died, and at the funeral nobody ever mentioned that he was married to Jane over there. (Maybe Jane doesn't even get invited because nobody realised she was important to him.) Does that feel like a much more significant erasure?

(Keeping the BDSM aspect under wraps might be more of an intrusion if he was in some kind of 24/7 TPE situation where it was impossible to adequately acknowledge his partner without mentioning that they were kinky together, but that's not the norm.)

Nor is I/R awash with stories about the difficulties of reconciling incompatible or at least unfamiliar cultural practices, to put it mildly.

Because I/R is primarily a Black Bulls White Chicks fantasy-fetish category which isn't trying to approach reality.

But there are plenty of small-i interracial stories outside that category, and they quite often do deal with the challenges of making such relationships work. Just in my own work, this was a major theme in my Copper Coin and a lesser theme in Loss Function.

 

[onehitwanda]

A half inch and 13mm are the same, but who cares?

the half inch is smaller, and trust me, it matters.

 

[StillStunned]

While I have you all here anyway...

Category question. Quite possibly my first ever.

Here's the setup for a story I'm writing. Two friends - straight, female. Poppy is stressed from work and recent break-up. Jess invites her to stay with her for a bit. Poppy, it turns out, has a tendency to sleepwalk, and because it's Lit she pictures herself at a nudist beach watching the naked people. And she masturbates, to Jess's embarrassment, even though the Poppy is, of course, asleep.

As it happens, though, stress has made it impossible for Poppy to climax. As the story progresses, Jess helps. The first night she strokes her hair, and that relaxes Poppy enough to let her reach a mild orgasm. The second night, Poppy grabs Jess's hand and rubs herself with it. I haven't decided on the third night.

Here's the thing: Jess doesn't see it as engaging in sexual activity with Poppy. And Poppy is asleep, and the following day has no recollection of what's happened. Even in her dreams, she's masturbating, not having having sex with Jess.

My personal feeling is that it should go in Erotic Couplings, or perhaps Toys & Masturbation. Or is this lesbian enough to fit LS?

 

[EmilyMiller]

We wouldn't be having this discussion if only the right guy would come along and fix the broken lesbians

Inside every lesbian is a straight girl screaming to be let out…

 

[StillStunned]

Inside every lesbian is a straight girl screaming to be let out…

From what @onehitwanda posts here, I think you mean "every lesbian's basement".

 

[AwkwardMD]

While I have you all here anyway...

Category question. Quite possibly my first ever.

Here's the setup for a story I'm writing. Two friends - straight, female. Poppy is stressed from work and recent break-up. Jess invites her to stay with her for a bit. Poppy, it turns out, has a tendency to sleepwalk, and because it's Lit she pictures herself at a nudist beach watching the naked people. And she masturbates, to Jess's embarrassment, even though the Poppy is, of course, asleep.

As it happens, though, stress has made it impossible for Poppy to climax. As the story progresses, Jess helps. The first night she strokes her hair, and that relaxes Poppy enough to let her reach a mild orgasm. The second night, Poppy grabs Jess's hand and rubs herself with it. I haven't decided on the third night.

Here's the thing: Jess doesn't see it as engaging in sexual activity with Poppy. And Poppy is asleep, and the following day has no recollection of what's happened. Even in her dreams, she's masturbating, not having having sex with Jess.

My personal feeling is that it should go in Erotic Couplings, or perhaps Toys & Masturbation. Or is this lesbian enough to fit LS?

Probably depends on how you pay off any emotional tension between them. If neither of them percieve interpersonal chemistry, it's probably not LS.

 

[HobokenSweat]

I think my lesbians are generally pretty happy. Carrie and Anna Grace the possible exception. Gianna and Bridgette are very happy. Jamie and Alex are thrilled (for the moment). The Amys are great! Drusilla we haven't met yet... but she ends up happy.

 

[iwatchus]

My lesbian stories end happy but there is trauma along the way or in the past. But that is true for almost all my stories now

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Different categories do seem to have different proportions of realistic stories vs implausible fantasies. And if you are looking for vaguely-realistic stories, it can be hard to find them - FWIW the tag 'realistic' results in stories that are on average even more fantastical...

Most of the wild fantasies on Lit, in any category, end happily. The more plausible stories? There does seem to be a proportion of women who like reading sad stuff and watching weepy films. I'm not a fan myself. And then there's the cliche of the lesbian partner always dying/being lost, in way too many films and books - it's only starting to become not a given.

Even though none of my stories have sad endings, and a fair few have w/w sex, I've only got two in LS - Wheelchair Bound? is in BDSM, and the sequel was submitted to LS but Laurel put it in E/V, presumably because ten women getting it on at a party is cancelled out by the one guy staying quiet in the corner trying not to distract them, even though the story isn't from his POV. Laura in Educating Laura is bisexual, so her having lesbian sex is in BDSM and Erotic Couplings.

Certainly 30 years ago there was a trend for lesbians to define themselves more about what they didn't do (ie men) than what they did do (some may well now call themselves asexual etc). Whereas men just wanted to know if another man liked cock and didn't ask any more questions. That mentality seems to still be around with Lit categories.

If you're lucky, I'll finish writing some (mainly, and eventually) happy lesbians for the Crime & Punishment event. In the meantime, back to the day job...

 

[THBGato]

I've been reading some LS stories recently, including works by AH regulars like @onehitwanda @THBGato @Areala-chan and noticing this pattern where... They're all sad.

"the sweetest honey is loathsome in its own deliciousness": I think happily-ever-after stories need some sadness to temper them, otherwise they become unbearably saccharine.

However, I don't think my stories are particularly sad (obviously "The Parting Glass" is). No more so that the reality for the majority of women, I would say.

Massive thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed them.

 

[THBGato]

I think my lesbians are generally pretty happy. Carrie and Anna Grace the possible exception. Gianna and Bridgette are very happy. Jamie and Alex are thrilled (for the moment). The Amys are great! Drusilla we haven't met yet... but she ends up happy.

**cough** Emerald? **cough**

 

[onehitwanda]

From what @onehitwanda posts here, I think you mean "every lesbian's basement".

... god damn it. Time to move them again.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

The O.P. was quite crude in the way he expressed his thoughts, and while I disregarded it and focused on the actual question, I can understand the ire it drew.

That being said, I'd say that too many people forget that this is all fiction we write here. Sad and angsty, happy and titty, chaste and impregnated, all of those stories should be equally welcome. There's an audience for all of them. And while the O.P., intentionally or not, misguidedly dissed the popular sad and angsty lesbian stories, there's no reason why others should diss the titty and happy ones.

Sometimes, there's a kind of weird territoriality that doesn't belong in a welcoming and accepting place such as Lit. LS doesn't belong to lesbian women, nor does GM belong to gay men. And I really hope IT doesn't belong to sons who dream about impregnating their mothers...

Fiction, people. Let's embrace it.

 

[HobokenSweat]

**cough** Emerald? **cough**

<gino>Dependin' on which story ya read, Emerald is pretty fuckin' happy.</gino>

But I did kinda leave her hanging, didn't I?

 

[Omenainen]

While I have you all here anyway...

Category question. Quite possibly my first ever.

Here's the setup for a story I'm writing. Two friends - straight, female. Poppy is stressed from work and recent break-up. Jess invites her to stay with her for a bit. Poppy, it turns out, has a tendency to sleepwalk, and because it's Lit she pictures herself at a nudist beach watching the naked people. And she masturbates, to Jess's embarrassment, even though the Poppy is, of course, asleep.

As it happens, though, stress has made it impossible for Poppy to climax. As the story progresses, Jess helps. The first night she strokes her hair, and that relaxes Poppy enough to let her reach a mild orgasm. The second night, Poppy grabs Jess's hand and rubs herself with it. I haven't decided on the third night.

Here's the thing: Jess doesn't see it as engaging in sexual activity with Poppy. And Poppy is asleep, and the following day has no recollection of what's happened. Even in her dreams, she's masturbating, not having having sex with Jess.

My personal feeling is that it should go in Erotic Couplings, or perhaps Toys & Masturbation. Or is this lesbian enough to fit LS?

Non-con. Twiddling an unconscious person is hardly consensual. But then, riffing off this...

Probably depends on how you pay off any emotional tension between them.

...and based on how in some lesbian stories, things that would be icky for real, are actually pretty okay if both parties are cute young women, you could play it so that Jess is overtaken with guilt with her rape-y behavior, and Poppy is concerned and worried about why her friend is pushing her away, and realizes that actually she's always loved her and couldn't bear living without her, but Jess is refusing to talk with her, but then something-something and they're forced to face each other, and boom! Pussy! Pussy! Boobs! More boobs! All the boobz! And a wedding! With twice the bride and so much cotton candy everyone will be sick for months! And they all lived happily ever after! The end!

You go write that, I'll go refresh the Lesbian hall of fame to see when your name pops up.

 

[StillStunned]

Non-con. Twiddling an unconscious person is hardly consensual. But then, riffing off this...

Actually, what I said was: "The second night, Poppy grabs Jess's hand and rubs herself with it." The reluctance is on Jess's part.

...and based on how in some lesbian stories, things that would be icky for real, are actually pretty okay if both parties are cute young women, you could play it so that Jess is overtaken with guilt with her rape-y behavior, and Poppy is concerned and worried about why her friend is pushing her away, and realizes that actually she's always loved her and couldn't bear living without her, but Jess is refusing to talk with her, but then something-something and they're forced to face each other, and boom! Pussy! Pussy! Boobs! More boobs! All the boobz! And a wedding! With twice the bride and so much cotton candy everyone will be sick for months! And they all lived happily ever after! The end!

You go write that, I'll go refresh the Lesbian hall of fame to see when your name pops up.

That's one way it could go, I suppose. But it's not the story I'm writing. If it was, I'd have no queries about the category.

 

[Off_base]

So many of my fave lit authors in the comments!
To the OP, most genres on lit contain ethical, moral, and emotional hurdles in the stories. An erotic story with no conflict or moral dilemma between characters, would just be porn. Not that there's anything wrong with writing and reading porn, but readers like myself appreciate the authors who take you through a journey that you can see in your mind, and feel like you're watching a film. Gay relationships are still more of a struggle than straight, obviously, whi

 

[Off_base]

So many of my fave lit authors in the comments!
To the OP, most genres on lit contain ethical, moral, and emotional hurdles in the stories. An erotic story with no conflict or moral dilemma between characters, would just be porn. Not that there's anything wrong with writing and reading porn, but readers like myself appreciate the authors who take you through a journey that you can see in your mind, and feel like you're watching a film. Gay relationships are still more of a struggle than straight, obviously, whi

Oops,
Cont...
Which is why those stories are so popular. People connect with them in a real way.

 

[Statius]

We wouldn't be having this discussion if only the right guy would come along and fix the broken lesbians

I posted this true life story somewhere else recently, but fitting here as well. I have a friend, lesbian, who had a guy tell her she was gay only because she hadn't found the right dick yet. Her response was ' Maybe you're straight because you hadn't either.' one of the funniest things ever.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

There's a meme about this, except the last line is delivered by a big heavily tattooed guy in a motorcycle jacket to capture the unease that probably a lot of women feel when they get that line.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

Hey everyone, it's clear this post was a bad idea. I'm still trying to figure out exactly where I went wrong and what is I can do to make amends (happy to take suggestions on that) but it's clear I've pissed off a bunch of people including some I quite respect. So I'm sorry for that and I'll just drop this line of inquiry.

 

[Omenainen]

Actually, what I said was: "The second night, Poppy grabs Jess's hand and rubs herself with it." The reluctance is on Jess's part.

So is Poppy awake then or not?

I guess this is one of Those Things. Waking up to somebody making sex at you is a prime sexual fantasy for many men, but for many/most women it's OH HELL NO WHAT THE FUCK nightmare fuel.