A question of gender authorship...an unfair bias?

[Callibombe]

As a straight woman, I write in the first person from the female perspective. When I am selecting stories to read, I tend to prefer to read the words and images of male authors-projecting...believing their perspective may be a more potent source for arousal. To be fair, I've greatly enjoyed the works of Anais Nin and Ann Rice (A. N. Roquelaure). Is my bias unfounded?

Am wondering if story selection is based primarily on gender preference as opposed to content, category or story description...
-Callibombe

 

[MorganHawke]

Sex Scenes and what Guys Want.


What you're running into is a simple matter of what the average Woman finds erotic in stories as opposed to men. Authors are people too. They are going to write about what turns THEM on.

As Mr. Gray says: "Men are from Mars - Women are from Venus. They are basically two different species."


Sex Scenes and What Guys Want.
An Observation


I have an unfair advantage.
- I have been writing award-winning short erotica since 98 - AND - I work for the Porn industry as an industry journalist.

I have the best of both worlds when is comes to figuring out what the heck turns people on in writing.

Writing erotica for women was not that hard to figure out. I'm female and I know what turns me on when I read both erotica (Secrets, Black Lace, Hot Blood, the Sleeping Beauty series,) and Romances (Susan Johnson, Beatrice Small, Mary Jo Putney, Katheryn Atwood).

It was as simple as going through the scenes that Really got me hot and bothered and examining exactly how they did it. What did they describe? What words did they use to describe it? What kind of dialogue did they use? What happened first? Next? After? Then I had to figure out: how much story vs. how much sex?

That was the easy part. Now I had to figure out what turned men on.

That meant that I had to uncover their personal sex fantasies and That meant looking for stuff written By men For men.

Did you know that Literary Erotica for Men is Unheard of? Unless your talking Gay Erotica? There's not one erotica book specifically for men! (Unless you count all those magazines.)

According to the guys I asked, they all blushed and told me that they were happy with their magazines and if they wanted to read erotica, they just stole their girlfriends books when she wasn't looking. That was good enough for them, thank you very much.

Thank goodness I work in the porn industry or I would have never known where to look for stories written by guys for their own pleasure. The Porn Story sites.

So, I went slogging through all the really bad porn-story sites to see what guys thought was great. I got lucky, I found Literotica.Com. They were a clean professional site, not ad heavy - or pop-up heavy - and they keep track of who likes what, and how much they like it, with a scoring system.

I started at the top and worked my way down. (Ewwww!)

Every single one of those poorly written porn pieces read like they came out of some high-school gym locker and had never seen the light of day - never mind any kind of pretense to grammar or spelling... The bulk of those early stories looked like someone had typed something straight into the Submit Story box and hit enter, right then and there. Heaven forbid that someone had typed it up in Word and used Spel Chek on it first!

(Keep in mind, this was back in 98 when Literotica was still new. Since then they won't take anything that has not gone through at least one of their volunteer editors.)

There were stories by guys and stories by gals. I read both and made a discovery - Men and women both loved graphic sex stories, but their taste in what they liked - and what they wrote about - and the way they wrote it - was not the same at all.

So, what did guys write about? What turns them on?

Every last one of those dirty stories went into exquisite and loving detail as to what the girl looked like - down to her toenail polish. They described her eye color, her hair color - and length - her lip color, what expression was on her face and whether or not she was looking at
him. They wrote about where her hands were and what part of her body - no matter how small - was in contact with his.

And what it felt like.
And what it tasted like.
And what it smelled like.
And what it sounded like.

Guys don't care what the hero looks like, as long as he's manly and equipped with a big tool kit, but they damn well want to know what she looks like from her cute little toes on up. Long legs, juicy and plump fuzzy kitties, round thighs, broad hips, big round buttocks, soft bellies, narrow waists, bazongers that would feed a man for a week, succulent and moist smiling lips, big eyes and lots of pretty hair they can grab onto. (gasp!)

Guys get off on detailed description.

After reading so much Romance and Erotica where all the sex was just barely hinted at and I had to guess what the heck was going on - it was a real eye opener to see all that loving detail - and so poorly written.

Story? Oh HELL No! Not one drop. Each of those little fantasies started and ended the same exact way - with some cute young thing that walked up to the hero and said: "Hey I think you're hot..."

In all the stories she was hot for his tools and ready for action! Oh yes - guys wanted a girl that wanted him in a big way. It seems that guys want to be seduced as much - if not more so - than women!

Dirty language? You betcha! The raunchier the better. They want to hear just how much she wants him and in how many ways she wants to have him. Continuously. From the beginning of the story to the sweet sighing end he wants to hear the magic words:

"Oh yes, Yes! I want you baby, please give it to me... Give it to me now!"


A man's happily ever after? Hoo - boy! Talk about Different!

Guys Don't want commitment in their sex stories, they want to know that the hero (themselves) saved the girl, preferably from loneliness - with sex - that she was really grateful - with sex - and that she left with a smile on her face and a wobble in her walk.

That's what a guy's happily ever after is - the opportunity to be of service, making as many chicks happy and grateful on down the line as he has ink to write with.

It all boils down to:
- Guys want to SEE what they're doing. The more graphic and explicit the descriptions - the better they like it. Everything else is gravy.


Apparently you like the rich descriptions found in Male writing.
- Cum to think of it... I'm that way too.

 

[Seattle Zack]

I have admit a bias for female authors when I'm reading sex stories. I find the descriptions more arousing and the characters more engaging, as a general observation. I think it helps my own writing, too.

Hell, until recently, I didn't know you weren't supposed to "rub" a clit ... develops some sort of incurable rash or something ... now I know and I'll never hitch that verb to that noun again.

Seriously, though, if I'm on the fence about a story to read I'll pick a female author. Kind of like in the bookstore, when I'm deciding between two unfamiliar authors' novels, I'll always pick the first person POV over the third.

 

[Uther_Pendragon]

Old quote: "All generalizations are false, including this
one."
I'm male. Before I discovered Internet porn, I used to
read the more sexually explicit romances for females. They
had their faults, but they were much more arousing than
the books which were out there for men. Now, I write my
own, and I don't write long descriptions of the heroines'
bodies. I've written about 100 stories, and I haven't
mentioned cup size in ten of them. Mostly, when I do, it's
the heroine's anxiety about her breasts being "too small."
From the hero's perspective, the adjective for the heroine's
breasts is usually "lovely." (I've also used "sweet,"
"smooth," and "kissable.")
I *generally* avoid either heroes or heroines who are
desired by all the opposite sex. If my characters jump
into bed without much prelude, then they're married to each
other.

 

[Black Tulip]

Gender issue

I'm male. Before I discovered Internet porn, I used to
read the more sexually explicit romances for females.

Funny that. I am female and in my youth (cough, cough) all romances for girls stopped right after the first kiss. Boy was that frustrating. So I used to sneek into my brothers's bedrooms. (Do you really write it like this for more than one brother?)
I knew exactly where their hidden treasures were.

I really liked the stories in those magazines and I thought the difference between the sexes was getting turned on by stories or more by pictures, because there always were more pictures and not nearly enough stories.
Well, Literotica really cured me of that idea and has an abundance of spicey tales.

As for picking a story, I usually go for a categorie and than the title. I couldn't care less about the gender of the author. Except when I find a story very hot. I tend to think that must be from a woman, but more often than not it's written by a man.

The only thing I really hate about male writers is their obsession with inches and cup sizes. (Well, some of them.) Since I'm not American those inches and sizes confuse the hell out of me. Besides, do you really believe a man is thinking of brasizes when he sees a pair of nice tits? My guess: he has something quite different in mind!



Black Tulip

__________________________________________________________________________
Visit my garden:
http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=112232

 

[Black Tulip]

Wrong again!



My garden:
http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=112232



Black Tulip

 

[raphy]

Personally, I like to read stories from a female PoV, because as a guy, I like to hear how much the woman's enjoying it, and how much the guy (or girl) she's with is getting her off, and I find that stories written by women from a woman's PoV tend to portray that a lot more believably (if not quite realistically - I'm more than capable of suspension of disbelief) than men's stories.

Men write about what they want women to say. Women write about what they want to say. I'll take the latter over the former.

Like Morgan said:

They want to hear just how much she wants him and in how many ways she wants to have him. Continuously. From the beginning of the story to the sweet sighing end he wants to hear the magic words:

"Oh yes, Yes! I want you baby, please give it to me... Give it to me now!"

Because in the end, guys want to be wanted. They want to know they're the best lover, the most mind-blowing fuck, the one that gives the woman the hardest orgasms.

And I'm just a guy.

 

[Uncle Meat]

I don't claim to be a typical man, but as far as I'm concerned, the interesting aspect of erotica is what the experience is like. Visuals and descriptions of the mechanics are a necessary part of that to some extent, but I agree with the old saying that the brain is the most important sex organ. Someone can write all he wants about sucking on 40-D boobs and thrusting ten-inch cocks into dripping pussies and such, and it might give me a boner if it sounds as if he knows what he's talking bout, and yeah, okay, that's good enough if that's all the writer cares about doing, but...

...I'll remember the story much longer if you can give me an idea of what the experience was like. Why should I care? Why is this experience unique for this particular character?

 

[sanchopanza]

another thing that makes a story stick in mind is originality - i remember reading a scene where 2 sisters lay feet to feet then intertwine their legs and grind against each other - it was very well written and it stuck in my mind as something slightly different.

 

[Jenny _S]

As a general rule....

Men are more verbose and tend to ramble on and on about some detail. Women tend to have a slightly larger vocabulary to draw from.

Aside from that basic difference the real question concerns the quality of story premis and ideas. Personally I don't really see any substantial differences between male and female writers in this area at all. Between the genders there are good, readable writers as well as aweful.

I've written stories from both POVs. To me it makes no difference.

 

[Guest]

I appreciate all that's been said and agree about women writing about women or the woman's pov in sex. But I do want to mention that some of the most long-lived women in fiction were written by men. Perhaps not in erotica-the-genre but often enough eroticism is a major part of their character, e.g., Anna Karenina, Molly Bloom, Don Juan's women.

Joyce used his wife, Nora, to get into a woman's psyche, bothering her in the extreme to get her to describe her emotions and sexuality. If one reads Ulysses, or only the last chapter, the evidence of his success is palpable on the page.

On Lit. if I read anything by an unknown author (i.e., I don't know them from the AH), I merely go by the blurbs, not the writer's gender. As for the AH men who write from a female pov I think they all do a very fine job of it, but none as well as the women.

Perdita

 

[Callibombe]

...gender bias

As this was my first query/thread, thanks to everyone who replied (lots of food for thought). Without wanting to make broad generalizations, it does sound as if straight men prefer to read stories by women (to feel/see what a woman fantasizes). On the other hand, straight women will read stories by either sex (and may even favor same sex authors because of the understanding and desire for detail and description).

Out of curiosity, can anyone tell me the approximate percentage of stories submitted to Literotica from women as compared to men? And, how many members are male as compared to female?

"All great lovers are articulate, and verbal seduction is the surest road to actual seduction."

 

[oggbashan]

Re: ...gender bias

Out of curiosity, can anyone tell me the approximate percentage of stories submitted to Literotica from women as compared to men? And, how many members are male as compared to female?

If the statistics are available, which I doubt, they would not be valid because most members write under pseudonyms and have a free choice to say that they are male or female or just say nothing.

As with much of the internet, the apparent persona may not be real or even bear any resemblance to reality.

What is interesting is that a high proportion of regulars in the Authors' Hangout are Ladies. Some other erotica sites have very few people who are prepared to admit to being female because of the unwelcome email and feedback. Perhaps the AH is a more civilised place? Even so unwelcome attention does occur.

Og

 

[MathGirl]

Re: Re: ...gender bias

Some other erotica sites have very few people who are prepared to admit to being female because of the unwelcome email and feedback. Perhaps the AH is a more civilised place? Even so unwelcome attention does occur.

Dear Og,
I don't know about other sites, but there doesn't seem to be much "unwelcome attention" here. I get the occasional PM and/or feedback from someone with a ......... inch ......... who wants to ........ my ......... and have me ...... on his ......., but there really isn't much of that. If they are ignored, the writer seems to go away.
MG