Introducing Women's Erotica: a new subgenre of Erotica, and a necessary one

[NancyVeeners]

Dear fellow writers!

Erotica has an amazing number of subgenres and themes, so it seems hardly possible to introduce a new one. But I believe it is not just possible: it is necessary.

The new subgenre name is Women’s Erotica, and it comes from its general counterpart, namely Women’s Fiction. According to the definition proposed by the Women’s Fiction Writer’s Association (which I embrace), Women’s Fiction Writers create “layered stories in which the plot is driven by the main character’s emotional journey.” So, I propose to define Women’s Erotica as “Erotic stories in which the plot is driven by the main character’s emotional journey.”

As you can see, both the protagonists and the authors of Women’s Fiction can be any gender, making the term a very inclusive umbrella term for Erotica in fluid gender times. Of course, Women’s Erotica comes with its inheritance of lights and shadows which plagues the parent term Women’s Fiction, and—as a writer of Women’s Fiction myself—I am aware of the criticism.

But Women’s Erotica is what I write—and I believe many of you write Women’s Erotica as well, so I’d like to connect with you all, discuss the idea, and maybe push it forward together.

Best from the Mediterranean!

Nancy Veeners - Writer of Women's Erotica

 

[AwkwardMD]

You might be interested in Omenainen's Pink Orchid event.  Here (https://forum.literotica.com/thread...tric-erotica-official-support-thread.1596535/) is a link to last years thread for the event. Stories for it can be found on the story side by searching for the tags Pink Orchid and Pink Orchid 2023/2024

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Hello and welcome to AH. The Mediterranean rules!

That being said, I didn't understand anything of what you said here. Is Women's Erotica erotica for women or erotica by women? What you wrote implies that it's for women but I don't really understand the distinction from the rest of the erotica.
What is the distinction between Women's erotica and the erotica of other gender(s)? Your statement kinda implies that Women's Erotica is about the emotional journey of the MC. If MCs in my stories have emotional journeys, among other things, does that make my stories Women's erotica? Some clarification would be nice.

Also, some authors have pushed for certain new categories for years without success so you shouldn't get your hopes up. Literotica isn't prone to change.

 

[AwkwardMD]

Hello and welcome to AH. The Mediterranean rules!

That being said, I didn't understand anything of what you said here. Is Women's Erotica erotica for women or erotica by women? What you wrote implies that it's for women but I don't really understand the distinction from the rest of the erotica.
What is the distinction between Women's erotica and the erotica of other gender(s)? Your statement kinda implies that Women's Erotica is about the emotional journey of the MC. If MCs in my stories have emotional journeys, among other things, does that make my stories Women's erotica? Some clarification would be nice.

Also, some authors have pushed for certain new categories for years without success so you shouldn't get your hopes up. Literotica isn't prone to change.

She did say, near the top of the 4th paragraph, that you are probably writing Women's Erotica by her metric. Looks like just about everything I've done since 2019 would qualify as well.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

She did say, near the top of the 4th paragraph, that you are probably writing Women's Erotica by her metric.

Yeah, I guess so. But I was hoping for a deeper discussion about it. While I do agree that women in general appreciate the emotional aspect of erotic stories much more than men, I also think that that isn't a sufficient criterion. This kind of division into Male and Female erotica feels crude.

 

[AwkwardMD]

Yeah, I guess so. But I was hoping for a deeper discussion about it. While I do agree that women in general appreciate the emotional aspect of erotic stories much more than men, I also think that that isn't a sufficient criterion. This kind of division into Male and Female erotica feels crude.

I don't think her position defines a dividing line. I think she's just saying "Stories that meet this criteria are more popular with female readers" without addressing or judging what the opposite might look like.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I don't think her position defines a dividing line. I think she's just saying "Stories that meet this criteria are more popular with female readers" without addressing or judging what the opposite might look like.

Asking for a separate category feels like a division to me, but okay, I am not hung up on it. I would appreciate some more discussion on the topic even though we touched on this subject in the past.

 

[AwkwardMD]

Asking for a separate category feels like a division to me, but okay, I am not hung up on it. I would appreciate some more discussion about the topic even though we touched on this subject in the past.

I don't love the gendered framing either. In stories we've reviewed, we categorize these as character-driven rather than plot-driven. Neither one is right, but readers do tend to be drawn to whichever one speaks to them and it's okay to write either, both, or neither.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Asking for a separate category feels like a division to me, but okay, I am not hung up on it. I would appreciate some more discussion on the topic even though we touched on this subject in the past.

I don’t see where she actually asked for that, although it may be her intent.

As for the “new subgenre” she describes, yeah, a number of us have been writing that for years.

 

[TheLobster]

I think we’d need to start by discerning this new term from the existing monikers like “slow burn,” “character-driven” or even “romance.” So far, it seems like we’re talking about some combination of those which isn’t gender specific (though admittedly it probably does appeal to women more, but other kinds of erotica do that, too).

 

[THBGato]

Oh, so it's not that Literotica has created a new genre then? (Just checked. Indeed they haven't.)

Um.... so what are you asking for, exactly? Like @AwkwardMD and @MelissaBaby I think most of my work qualifies by your definition, but I'm happyish with the categories my stories are in. I mean, we could start using "women's erotica" as a tag I guess? But then, what about all the great stuff written pre-2024 that wouldn't have that tag?

I have to say, I'm not wild about gender defined labels e.g. "chick lit".

 

[Kasumi_Lee]

I propose to define Women’s Erotica as “Erotic stories in which the plot is driven by the main character’s emotional journey.”

As you can see, both the protagonists and the authors of Women’s Fiction can be any gender, making the term a very inclusive umbrella term for Erotica in fluid gender times.​

Excuse me, I hate to seem pedantic, but why bother calling it "Women's Fiction" or "Women's Erotica" if the protagonist doesn't have to be a woman?

I've found various definitions which all differ from the one you proposed by specifying that Women's Fiction has to center the experiences of women. For example, the definition used by Wikipedia reads (emphasis added):

Women's fiction is an umbrella term for women-centered books that focus on women's life experience that are marketed to female readers, and includes many mainstream novels or women's rights books. It is distinct from women's writing, which refers to literature written by (rather than promoted to) women.​

If the new category you propose centers on the emotional journey of the main character regardless of gender, why call it "Women's Fiction"?

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I don’t see where she actually asked for that, although it may be her intent.

As for the “new suggenre” she describes, yeah, a number of us have been writing that for years.

Now that I look at the post again, yeah she didn't really say that. I have no idea why I processed that as a demand for a new category.
This place is messing with my brain, I swear it.

 

[THBGato]

Now that I look at the post again, yeah she didn't really say that. I have no idea why I processed that as a demand for a new category.

You're not alone. The title of the thread made me think that the new category already existed.

 

[SimonDoom]

layered stories in which the plot is driven by the main character’s emotional journey.

Isn't that just fiction, period? How is that "women's fiction"?

I'm thinking about The Odyssey, or Hamlet, or Crime and Punishment, or Huckleberry Finn, or Look Homeward Angel, or David Copperfield, or . . . I could go on.

 

[Kasumi_Lee]

Isn't that just fiction, period? How is that "women's fiction"?

Women's fiction, by most definitions, is supposed to feature a woman as the protagonist and center on that woman's emotional journey, e.g. Bridget Jones's Diary. The definition she quoted is the much more inclusive definition used by the Women's Fiction Writer's of America, so inclusive that it invalidates the purpose of the subgenre in the first place.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I also rather balk at the notion of a category for women, much like the categories for gay male and lesbian. If one writes a gay or lesbian story involving BDSM or Mature it HAS to go in gay or lesbian? That's rather limiting (and somewhat patronizing). The same would happen to (straight) women.

But the OP does have a point. There is no real structure here for emotion-based stories. There are plenty of slot As for your tab Bs on lit (incest, cuck, BDSM, toys, group, mature, anal, etc ... take your pick) If a story is kink-based, it is much easier for a writer to find a category where it will be seen/found. If it is emotion-based it is far far tougher. Where do you put it, Romance? Well just because a story is emotion driven doesn't mean that it has anything to do with romance. What about the emotion of a one night fling? And even if it is a romance, romance has a very restrictive template as to what will be received there. Color outside the romance lines and you will not do well. That leaves the graveyard of EC. And to anyone who thinks that that's fine and what EC is for, bullshit. Nobody is going to search EC for your emotion-driven story, so it does absolutely nothing to help someone find it - and helping readers find it is what categories are for.

Skip everything that I've written above and cut to the chase. This thread is yet another example of the staggeringly outdated and incomplete category system on lit. If you write to a common kink, there's not much problem, but if you write to an uncommon kink, or heaven forbid vanilla, you're on your own, lost in a sea of obscurity. The entire category system needs to be overhauled.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

The new subgenre name is Women’s Erotica,

There is nothing new about this at all.

Your post seems a bit spammy.

 

[AG31]

Hello and welcome to AH. The Mediterranean rules!

That being said, I didn't understand anything of what you said here. Is Women's Erotica erotica for women or erotica by women? What you wrote implies that it's for women but I don't really understand the distinction from the rest of the erotica.
What is the distinction between Women's erotica and the erotica of other gender(s)? Your statement kinda implies that Women's Erotica is about the emotional journey of the MC. If MCs in my stories have emotional journeys, among other things, does that make my stories Women's erotica? Some clarification would be nice.

Also, some authors have pushed for certain new categories for years without success so you shouldn't get your hopes up. Literotica isn't prone to change.

I think she did a good job of explaining that it's not "for" a specific group and it's not "by" a specific group, it's "about" a specific thing. It's about an emotional journey, with explicit sex a required ingredient. It's erotic chick lit. Note that @StillStunned pointed out that a male writer can write a story about a man's emotional journey and one could think of it as "male chick lit."

I think of the OP as making a case for erotic emotional journeys, regardless of the sex of the MC. Maybe she didn't realize how perceptive she is.

 

[AG31]

Women's fiction, by most definitions, is supposed feature a woman as the protagonist and center on that woman's emotional journey, e.g. Bridget Jones's Diary. The definition she quoted is the much more inclusive definition used by the Women's Fiction Writer's of America, so inclusive that it invalidates the purpose of the subgenre in the first place.

I hope we can get @StillStunned to jump in here and tell us about "male chick lit." He recommended some stories by Mike Gayle which clarified for me that "chick lit" is "emotional journey" lit. So I see the OP as wanting an erotica category that focuses on an emotional journey, by an MC of any sex or gender. (Just recently got educated about "gender" referring to identity... It's all a little exhausting.)

I guess I'd add that "chick lit" or "women's fiction" involves "an emotional journey involving a relationship."

 

[AG31]

Where do you put it, Romance? Well just because a story is emotion driven doesn't mean that it has anything to do with romance. What about the emotion of a one night fling? And even if it is a romance, romance has a very restrictive template as to what will be received there.

If it has very little slot A and slot B, and very little relationship (a better word than romance), maybe it goes in the non-erotic category.

 

[AG31]

I also rather balk at the notion of a category for women, much like the categories for gay male and lesbian. If one writes a gay or lesbian story involving BDSM or Mature it HAS to go in gay or lesbian? That's rather limiting (and somewhat patronizing). The same would happen to (straight) women.

Since I don't think the category really means "for" women, but is, rather, an erotic version of "chick lit," why not rename the proposed category, "emotional journeys." See my comments about "male chick lit" in this thread.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

If it has very little slot A and slot B, and very little relationship (a better word than romance), maybe it goes in the non-erotic category.

There are plenty of stories and certainly endless story ideas that are full of sex yet aren't kink-based, so do not fit into any of the categories.

 

[LizVegas79]

I love this discussion. But I agree, I'm not sure "Women's Erotica" even how she defines it is a totally new sub-genre.

As a reader though, (not a writer) I look forward to this discussion and, hopefully, some examples? (hint, hint)

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

There were (maybe still are ) some adult film companies owned and operated by women. Their stuff was/is different from the mainstream stuff.

Lifetime and Hallmark were billed as women oriented. And there's all those millions of 'romance' books out there.