Can we please burn with fire the notion that erotic romance authors write 'porn'.
It is especially galling when romance authors who write chaste or mild heat books say this. Please don't. It's rude, fucking insulting and 100% wrong.
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As a writer of sexually explicit stories, I use erotica and porn interchangeably for my own work and the stories I read. I use "porn" very deliberately to resist reflexively anti-porn attitudes. I'd be interested in knowing why you feel the characterization is insulting/rude?
Porn has its own conventions but it’s not erotic romance. Porn is about sex. That’s the foundation. There can be a larger story but it’s not necessary. Erotic romance is a story where the romantic leads move to their HEA and sex is an integral part.
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I can see that argument. I think in the reading/writing circles I move in, porn is not solely "about sex" and that's part of the point of using the word. So I would disagree that it is universally rude or insulting to use the term in the context of romance narratives.
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Erotica is different from erotic romance, but there's nothing wrong with erotica obviously
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Romance is emotions, especially love, which intimacy may be part of.
Erotic is about the feelings and senses of intimate sex.
Porn is about the mechanics of sex.