thebigbaka
14385
299
19
Are romance novels just literature porn?
Jul 12, 2026 6:32 AM
thebigbaka
14385
299
19
Are romance novels just literature porn?
PanNonOpticon
Porn magazines are romance novels, with images and reduced foreplay of foreplay.
cullingg
like a third arm.
TacoPoweredHelicopter
Yes.
Sunshine12345
Yes, a large portion of romance is close to porn but not all. The nice part is that the women involved aren’t really exploited and are often in supportive groups. In its early days writing romance got more than a few ladies away from abusive spouses.
CarInAVet
So, uh. What's the book?
Uberche
I am required by work to use AI, so I thought I'd try to learn how to use it and what it can do, I felt a DnD GM would be a great test of its abilities. it failed horribly, can't follow rules, can't hold character personalities, it's "stories' are mostly the worst tropes imaginable, exactly what you expect. I used a role play FOSS program called SillyTavern which I quickly learned is sue mostly for sexual RP. What shocked me was that most of the users are female.
Uberche
after considering 50shades, etc, I quickly realize it actually makes a lot of sense, more women do tend to go more for emotional written porn than men. Just wasn't what I was expecting when I heard thier "character card" sites were all XXX. Though there is still Lots of guy's using it to judging from some of those cards... Lots of kinks and... illegal urges going on there...
Krackajak78
Marian Engel: https://media2.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1c2Nncm9xeXk0bzJ6dnVrNGJ4cDk0dnYyd29hZ20ybGRxZnVsMzFtZCZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/jzEP7DTbDXmXdkuvrt/200w.webp
GiantFlyingLabia
*cue astronauts*
Always has been
goflyblind
Vidikron
Columbus43219
I found a book in parents' room once. Was kind of hot, about a peasant Russian woman thinking about her crush. Then the Cossacks rode in and she banged all of them, in explicit detail. i still don't understand how they all fit in the room at once.
geraltofriva
Good for them.
GooseMagnum
Women directed book media has been like, uh, 'this' for a little while now. Y'all are freaky little beasts.
notarightienow
My daughter was asked by her school librarian to read a book and determine if it was appropriate for the shelves. “She knows I like a bit of spice in my books so she asked me to give it a read.” Apparently it was ok in her opinion for the library.
JohnWickdidnothingwrong
It depends, but yes.
ThrowAwayAcct0000
Literature porn is great because its all the sex of actual porn but no one is actually being abused/mistreated/on crack.
BlackTrashTiger
facepalmingestpanda
I learned this the hard way when I first started ghostwriting. Took me two novellas and a short before I finally stopped getting "not lewd enough" notes from my editor.
TacoPoweredHelicopter
Was that because you started making stuff more lewd? Or because your editor decided you would not change it did not herd to change?
facepalmingestpanda
I made my stuff a LOT hornier. Basically if the client doesn't explicitly state that they want "fade to black" sex scenes they typically want something fairly smutty.
michiyl
Always have been
thisisausernamelikeanyothersbutthisonesmellsweird
goodguyC
2 girls 1 cup?
quietwalker
My mom used to read a LOT of romance books and being an avid reader who'd already consumed everything in the house, I looked at some of her books and yeah, they're basically smut.
I called my mom out on it decades later and she said that no, now she mostly reads mysteries. I googled the book she was reading for a synopsis and I came back later to explain to her that her mysteries were actually smmsteries. You know, smutty mysteries.
She did not appreciate the new identifier properly, I think.
DdCno1
Why shame her though? It's a harmless hobby.
quietwalker
My mom has a streak of denial so broad and far-reaching that it causes strife in our family.
For example, for like 8 years she tried to convince us that maintaining a 2-drinks in BAC all day is basically medicine for her (note: both her brothers, her sister and her father died due to alcoholism).
You give her any runway and she tries to rewrite things so they'd fit into an episode of "Leave it to Beaver," and then flies into rages when you show that she's wrong.
sadurdaynight
Worked at a bookstore when younger. Had massive romance section. Then we had the really smutty section off ina corner. Asked the female coworker that loved reading the stuff what's the difference. She said romance novels are 80% courtly love or "will they won't they" and then 20% ripping bodices and thrusting manhoods and love making. The smutty books are 20% story and 80% fucking. Just pure raunchy rape fantasy, D/s, bdsm fucking. I was told if you see a lady over there ignore her.
DryAgedPopsicle
ElroydIsGone
Sometimes, such classic "housewife's porn" is really actual porn, and yes, also quite as explicit, just for women as readers.
eadanke
I remember making this statement to an English teacher way back in high school; she balanced the looks of horror and embarrassment well.
ElroydIsGone
Source: My sis had gathered literal cubic meters of that books.
Daraanel
The author's husband, used for reference:
Pelican3
Shades of Stuarts horn
BerryButcher
damn that dude got big dick
Harryteeters
Martellus
DandyLion23
Canigetbannedagain2
Not witnessed...
whoatherebigfella
Witnessed but closed my eyes quickly right after. I actually didn’t inhale though.
Level21Magikarp
bhobby1212
I’m not envious, but my wife might be.
pullingsixty
Could be a shower not a grower. Maybe his erection curves downward and he's got a turgid semi. Or maybe he just got out of an icy cold shower and we should all be very afraid.
madjo
And so many fantasy books nowadays are "romantasy". I'm clearly not the intended audience.
goodguyC
A coworker promised me that ACOTAR was primarily a fantasy story, that had elements of romance.... I told her I would check it out. But I feel quite confident it's just a Beauty and the Beast fetish story!!! HAHAHA, a buddy of mine told me it takes a few books to really get good, but I think I'm just going to say, "I'm not the target audience" and that's okay!
ananfro
I tried the series, normally I like sci-fi… yeah it was literal word porn for a good chunk of it…. But I did enjoy the story part…. Source, a beer drinking, bearded, Harley Davidson riding industrial mechanic
HopelessNecr0mantic
As a lifelong epic fantasy reader, neither am I. And thats ok, if it has an audience, it's worthwhile. Not every piece of fiction or literature has to be for me.
madjo
Yes, exactly :) Markets move on. And I'm happy for the people who those books are for. I still have plenty of older fantasy novels to read.
xMalkav
Best sex scene I ever read, believe it was a Robin Hobb book, was something along the lines of "And then I took her on the bed." and then they moved on to the next scene. Like the author straight up went "...These two are gonna fuck. I don't want to write it, but I mean, they're just gonna."
NSFWfrontpage2
fade to black
CatShadowleaf
Robin Hobb doesn't want to make us horny, she wants to make us cry. And fuck is she good at it.
Sunshine12345
It’s pretty common in romantacy, less common in romance. If it is, it’s usually labeled “closed door.”
MacroMoray
My brother is mildly annoyed romantasy has taken over the fantasy section of bookstores, but as someone who recently discovered just how much she adores romantasy, he can suck it 😆. It would be nice if there was a romantasy section though
CarInAVet
I like the recent distinction of New Adult as a genre: the story has Young Adult vibes, but it's written for a more mature audience and has sex 'n stuff.
Cyanide555
Its taken over my library... i can't find the stuff i like any more, its been swapped for thiis
normalizebeingalone
I have a local book store that has split it all up, there is a Fantasy section, Romantasy section, and erotica section just for those REALLLL smutty books.
sailorlnz
I also wish romantasy was separate from fantasy in book stores. I love both genre but it makes it harder to find what you want when combined
Hukkie
The issue is not the existence of romantasy, it is that it ends up in the fantasy section where it does not belong. So yes it needs its own section, because most people looking in the fantasy book section are not looking for romantasy.
SalmySwims
This happened to me many many years ago. Just thought it would be a fantasy about merfolk and yes, it was...but there was also human on merfolk fucking, but it's my fault for being young and not knowing what "erotic" meant.
Hukkie
Hence why I stick to authors more than the genre as a whole these days, and research the books and series I want to read a bit, to ensure I avoid romantasy.
Not a genre for me, I prefer just regular fantasy.
dragoonwraith
“most people looking in the fantasy book section are not looking for romantasy” seems unlikely to be true considering that these books have taken over that section because they sell more units than others in that section. If they didn’t do that, they wouldn’t have taken over. And the people buying them must be looking for them where they are.
Hukkie
If I take a selection of the best selling books in a bookstore and shove them all into an area called "Old maps of potato-fields in northern sweden", then eventually that part of the bookstore will generate a lot of customers. Not because people give a shit about potato-fields, but because thats where the popular books are.
People look for romantasy in the fantasy section because thats where the stores put them, not because they belong.
MacroMoray
Their argument was on whether the majority of people looking in the fantasy section looking for only fantasy, not whether romantasy belongs in the fantasy section. You've responded with an argument on whether romantasy belongs in that section. People looking for something in the fantasy section are probably either looking for romantasy or at least open to it, else there wouldn't be so much. It should have its own section, but it doesn't, so the hordes looking for it look in the fantasy section.
IamnotarobitIseethenumber2
I once had sexual harassment class at work, and we were told looking at porn mags at work were a no no. 20 minutes later, I go in the break room and some gal was reading 50 shades of grey. Got a good laugh of that.
Blackmetalhappiness
"It's literature." /s
CreeewDeeeTaaay
Good thing none of y'all could read
IamnotarobitIseethenumber2
Never stopped me from a good audio book!
awkungen42
I don't get it, that is completely reasonable. Explain to me how those two things are the same in your mind.
IamnotarobitIseethenumber2
Smut is smut. Pictures, videos, or words. The content exists for arousal.
awkungen42
Love when incels out themselves on Imgur.
IamnotarobitIseethenumber2
HAHAHAHA ok, if you say so.
[deleted]
[deleted]
awkungen42
Oh, I know so.
awkungen42
One has pictures, the other is just words. Since you're too stupid to make the connection yourself. Which is vastly different when you're in public.
IamnotarobitIseethenumber2
So, it's not hypocritical to allow one type of smut but not another? Are you getting defensive because you don't want to get in trouble at work for reading your smut at work?
awkungen42
Off you you, little incel boy. I do not wish to regard your stupidity with an actual response.
PorneliusHubertII
Just a thought. With 0 previous knowledge of 50 shades, is the book easily identified as smut? Im pretty sure hustler or playboy can be.
IamnotarobitIseethenumber2
It's a well known book about smut, including BDSM themes.
ananfro
Don’t lump us proper bdsm enjoyers with that poorly written drivel
IamnotarobitIseethenumber2
I made sure I said themes
PorneliusHubertII
Im not saying that I have 0 knowledge of it. Im saying that if you were to put 2 people in a room, one reading 50 s and one reading hustler, and a 3rd party with 0 knowledge of hustler or 50s entered, which property do you think would be easily identified as pornography?
IamnotarobitIseethenumber2
Are you trying say one is acceptable to read at work and the other isn't simply because one doesn't have nude people on the cover?
PorneliusHubertII
Pretty much, yea. Unless the person reading 50s is doing inappropriate things. Words on a page are far less likely to upset the people sitting around you than graphic pictures visible to all. Is work the best place to read it, probably not, but there is no harm in it at all.
PorneliusHubertII
Banning porn in public spaces is mainly to avoid offending people with inappropriate/unwelcome imagery.
IamnotarobitIseethenumber2
I saw someone watching porn on the bus friday. There were kids on that bus.