Women and Erotic Fiction: Critical Essays on Genres, Markets and Readers

Erotic texts written by and for women play a significant role in negotiating relations of gender, sexuality and kinship, and in shaping popular ideas about romance and the erotic. Examining the "mainstreaming" of women's erotica following the runaway success of Fifty Shades of Grey, this collection of new essays focuses on the publication and reception of women's popular erotic fiction across various genres and cultural contexts. The contributors draw connections between feminist and cultural studies scholarship on visual pornography and critical research on popular romance fiction. Essays explore a range of writing: popular erotic romance novels; "feminist porn"; male/male and menage fiction; lesbian romance; sex blogs; new Chinese erotica; BDSM novels; and slash fiction. Topics discussed include the ideological and critical aspects of popular texts, audiences and fan communities, the disciplinary function of popular speech about women's erotic fiction, and the technological and social shifts which have facilitated women's access to new forms of erotic material.