Note: Within this article, I make references to sex and gender that are cis male/female and hetero-normative in nature. I recognize the problems with speaking in such general terms, and it is not my intention to exclude or diminish the experiences of the LGBTQ and non-binary community.

Love it or hate it, there is no escaping the fact that E.L. James’ erotic trilogy Fifty Shades of Grey was a cultural phenomenon. Many kink-literate readers find the D/s relationship between Christian and Anastasia unrealistic and poorly constructed. But Fifty Shades opened a vanilla-friendly window into the world of BDSM. Sales of love balls rose by 400% in the wake of the book hitting the top of the best seller list. Similarly, the release of the first film of the franchise on Valentine’s Day of 2015 saw a 92% spike in sales of bondage and S&M toys at New York’s ‘Babe-Land’ sex shop.

The Fifty Shades juggernaut also coincided with the rise of Kindle and other e-readers. The discretion afforded by such gadgets appealed to the (largely) female readership. It enabled them to sit openly in crowded trains and smolder silently as Anastasia fantasized about Mr Grey slapping her clitoris with a crop. With none of their fellow passengers any the wiser as to the titillating nature of their reading matter. This anonymity-factor meant less risk of embarrassment and social stigma for women. Indeed, the sky-rocketing sales of the trilogy directly connect to e-book technology and the privacy it allowed.

Negative Views of Female Arousal

Whereas “men’s magazines” have been sold relatively openly for decades, the popularity of e-Erotica shows women have as much appetite for sexy material. And yet, the consumption of so-called “mommy-porn” or “clit-lit” evokes giggles and snide comments from society. Too many dismiss female pleasure and sexual arousal as shameful, unseemly, and taboo.

The notion of the depraved and licentious female appetite has existed for millennia. To take just one example from a surfeit of sources, in the Genesis narrative, Eve’s appetite for, and consumption of, the Forbidden Fruit leads to the expulsion from the Garden of Eden and instigates the stain of Original Sin. Thus, the notion of a woman’s hungers as voracious, dangerous and sinful cemented itself in the collective psyche.

What makes female sexuality such a locus of perceived deviance, and something hidden rather displayed? In a sense, it is a mirroring of the physiological sexual response itself. The aroused penis faces outward, obviously visible, described in erotica with adjectives such as “proud”, “erect”, “jutting”. In contrast, the sexual response of the vagina focuses inward, hidden inside the body. It is a truism that the hidden feels mysterious and potentially frightening. In this sense, it’s perhaps understandable that the hidden sexual desire lurking inside the female body became an object of suspicion.

“Mommy Porn” and “Clit Lit”

In the same sense, the way modern cis/heterosexual audiences consume erotica and pornography may be a reflection of the macrocosm of the physical arousal response. The Playboy centerfold which caters to the hetero-male gaze, have long been openly on show (and in more ways than one!). By comparison, the predominantly female-facing smutty erotic novel hides in a small and anonymous piece of gadgetry. It’s sensual mysteries concealed from view.

In the Dark and Middle Ages, fear of female arousal and sexual appetite fell within the context of religion: sin and transgression, demonic possession, and the “unruly” female body. In the secularism of the post-Enlightenment world, a once scary monster transformed into an object of ridicule. Sneering references to “mommy-porn” and “clit-lit” became methods of negating and minimizing the sexual desires of their readership. Male masturbation benefits from a casual openness while women’s self-pleasure is a furtive act spoken of in hushed whispers. Women who express their sexuality in public face “slut-shaming.” Outside of more accepting and open-minded kink communities, people use terms like slut, tart, whore to control female sexuality.

The Rise of e-Erotica Provides More Freedom

I am an avid reader of erotic fiction, and I am also a writer of smutty stories. Am I proud of that? Absolutely, yes. Am I necessarily ready to proclaim that to the world at large? Hmm, as Jupiter, sure; in my “real” life, not so much. I may be paranoid. But when it comes to the way in which erotica and female sexuality are perceived in the world, I feel that a stigma still exists. However, rise of e-smut allows both women and men who enjoy erotic literature and sexually explicit stories more freedom. Whether as readers or as writers, they have the privacy and freedom to explore, to engage with their desires, and to claim control of their own sexual arousal and appetites.