When E L James' erotic sensation Fifty Shades of Grey reached e-book best-seller status this spring, it ruffled more than just bedsheets. Moralists ranted. Literary critics sneered. And hundreds of thousands of ordinary American women indulged in plotlines involving S&M, bondage, and genital clamps without feeling guilty or ashamed. The trilogy showed how far we've come—not only since Lady Chatterley's Lover, but also in the last five years alone. Just as that little electronic device, the vibrator, radicalized sexual freedom, the e-book has turned women on to erotic literature in an unprecedented way.
Fifty Shades didn't open any startling new doors to a woman's secret chamber—it just modernized sado-masochistic fiction by merging it with chick lit. What was revolutionary, though, was that while Fifty Shades was popularized by word of mouth, it was in the intimate corners of the Nook, Kindle, and iPad that women had the chance to buy and read them easily and anonymously. In fact, the tomes were first released as e-books and print-on-demand paperbacks, and picked up by Vintage Books only after they went viral.
Women have always turned to romance novels to satisfy curiosities, explore secret fantasies, and get sexual pleasure. But until now, books with controversial feminist themes have been read under the covers. At first, novels such as Jane Eyre didn't even have to be sexy to imply that a woman reader had too much time on her hands and an overactive fantasy life (the horror!). As romance novels became more scandalous—with subjects such as children out-of-wedlock (Three Weeks), incest and abortion (Peyton Place), and "zipless fucks" (Fear of Flying)—the stigma of smut for sluts endured. Indeed, sex researchers, beginning with Alfred Kinsey in 1953's Sexual Behavior of the Human Female, declared that women, unlike men, were not aroused by pornographic prose. It was only around the time that Sex and the City broke all taboos about women openly comparing and rating sexual experiences that psychologists changed their views.
Today, erotic literature written by women for women has vigorously joined the marketplace. The key feature is that it's written by women; it's not a male fantasy imposed on women. Combine this thriving genre with the e-book, which is empowering women to seek out sexual satisfaction in private (no embarrassing Harlequin covers), even if the fantasies present women as submissive and powerless, it's likely the digital age will be remembered for giving women readers a new outlet for pleasure.
Stay In The Know
Marie Claire email subscribers get intel on fashion and beauty trends, hot-off-the-press celebrity news, and more. Sign up here.
-
20 Shows to Watch While You Wait for the Return of 'House of the Dragon'
Complete with power-hungry characters, messy family drama, and enough sex scenes to make a Targaryen blush...
By Andrea Park Published
-
Dyson's Limited Edition AirWrap Will Definitely Sell Out
All the hi-tech features, plus a pretty new colorway.
By Halie LeSavage Published
-
Queen Camilla Comments on Kate Middleton’s Health For the First Time Since Announcing Her Cancer Diagnosis
The royal spoke to fans five days after the Princess of Wales’ video announcement.
By Danielle Campoamor Published
-
35 Nude Movies With Porn-Level Nudity
Lots of steamy nudity ahead.
By Kayleigh Roberts Last updated
-
What's 'Bridgerton' Without the Sex?
Season 2 of the Netflix show betrays its romance roots by barely acknowledging or indulging women’s sexual desires that the genre is celebrated for.
By Kathleen Walsh Published
-
The 35 Best Sex Podcasts of All Time
Some are funny, some are informative, all are NSFW.
By Bianca Rodriguez Published
-
The Best LGBTQ+ Movies of All Time
Absolutely required viewing.
By Katherine J. Igoe Published
-
Nancy Jo Sales Wants Women to Know It’s Not You, It’s Dating Apps
The writer went viral for trashing Tinder in Vanity Fair. Her new book, Nothing Personal, pulls the curtain on online dating back even further.
By Maria Ricapito Published
-
The Best 'Normal People' Sex Scenes, Ranked
Warning: Extreme steaminess ahead.
By Kayleigh Roberts Published
-
The Best Twitter Reactions to Netflix's 'Too Hot to Handle'
Unsurprisingly, the internet cannot handle Netflix's latest dating reality show.
By Neha Prakash Published
-
Isa Mazzei's New Memoir Shows the Dark and Illuminating Sides of Life as a 'Camgirl'
A must-read memoir by former camgirl, Isa Mazzei, known for last year's Netflix thriller, 'Cam,' is a tour of the internet's darker corners.
By Carl Kelsch Published