Sex and Literature: Do We Need It?

Warning: The topic of this post, sex and literature, might contain discussion inappropriate for minors. If you are under 18 years of age, proceed with caution.

In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been reviewing a lot of romance and erotica novels lately. Just to warn you, that’s not about to stop. However, I think it’s best that I take some time to discuss the elephant in the room which has been conjured by these reviews: sex and literature.

It’s no secret that romance and erotica are not viewed as very high-brow. In fact, in terms of modern literature, they’re seen as about as low-brow as you can get. I don’t think that this bias has been eased any by the rising popularity of Fifty Shades of Grey. However, not all romance and erotica should be considered low-brow, and those are not the only literary genres which involve sex scenes.

Fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, even literary fiction can all have sex scenes. In fact, I can’t think of very many books in fantasy and science fiction (outside of children’s literature, of course) which don’t. Anne McCaffrey and Anne Rice have certainly never shied away from the subject. Don’t even get me started on Shakespeare.

Why wouldn’t sex be prominent in literature? It’s perfectly natural, after all. The vast majority of adult humans do it. (Not all, but most.) And yet we’re not very comfortable talking–reading–about it. We hush up those who do as “vulgar” or brush the subject off with humor, and we hide away our favorite romances and erotica like a bag of weed.

If it’s so indecent, so low-brow that we can’t even talk about it, should sex play a part in literature at all? After all, children could get a hold of it! Never mind that we should keep half an eye on them and put away that which we don’t want them to see. They might still see it.

All sarcasm and bitterness aside, sex is one of many subject matters which people question having in literature because of its “indecency.” Regardless, it remains. As a natural part of human relations, it naturally seeps into products of our cultures.  To avoid it would be to leave a glaring hole in our characters’ lives.

The question, then, is how descriptive should sex scenes actually be? I’m one of many who blush when reading too many…anatomical details in these scenes. That does not make these details good or bad, it’s just how I personally react as a reader. Still, as a reader and writer, I also know that these depictions can be necessary. Therefore, I don’t want to restrict how descriptive sex scenes can be.

Does that mean that all detailed sex scenes are appropriate? No. In fact, I dare you to find ten such scenes which are well-handled and appropriate for the work. You probably won’t. Nevertheless, I would rather allow for such filth than to oppress possible beauty.

Sex in literature can be a metaphor for power struggles, battle of the genders, trust and submission, loss of innocence, good versus evil, etc. Sometimes that necessitates detailed depictions. Other times not. It’s up to the writer to decide what is appropriate.

Unfortunately, they don’t always do. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have sex in literature period. No, it has too much literary and socio-politico-cultural potential for that. Rather, we need to use it with discretion, even in romances and erotica. After all, a dessert can be too sweet, right? Then sex scenes can be too steamy, too.

What’s your opinion? Does sex serve a productive role in literature? Or it is just fluff to get the reader’s blood pumping? Should we consider romance and erotica to be low-brow, or can some of these books actually be literary? Should we write about sex in literature at all? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!