Topic: The Relevance of Sex In Literature in 2011. My guest today Author, Joanne Ellis.

“The Relevance of Sex In Literature in 2011.”

My guest today is Author Joanne Ellis.

This is a very interesting question and one I pondered for a time before I began. I believe the key words in the topic; relevance and the year.

Whether it is relevant or not in relation to 2011 matters little and a lot. Times have changed, porn is everywhere, literature is following the same route. But is it? Has it always been there and was relevant to the time it was written. This I’m not so sure about. I believe sex in literature has always been there in some form regardless of year. Whether or not it is relevant is another thing.

How far back do we look, to see how long sex has been portrayed on paper? Was it ever irrelevant? You will either like the subject manner or you don’t. So it is all a matter of where it fits into the genre, fits the readers, the audience and the demand. It also depends a lot on the writer and how they feel about the subject and its relevance to their work. I like to read about sex so I include it in my writing. I also write romance and they usually go hand in hand, not always and perhaps not necessarily in detail, but there nevertheless.

As a young adult I read a lot of Johanna Lindsey. Her books are raunchy and I loved them. This had it all in the romantic way, the breast heaving way but still sex was there and in this genre it was most certainly relevant. I also have read a lot of Jackie Collins and without sex her books wouldn’t be the same.

This brings me to the side. It depends on the subject, genre and its relevance to the story. Now I love erotic fiction and it is most definitely relevant here or there wouldn’t be the genre. So this plays the biggest part I feel as far as ‘relevance’ is concerned. At the same time if you have a fast paced thriller or horror story, sex may not even play a part. Genre is important.

Non-fiction sexual subjects are touchy but may be relevant to tell an important story. In this instance it could help to portray how sex may not always be in the bosom heaving, pulsing manhood kind of way. Here the sex may not be loving, it may be about power and abuse. Again do the details of the sex need to be revealed. I believe, in this case, the answer is yes again.

So I think no matter the year I’ve always swayed in the favour of loving encounters and hot sex. When reading fiction I like a bit of steam and spice. When reading non-fiction and where it is necessary to tell a story, then I want to read about it.

Therefore I believe in some forms sex has always been written about and is mostly relevant. I can’t say I’ve ever been reading and thought, no this isn’t relevant or needed for this story and vice versa, if it isn’t there, but could be, I’m not disappointed its not.

Much like anything really, if you don’t like it, don’t read it.

Joanne Ellis is an Australian romance writer who has two published novels. ‘Spoilt’ her debut novel has had over 150,000 e-book downloads since February 2011 and reached No. 1 on the US Amazon Kindle bestseller list and No. 2 in the UK. The sequel ‘Twisted Fire’ was released in July 2011.

Her short story ‘Mystified’ has been published in the short story anthology ‘Words to Music’. All proceeds of the book go to charity. To read more about Joanne, please visit her website, www.joanneellis.net

Please join in the discussion, your thoughts and observations are most welcome.

Topic: The Relevance of Sex in Literature in 2011" My Guest today author Sessha Batto

Please join my guest today author Sessha Batto.

I'm in a confessional sort of mood, so I'll start by saying this topic has had me floundering for weeks. I must have written fifty pages . . . and then erased them. Then it hit me, the one word that derailed me each and every time, relevance. Only one person can decide whether or not sex is relevant in a piece of literature, and that is the author. Anything else is merely one opinion. You may like or dislike a piece, but only the author knows the story they are trying to tell. Whether it succeeds or fails is always a matter of debate. Art is, after all, subjective. I definitely don't believe anyone has the right to censor an author's words, no matter how offensive I may find them. Yes, there are things I find offensive (seriously, there are . . . just not much), and I exercise my right to choose not to read those topics. Once you allow censorship it opens a dangerous door, who knows what will next be considered inappropriate? I certainly don't want my writing constrained by any limits other than my own.

Since relevance is in the eye of the author, all I can really talk about is why I think sex is an essential aspect of my own writing. Now, before you start screaming about 'the children, the children' – nothing I'm going to say is intended for anyone under eighteen, although, frankly, I don't have any problem with children reading about sex. I live in a city full of pregnant teenagers and, believe me, they did not have sex because of something they read. That honor goes to the media that bombards them daily - television, music, advertising, video games, those are the most powerful influences on today's youth.

I should come clean – I write erotica, explicit gay erotica. Before I go any further, let me clarify. I'm talking about sex in all its permutations, from barely consensual sexual torture to tender lovemaking and the entire gamut in between. My only real boundaries are no children and no women. I write about men exclusively because of the wonderful shifts of power and control possible in a same sex relationship . . . and because I love men. No offense to the ladies, but I don't think I could explore the same boundaries of pleasure and pain without seeming overly abusive, and that is at the core of everything I write. Beyond that, there is something wonderfully vulnerable and revealing about the decision to relinquish power, and the potent eroticism of two strong, powerful men being tender with each other.

Remember the old ads in the back of comic books for x-ray specs? For me, sex is my x-ray specs. It strips a character down to his core truth and spotlights who they are with far more accuracy than pages of exposition ever could. Sex is the ultimate act of trust. Who we trust, why, and to what extent reveals much of our psyche that we would normally keep hidden. Sex is the catalyst for revealing hidden baggage, all the events and experiences we think are safely buried but which bubble to the surface under pressure. Our kinks highlight our transgressive natures, throwing into clear definition the whys and hows of our alienation from society in general. In short, it's the knife I wield to cut to the truth. What knife do you use?