Baaad Sex, even when it's bad it's good. Or is it?
Over at the Guardian UK, the shortlist for bad sex scenes has been announced. To quote:-
'The story of the seduction of a lesbian by an ageing stage actor, which includes an eye-watering scene with a green dildo, has won Philip Roth the dubious honour of a place on the shortlist for the Literary Review's bad sex in fiction award.'
And here, is where you can read some of the excerpts. We all need to smile and shake our heads at least once a day.
There's no denying sex sells, but do we have too much sex? Has it become trivialized? When pre-teen girls are wearing make up and high heels, when the media saturates us with sexual images and reality encourages promiscuity, where is the magic and wonder of intimacy?
With the success of the Dark Urban Fantasy, there is a lot of sensual writing appearing in the book stores. Obviously, it is answering a need. Yet the Twilight books are incredibly popular and are strangely un-erotic. They are all about yearning. Are young women tired of being treated as sexual objects? Do they crave passion ... from a safe distance. Edward can't get hot and heavy with Bella, without killing her.
In a book, you need to apply the same rule to a sex scene as to any scene. It should advance the plot or reveal something about the characters or, hopefully, do both.
When was the last time you read a book that depicted sex/passion/love in a powerful and moving way?
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