Ethical Debate is Just Thrilling

I've been thinking lately about the ethics of the eroticised thriller as a subgenre of erotica. I read one book in which a male agent was made to unwillingly submit to a variety of BDSM practices as part of a double bluff. The storyline was presented such that if the agent was let in on the secret, he may have blown the mission. One reviewer wrote: 'Abuse and assault sold as BDSM' and 'If you call it BDSM, then write real BDSM. Don't package non-consensual torture as BDSM.' 

I know I'm getting heavy here, talking ethics 'n stuff. I've been spending too much time reading discussions on The Guardian website about the EU debate on banning porn. Some food for thought here: 'Porn for all, not a ban is better for women' and here: 'Who speaks for women who work in the adult industry?' Some of the comments are amusing in an entirely immature way. They get onto strap-ons, sperm whales and insulting each other's mothers.

I've seen various plot devices which allow all manner of things to be done to people that they might not have expressly asked for: enchantments, drugs, vampire magic, complicated psychology, different societal norms. The good stuff is a million miles from the stories in which people with low self-esteem have to be 'persuaded' that really they're naturally submissive - despite this never having occurred to them before - by some domineering asshole. So I don't think you can draw up rules about this. It's about intelligent writing. It's about awareness of the issues. And it's about how your work makes you feel about yourself as a writer. 

I was going to get into discussion of where you draw the line, why erotica is different from other genres in which nasty things happen to nice people, why you can get away with more in fantasy or pseudo-history, why it seems like men sometimes get it rougher and how sexist that is. But then I thought, to hell with that, I'll just post some sexy pictures from movies and TV of men in oh-so-terribly perilous situations. It's the movies people, it ain't real. And Velvet Tripp has already covered issues of consent in BDSM writing at the Deliciously Deviant blog.

I do apologise for my inability to sort out the layout of this blog template! It's not exactly user friendly.







Pictured, from top: Daniel Craig and Javier Bardem in Skyfall, Ryan Reynolds in Blade: Trinity, Richard Armitage in Strike Back, Joaquin Phoenix and Russell Crowe in Gladiator, Jensen Ackles and, er, Paris Hilton in Supernatural.