Porn and erotica? What's the difference?

[Hitchhiker]

Ill informed

Right lets get this right once and for all.
If it is written its Erotica.
If its an image or three dimensional objest showing explicate sex (penitration etc) its pornography.)
And thats the official 19th century definition.

The idea is if the written word arrouses the reader then the reader is deamed to have prior knowledge. An image or object does not require prior knowledge to currupt the viewer i.e. a child can view an image and understand the meaning. A child may not be able to read and so cannot be corrupted by the site of the words.

I do hope this clarifies things for everybody.

and if any of the above is miss smelt I still haven't won the lottery

 

[Frenchman]

Erotic Pornography!

Step 1. Find someone who gives a shit.
Step 2. Hand em a rotating dart boad divided half in Black and half in white.
Step 3 Paint Porn on one color and Erotica on the other (your choice)
Step 3 Spin it and take your pick.

Depending on the universe, planet, country, state, county, city and the 'good citizen community' standards; you still will get no common agreement.
And the above doesn't even consider a given generation.
The Catholic Padres considered the Aztec Nation (truely advanced) to be immoral and godless so thely stole their gold (melting their history), desicrated thier temples and laid waste the their cities and any who opposed their rules!
Give me a break and lets all agree to disagree and continue stroking the brain or the body for pleasure, joy and relief.

Live long, write it well, and stroke it goooood!
The Ol' Silver Fox -Peace and a piece-

 

[MysteryWriter]

I am writing this without spell check so forgive the poor spelling. I am writing it without a hell of a lot of thought so forgive the lack of organization. This one just really caught my interest because I write PORNOGRAPHY. Most people will shy away from saying that. They will say I write erotica or romance but I write Pornography. Those little stories you do not want anyone to know that you read. Yep I am the guy who writes them.

The difference between what I write and what the erotic writers write is the weapons we use. You write with a scalpel (See I told you no spill chick) and I write with a meat cleaver. That love is the difference.

 

[Hitchhiker]

Ok how do you write a photograph?
Like wise you cannot. I repeat cannot write pornography.
You can write explicate litrature commonly known as erotica.
Otherwise this site would be called............

Pornographica .org


and you lot can spell, huh!!

 

[abashed-dreamer]

Hitchhiker: Porno graphy, means 'writing', that's what 'graph' means.

All: So are Justine and Juliette, etc. by de Sade, porn or erotica. or what?

 

[ozeboi69]

It's all a matter of taste

The subject of porn vs erotica, as so many people have already stated, really is a matter of taste, just as sexual activities themselves are.

I've recently been writing a few series involving extreme kinky sex for some very specific groups. I decided to post them on Literotica to see how they went generally.

While the groups which the stories targeted accessed each chapter via my website and have literally innundated me with emails of how much they enjoyed the stories and were turned on by them, a large number of Literotica audiences have send me feedback requesting that I either stop posting such "sick" stories, or to seek therapy!!! (Ironically, these same people keep reading each chapter and sending similar feedback for each one! - my question is 'why don't they stop reading the series?')

By the same token, I've also had a decent enough quantity of feedback from Literotica readers saying how much they love the stories and their extreme nature. These are perhaps isolated readers who are unaware of the internet groups that the stories were originally written for.

Given the extreme variation in the feedback I've received from Literotica readers, I think it really does show how much people's tastes vary. What one person finds erotic or 'hot', another may find perverve, pornographic, uninteresting or disgusting. What another finds 'hot', others will find dull and unimaginative.

It's a question with no set answer, because everyone is different. One reads erotica, another reads pornography; one reads something arousing, another reads something appalling.

The few stories that I've written according to my own tastes which I personally consider to be 'erotic' rather than 'pornographic' (not the one's mentioned above) have received responses either requesting more sex or asking where the erotica element is. I obviously have more subtle tastes than most readers in my interpretation of the words!

I think writers need to write according to their own interpretations of the words, knowing that they won't please everyone, but there will be readers who DO agree with your tastes.

Whatever the feedback, don't give up hope. Enjoy the creative experience and know that you are pleasing some readers. Remember - it's human nature to be inclined to respond with negative feedback more so than positive feedback - just as we tend to criticise friends and acquaintences before we compliment them. Sad but true. Personally, I admire and thank anyone who is brave enough to release their stories to the public.

ozeboi69

 

[MysteryWriter]

I must be the worst writer here... The only feedback I seem to get is from drooling teenaged idiots... "Luv you story man mad me cum hard... "damn

 

[ozeboi69]

worst writer?

MysteryWriter -

Hey...if you're only getting positive feedback, then you're definately doing something write...err...right! Congratulations on it, I say!

After all...isn't making the reader horny...if not to cum....the purpose of erotica?

 

[MysteryWriter]

WEll i did get the one that said I was a high school drop out trying to write. Since the piece had a 4.35 and fifty thousand readers I didnt pay a lot of attention... now that my horn has been tooted let me say I dont get the intelligent feedback often except from here. The general reades seem to thing 'It made me cum' is the highest possible praise.

And yes I wrote the first one because the writing turned me on. At my age when I discovered that, I wrote a couple of hundred more.

 

[Carla Regon]

I would like to comment on what both Mysterywriter and Ozeboi69 have recently said.

First I believe the true proof of your value as a writer is in the professional world. If you are rejected by a publisher and keep trying you have learned the lesson of different tastes. Remember that "Love Story" was rejected by every studio before being made. If you are finally accepted and paid for your work you have learned a different lesson. That lesson is that if someone is willing to pay you for your talent then you have been proven to be a success. On Literotica if you are read and people take the time to compliment you then you have received a sign of your approval and success.

Second I want to comment on the hypocracy of the adult population. Ozeboi69 says that people complain about his work, but keep on reading. Oze, you are a proven success. There is nothing more winning then the adulation of someone who sneaks a read continuously and has the temerity to condemn what they are peeking at.

I would like to tell you a simple story. We send Heidi Fleiss to jail for being a madam, but we don't send her customers to jail. Double standard. We condemn the prostitute, but do not define prostitution. If I am paid $500 to screw someone then I am a prostitute. If I go to Vegas with a man who gives me $500 for "incidentals" and screwing is expected I am not a prostitute. If I will only screw a man who buys me dinner I am not a prostitute. If the same man shows up at my house and tells me he must fly to New York so let's screw and gives me the price of that dinner, so I can go with a gal pal, I am a prostitute.

If I receive a diamond pin and screw I have received a gift and am not a prostitute.

If I receive the value of the pin in cash and screw I am a prostitute.

Go figure.

Here's my philosophy - fuck and enjoy it, but "diamonds are a girls best friend!"

 

[MysteryWriter]

The lady has a point so does a Big Mac qualify as dinner out???

 

[ozeboi69]

prostitution

Hey MysteryWriter,

This is three different messages of mine on three different chat boards that you've responded to. Are you stalking me? And if I pay you to go away, does that make you a prostitute?

Only joking Keep stalking - it's a sign of adoration! LOL

Carla - thank you for your words of wisdom. I agree completely.

As one who used to be involved in the sex industry (in a health-worker capacity), I agree fully with your comments. Life and people are full off hypocracy in all areas. Keeping with prostitution though, another example of hypocracy is the government - the health department subsidises the sale of condoms to keep everyone safe, then the police department use the condoms as evidentiary evidence to convict on a charge of prostitution. Go figure!

And while I'm talking about 'going', rather than 'cuming', I say GO GIRLS (and guys!). Keep up the good work, whether you're selling sex physically or literarily (is that a word - in the 'literary' sense?)!

 

[MysteryWriter]

when i am bored i answer anybody ... see yall said i had no taste..

 

[Miltone]

Erotica vs. Porn

There is wine and then there is fine wine, some little more that sweet vinegar and some delicious, supple, and memeorable. Yet some folks prefer the $10 wine box because they like it and the $280 bottle of Chateau LaFitte Merlot is a waste of money. It's a matter of taste.

My uncle loved to read Mickey Spillane, and my Dad loved to read Dashiel Hammet.

There was the movie Pearl Harbor and then there was The English Patient.

It's a matter of how you want to approach similar material and how long you want to take to get there.

Porn is immediate, explicit, single-minded and purposeful, and at its best can be quite effective. Erotica has a broader scope in terms of plot, structure, language, and character. Both can provide entertaining reading, depending upon the taste and desire of the reader. Works of either form can be good or bad.

That's the beauty of living in a society that strives for freedom: were allowed to read and write what we want!

 

[MysteryWriter]

Miltone has it exactly right.. There is a place for both. Too bad it is not viewed like that by most of us. Most of the "Erotic" writers cringe that anyone would think they write porn. I myself have said I would never want my mother to read what I write. Hell I wouldn't want my friends to know either.

Still there is something to be said for doing what you do, do well. I write fair to midlin porn. The better stuff does the worst. I dumped a piece on the market called "The Dance." It came about the same time as another the dance. Both were more story than porn. I expect the other one did better both critically and in numbers. I wasn't doing what I do. I was doing something I thought was more acceptable. I had mixed my mystery with erotica and came off with something that was neither.

So the point, I guess, is to do what you do and to hell with the label. You might not want to sign your name to it. Then that is why some smart prick invented AKA.

 

[Miltone]

One more comment

One thought occurs to me: if you tell an "erotic" writer that they write porn, it's an insult; if you tell a porn writer that they write erotica, it's a compliment. Sometimes we do get too caught up in the labels and categories and the voting instead of thinking critically in terms of whether the story works well in moving the reader to the place where the writer wanted to take them.

 

[MysteryWriter]

Almost a perfect five for Miltone but I am not complimented by saying I write erotica. I know that is bullshit when it is said. I write porn with an axe.

Labels however do suck in all forms of Literature. Example I write both murder mysteries as well as action adventure. I try to cross over at least a little in each. However a pure MysteryWriter looks down on the Action writers as having no character development at all. It is equally hard to write pure Action as it is to write pure Mystery. So labels are the bane of my existance.

However one thing is definatly true you best not call a sweet erotic writer a pornographer before you take her to bed. If you are somehow forced to do both, hide all sharp objects.

I know that was sexist but hey I am a pornographer....

 

[privy2u]

No wrong answer

I must say there are several opinions I agree with more strongly than others. At the same time even those that I least agree with I am able to understand their opinion. Does this mean I don't know the difference and I am riding the fence on the issue? I don't think so.
The United States Supreme Court, with decades of debate and discussion, has yet to commit itself to a definition of what makes anything pornographic.
Yes, they have ruled on several pornography cases but their rulings have always refered to other law for a basis of their findings. There is no real definitive line in the sand for any of is to use as a common reference.
Until then I am much more comfortable consider the stories found here as a rainbow of lifes experiences and fantasies. Now that IS dodging the issue!

Privy

 

[Frenchman]

Thanks Miltone; Knowing more about photography than writing I could not quite translate the essence of my view until I read your posts. It is a subtle nuance that is the problem in defining. You did it well for me.
There is (to me) a parallel between porn/eroticism in photography similar to that of the written 'Picture'.
I truely believe that the Penultimate Definition between Porn/Erotic is known by the artist who created the work. That is how fine the line is. The line is dimensional in longitude as well as latitude...that is two sliding scales on a graph (in ones mind).
For me; the Subject, Dept of Field, Background, Lighting, Focal Point, Shadows, and Movement/Action define in MY mind whether is is a pleasant snap-shot, quality photo, or art.
Now for the viewer of my effort on film: they may see it different than I intended, it makes no matter to me UNTIL THEY tell me what I intended. OR limit my ability to excecise my craft.
In other words I don't care what they see or what they do with my photo. I only care how I felt when it was produced. Success/failure or just a nice try....I know...many who see it don't.

Therefore to tie it all together, it has to do with feelings and emotions. We often are too sensitive about what others think. My advice is to do what pleases you and ignore (as much as possible) the critic. Such a waste of time and detracts from what I could be productively accomplising for my own enjoymet.

I Write (as in my music or photograph) not because I am particularly good--but because it pleases me to express myself.
I am pleased when others espress their appretiation for my labor, but for them to label MY intent when it comes to Porn/Erotic is a waste of their time and mine!

The Ol' Silver Fox
AKA: Frenchman in Literotica