Porn versus Erotica
One of the problems that one faces in telling stories that involve graphic sexual situations is that of vocabulary. When I consider how I want to convey my thoughts and actions there seems to be a limited vocabulary with which to describe sex. The first problem is the limited number of ways that human beings can have sex. Basically, there is vaginal, oral and anal and that’s pretty much it. The only other things that can be added to the equation without sliding into the truly perverse are fingers, toys and costumes. Finally, there are really only four basic positions, man on top, woman on top, man behind and side by side.
The second problem is that there are actually only a few direct descriptive words for the sex act itself, fuck being the primary one. The other simple transitive verbs that I can think of that specifically mean the same thing are copulate, fornicate (though that is technically restricted in meaning to unmarried persons), and the archaic word, swyve. I think that other verbs such as couple don’t have the same direct meaning and everything else is pretty much a euphemism such as words that have their principal meaning being something that has nothing to do with sex such as shag, roger and the Australian slang, root. The result of having a limited number of acts to describe and a limited vocabulary with which to do so forces a certain degree of repetition without getting silly. How many ways can we say, ‘He fucked her’ or ‘she sucked his cock’? As a result one has to try to vary things as much as possible without going all Mills and Boon and using such ridiculous euphemisms as, ‘She then gave to him that which left him nothing else to wish for’.
Which brings us to another question of style. Is there a substantive difference between porn and erotica? Isn’t the only difference one of vocabulary as the exact same actions or feelings can be expressed altering only the nuance of linguistic usage? For example, is there really a substantive difference between the next two passages? Is it no more than a question of taste?
With a glance she became aware of just how truly masculine he was and with a sharp intake of breath she was transported to another place where there was no consciousness and all consuming sensation simultaneously. The former took her mind to an empty place while the latter possessed her frame in a pulsing ecstasy that felt as if it would never end and blurred her awareness of both time and space.
Suddenly she realized how rock hard his cock was which took her breath away as he slid it into her. His insistent thrusting overwhelmed her such that she forgot her own name and her body shuddered with one climax after another so that she had no sense of where she was or how long she had been getting fucked. She knew only the exquisite pleasure of that seemingly endless moment and nothing else.
