This is the sixth and last day of my blog hop to celebrate the release of two books this month (Friend or Foe and The Sub Who Switched both available from www.bookstrand.com/jennifer-denys and out on Amazon in about a month. They are the final books in the series ‘Friends & Acquaintances’ and ‘Doms & Acquaintances’.
Each day this week I am highlighting a different theme from my stories. Read down to the end because there is a chance to win a prize.
BDSM: does BDSM belong in erotic romances or should it be restricted to erotica?
A controversial topic for the last day of this blog! I ask this as I write are erotic romance of which 70% of the story must be romance, as laid down by the publisher’s criteria.
Personally my answer is yes as all my books have an element of BDSM in them, even the romantic comedies of the ‘Friends’ series. For those that are unsure of what this means, BDSM is an acronym taken from three different aspects of this lifestyle:
B&D – Bondage and Domination (I think I have included some degree of tying up in each of my stories even the comedies!).
D&S – Dominance and Submission (this is an interesting one as my last book is entitled The Sub Who Switched – a switch being someone who can switch from being a Dominant to being a Submissive – has not sold well as well as the earlier two in the BDSM series. I can only guess that readers interested in this sub-genre like their submissives to remain submissive and not try to be dominant).
S&M – Sadomachoism (in other words using whips, floggers, crops, canes, paddles, spanking etc for erotic pleasure although that is putting it incredibly simply but this isn’t the place for a long essay on the subject! Again I have used instances of these in all my books).
Although I am not involved in the BDSM lifestyle I am fascinated by it, particularly what it could be like for the beginner who may be used to being independent but really wants a dominant partner to take charge which is more or less the crux of the ‘Doms & Acquaintances’ series - in particular in Submissive Training. It can be scary for the person not used to this lifestyle and hopefully my books reflect this, while at the same time showing what they could get out of it if they have a Dom who treats them well. In each case the Dom and sub fall in love and so the emotional and romantic aspects of submitting to a Dominant are the main issues within the story rather than a story of a person being dominated by another.As for the ‘Friends & Acquaintances’ series – each one has elements of BDSM because the hero and heroine are viewing it from the viewpoint of people wanting to have some experimentation within their sex lives but not necessarily being dominated by the other. Since these are light hearted, the inclusion of BDSM in the stories is as an added dimension, a fun element within their sexual explorations.
Do leave me a comment telling me if you think BDSM should be restricted to erotica only or if it has a place in erotic romances. I will choose the most interesting comment each day and the winner will win a free PDF copy of one of my books (see full list on www.bookstrand.com/jennifer-denys).
All the best
Jen
And so that ends my blog hop. Thanks to everyone who has taken part even if you have just read the blog posts. Don’t forget to check back tomorrow to see if you have won, and if you have do send me an email to Jennifer.denys@yahoo.com with the name of your chosen book so that I can send it to you.
I love writing elements of B&D in my novels. It's fun to tie up a character and see what happens. :o) One of my favorite paranormal writers has a character that's into BDSM and her work isn't considered erotica, JR Ward. I suppose it's up to the writer at the end of the day and if the publisher says, yeah you can put that in there. No way on the restriction! :D
ReplyDeleteIn either romance or erotic romance generally the male protagonists are depicted as being the dominant characters, which is perhaps why they are colloquially referred to as 'bodice rippers'. Certainly the act of binding someone is both aesthetically interesting as romantically symbolic. On the other hand S&M (sadism & masochism) deals specifically with the infliction or receipt of pain. It would be a significant stretch to define this as romantic in the traditional sense. Which I suppose is a long way of saying yes to B&D & no to S&M.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your interesting viewpoint Lee. I need to choose a winner for the week to get the goodie bag from Sh! Women's Sex Emporium who is a UK resident so I am contacting all those I don't know where they live to ask you to respond to this blog or email me on jennifer.denys@yahoo.com and let me know if you are resident in the UK.
DeleteJen
Thanks to both of you for your comments. Pop back tomorrow and I will post the winners.
ReplyDeleteThanks to everyone who has commented this week - there have been some great comments.
Jen
Great post, Jen!
ReplyDeleteI am fascinated by the lifestyle too, and my fiance has expressed an interest in trying some of it out. Not sure what he means by that yet, but I'm sure we shall find out! He's read some of my latest WIP which has more BDSM in it than the others I've written. This one has two women with the Domme using a paddle and crop on her sub. We'll see how that one is accepted by readers soon enough. For myeelf, I am not really entertained or turned on by reading heavy S&M, but I know of many readers who are.
Tammy Dennings Maggy