Sexually Positive
AS A BOOKSELLER, I see the rise and fall in popularity of many books; today’s hottest bestseller is often the book that gathers dust on the shelves two months later. I’ve learned all too well that the impact of a title on the reading public can never really be judged in advance. But what strikes me most is when a book forces a change in people’s reading habits. These are the kinds of books that alter people’s perceptions of what they can and will read. Fifty Shades of Grey is one of these books.
Really? What? Yep. Absolutely. I have seen multiple examples of customers who swear all they’ll read are books by authors like Franzen, Wolfe, Safran Foer, Lahiri, and Kingsolver become completely obsessed with authors who have names like Day, Hart, and Burton. All it takes is Fifty Shades of Grey.
But why? Why this book? First, because Fifty Shades of Grey is so popular, most people will shove their genre-based prejudices aside in order to stay current. As anybody knows, the ability to join a conversation on a topic of current interest is crucial to fit into society. Water coolers, trains, coffee shops—in each of these places people are talking about “that book.” As a result, everybody is reading it.
But there’s something more than being at the center of a trend that makes Fifty Shades of Grey the kind of book that changes people’s reading habits. What is the intangible factor that makes this book sparkle—that makes it stay with a reader and forces them to reevaluate the way they look at reading? The sex, of course.
It’s not just that there is sex in the book; if that were the case, there would be an entirely different conversation going on in contemporary society. No, the fact is that, in Fifty Shades of Grey, E. L. James has created an atmosphere where sex is seen as a good thing, a source of enjoyment. In short? It’s sexually positive. As a result, it reintroduces into contemporary society the idea that it is okay to read a book where characters obtain enjoyment, and—gasp!—pleasure from mutually beneficial sex.
What makes a book sexually positive?
Two different elements: The first is the reaction of the book’s characters to the sex that takes place during the course of the story. The second is the way the sex itself is written.
First, and foremost, Ana Steele is not painted as a slut or a whore by any of the characters that the reader is supposed to respect after she has begun to have sex with Christian Grey. In fact, instead of being ostracized, she is encouraged both by family and friends to continue her relationship with Grey. Her mother and her best friend in particular are both his champions. They may chime in with advice to be careful if it seems he is going too far, but it is quite clear to the reader that they are on Grey’s side.
Nor does Ana’s professional life suffer as a result of her engagement with Grey. She is shown studying for finals, working a part-time job, graduating from college, searching for postcollege employment, and working in her new full-time job. None of these things has anything to do with Grey, despite how much he wishes to involve himself.
Second, there is the writing in the sex scenes themselves. The writers who are usually nominated for and win The Literary Review’s Bad Sex in Fiction Prize are the kind of writers who make sex seem boring, routine. Winners of this award include illustrious names like Norman Mailer and Tom Wolfe; nominees also include Jonathan Franzen, not to mention John Updike, who received the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In short, most critically acclaimed literary writers seem to believe that it is all right to write about sex as if it is the sort of thing that only those who have lost their mind would engage in.
E. L. James, on the other hand, writes her sex scenes with an eye toward demonstrating that the characters get enjoyment out of the act. Even when there is pain involved, Grey is shown to be adamant that “Miss Steele” finds pleasure. And as the sex happens from Ana Steele’s first-person perspective, the reader is absolutely certain that Ana has in fact done so.
These two elements, when combined, demonstrate James’ interest in creating a story where sex is seen as positive and pleasurable. It is also these two elements that draw readers from Fifty Shades of Grey to authors like Sylvia Day, Megan Hart, and Jaci Burton.
From Fifty Shades, readers often turn towards Sylvia Day’s Bared to You. Although the heroine of Bared to You, Eva, is employed by the corporation owned by the hero, Gideon Cross, there are no negative consequences to her professional life once she enters into a relationship with him. Her boss, who becomes her friend, jokes with her and counsels her, but by no means does he encourage her to stay away from Gideon. There are also no personal consequences; none of the people in Eva’s personal life that the reader is supposed to identify with and respect believe that a relationship with Gideon is a bad thing. And Sylvia Day’s depiction of the sex between Eva and Gideon is electric; she is able to demonstrate to the reader, through Eva’s first-person point of view, how much pleasure both characters derive from the scorching sex they have.
But Bared to You adds an extra element to the basic sexually positive atmosphere that Fifty Shades of Grey brings to the table. Eva is much more experienced than Ana Steele in both life and sex. As a result, the sexual relationship she enters into with the enigmatic Gideon Cross is more of a give-and-take on multiple levels. Eva is not afraid to challenge Cross and his dominance, and in return Cross is smart enough not to push her.
Switch by Megan Hart is another book that readers reach for after they finish Fifty Shades of Grey. It’s a completely different kind of story, but still sexually positive. This is the story of Paige, a young woman who is searching for … something in her life. There are no professional consequences for this young woman as she goes on her journey of personal and sexual exploration. There are also no personal consequences directly related to Paige’s sexual exploration. She is neither ostracized nor judged for her interest in sex. And Megan Hart’s writing is beautiful, painting Paige’s sexual fantasies with gorgeous language that demonstrates this woman is really finding the pleasure she needs.
The element that Switch adds to the basic sex-positive story is the emergence of a Dominant female character. The “something” Paige searches for, and finds, is the ability to channel her need for control into all aspects of her life. It is an internal struggle she goes through until she learns how much being in control pleases her. And, of course, pleases the person she has sex with—namely her ex-husband, with whom she has had a tumultuous relationship.
Finally, we have Jaci Burton’s Taking a Shot. It is the story of a young woman and her relationship with the last person on earth she would expect to have a relationship with. Jenna, the book’s heroine, gets no flak from her family and friends about her relationship with Ty, the book’s hero. She is neither ostracized nor insulted at work, nor by anybody the reader is supposed to respect. The way Jaci Burton crafts the story is simply amazing: emotional when it needs to be and hot enough to melt ice when it should be. It is very obvious that both characters are enjoying the sex they have together.
There are two elements that Taking a Shot adds to this sexually positive dynamic. First, the hero and the heroine are both dominant, they are equals, and they find themselves meeting in the middle more often than not, to their mutual benefit. In fact, unlike the other three books mentioned, this story is told from both Jenna and Ty’s perspectives, taking full advantage of the third-person point of view.
But the second element this novel adds is more important than the first. Despite the scorching sex, Taking a Shot is about more than just lust or dominance. It is about the relationship between two people and the intangible aspects that make the best relationships work. It is more than just sexually positive: it is relationship positive.
Books that treat sex in a positive manner are not revolutionary. Unfortunately, due to contemporary prejudice against pleasure reading, most people have a tendency to dismiss these kinds of books as irrelevant. However, thanks to being introduced to the sex-positive atmosphere of Fifty Shades of Grey, readers have been discovering a wide and varied genre full of amazing characters, wonderful stories, and hot sex written by authors who are capable of burning up a page. It is too early to tell whether this is the kind of paradigm shift that will last long after people have forgotten Fifty Shades of Grey, but it is a shift worth watching nonetheless.
STACEY AGDERN is the award-winning romance specialist at Posman Books, an independent bookstore located in New York’s Grand Central Terminal. She has written reviews and commentary for publications such as Heroes and Heartbreakers, Romantic Times Magazine, Romance at Random, and Romance Novel News. She has given presentations on the effective use of booksellers at regional and national conferences. She is a regular correspondent for Barbara Vey’s “Beyond Her Book” column at Publishers Weekly’s online site and shows her geeky side as a member of the BlackStone Podcast. You can find her on Twitter at @nystacey.