Embracing Our Erotic Pleasures

Last week, Foreplay and Fangs hosted romance author Kirsten Blacketer, who shared with us her 10 Things Never to Say to A Romance Author. Among these, Kirsten discussed the oft-repeated opinion that “Romance is just porn for women”.
 

This is not an uncommon opinion, but the more important question—brought up to me by a couple of colleagues on Twitter—really should be, “so what if it is?”

Talking Shop: Poetry as a Tool for Better Writing

In college I took a couple of creative writing classes geared specifically towards poetry and poetic analysis. I generally find the subject of poetry is not well-appreciated outside of certain demographics within the writing community, and often early writers of literary fiction and prose may not appreciate how much poetry, as a written art form, can benefit them.

Erotica in the Headlines: Huffington Post Brings us a Look at The Lost Erotica of Spain

An article in this week’s Huffington Post takes us away to the Spain of the 1920’s, previously characterized as a time of melancholy after the fall of the country’s imperialism.

Erotic postcard series,€ A Virtual Wunderkammer: Early Twentieth Century Erotica in Spain,
published by The Huffington Post on Thursday January 21, 2016, Web
accessed Sunday, January 24, 2016, originally from http://sicalipsis.humnet.ucla.edu/items/show/125.

From the looks of it, though, the years between 1898 and 1939—especially the roaring 20’s—weren’t quite as melancholy as previously believed. UCLA Professor Maite Zubiaurre stumbled upon a collection of erotic works, written and pictoral, showing a far more robust and exciting side of sexuality, feminism, and early LGBT awareness in the country, shedding light on a history not only fascinating, but really, really lovely.

The article goes on to describe the societal importance of the pieces Zubiaurre has discovered, but also includes photos from the collection which are absolutely gorgeous. Revelations not just of a more open and celebratory sexuality, but of men as well as women, depictions of homosexual lovers, transgender individuals, and—one of my personal favorites—satirical depictions of the clergy in flagrante delicto.

The collection looks simply amazing. Take a look at the images in the Post article and let me know what you think. Which images speak to you most? What do you think this means for historians of the period and the culture today?