Feminist Erotica

Amanda Diehl is one of the resident reviewer at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. She runs a romance book club at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and hosts other events for Belmont Books in Belmont, Massachusetts. Jera spoke to Amanda about how being an avid romance reader has helped her discover her interests, find her voice, and build confidence in and out of the bedroom. We also spoke about the internalized misogyny in the romance genre and how to read in a critical way. All this and more in our first episode of the second season!

In our season one finale, we recap what we've learned about what makes different types of erotic stories feminist and what erotica is. We share audience feedback from a survey, as well as part of a live conversation we hosted with other erotic storytellers. 

We read the book Femme Tales — a reworking of three classic fairy tales featuring Black same sex couples — for our first Feminist Erotica book club. Following the discussion, we interviewed the author, Anne Shade about her book. We dug into why the positive representation of masculine queer folks and Black queer love is so important. We also talked about representing butch/femme couplings in non-stereotypical ways, chosen family, lesbian friendships, and more. This episode was recorded during a live stream on Facebook.

Katrina Jackson writes the types of stories that she would want to read, you know, with fat black girls and masturbation scenes. Karen and Princess talked to her about writing journey from fan fiction to published author with a bookshelf of titles. We also commiserated on pushing for diversity as a black queer woman and by the end, we became best friends. Check Katrina out on Twitter at @katrinajax and pre-order Bright Lights on Amazon!

Suleikha Snyder likes to throw a bunch of genres in a blender and see what happens. Jera and Princess talked to her about her erotic romance short stories, novellas, and full-length novels, including her upcoming paranormal romance series. We also talked about her role as a diversity advocate and the South Asian romance writers community on Twitter, what happy endings have to do with feminism, and more. Learn more at suleikhasnyder.com.

Hungering for new erotic reads to indulge in?  Then our quickies are for you! In each quickie, you'll hear a selection from a short story, novel, or other sexy text, just enough to whet your appetite. And we'll tell you where to go to read more. In this quickie, we feature an excerpt from the first season of ConsensualPod — a steamy fictional romance podcast for riot grrrls. 

Allison Grischow is a queer actor based in Chicago and vocal talent with ConsensualPod, a steamy fiction romance podcast for riot grills. Jera spoke to Allison about performing erotica and how it relates to the performance aspects of sex and sexuality. As an artist, how do you choose projects that represent what you want to put out there in the world? And how do you know what you desire with conflicting messages about what you should desire? That and more in this episode. 

Hungering for new erotic reads to indulge in?  Then our quickies are for you! In each quickie, you'll hear a selection from a short story, novel, or other sexy text, just enough to whet your appetite. And we'll tell you where to go to read more. In this quickie, we feature "Flying Solo" about a hot travel-based hookup that happens within the parameters of an open-marriage.

Rachel Kramer Bussel is the editor of the Best Women's Erotica series among other anthologies. She also writes erotica herself! Karen and Jera spoke to Rachel about how she chooses stories that fit her own feminist values and how erotica can help readers and writers alike explore their desires in empowering ways.

Karen, Princess, and Jera discuss the origins of this podcast, our backgrounds as authors and readers of erotic literature, and what we think makes different erotica worthy of the term feminist. This question: "What is feminist erotica" is the theme of season one.