E.L. James might not be the only one ruling the erotica world soon.
Or at least that’s what the coordinators of UT’s “Sex Week” are hoping for Thursday at “Steamy: How to Write About Sex and Poetry Performance.” Led by sex writer and columnist Sinclair Sexsmith, the intensive workshop will analyze good and bad erotic writing followed by a reading from one of Sinclair’s works.
DeAundra Blackwell, open board seat for the organization, said the event could benefit students by using basic principles for a usually taboo subject.
“I think that the students can gain a different perspective on writing in general from the erotica poetry workshop,” Blackwell, a senior in psychology and minor in child and family studies, said. “I believe all writing entails the same basic principles: imagination, good grammar, and especially from this particular writing, courage. This isn’t the kind of writing you would be asked to do in class, and because of that it pushes you to be more imaginative and inventive, rather than just putting together the normal five paragraph analysis or persuasive essay. If nothing else, the topic of sex can persuade a lot of people to get involved in something that would otherwise be thought of as boring.”
Despite losing funding from the state, “Sex Week” began Saturday, March 9, with the staged reading of “Spring Awakening” at the Carousel Theatre.
With the popularity of the erotic “50 Shades of Grey” book series, Blackwell said the novels offer an open atmosphere to discuss sensitive, and perhaps embarrassing, topics. Blackwell said such risqué novels are needed to push people passed their boundaries while still providing the basic story structure.
“I think that just like ‘Sex Week’ is challenging people to confront sex in a more public fashion, ’50 Shades’ is challenging readers to think of erotic literature as actual literature, and not just porn on book pages,” Blackwell said. “I read it and actually got caught up in the plot as opposed to the random risqué scenes. It’s all about the style of writing. If the author can write a good book and still incorporate what makes erotic literature erotic, it makes the reader go, ‘hmm, I can actually respect this.'”
Mollie Belfus, a sophomore in journalism and electronic media, said she is a fan of the books although she has only read the first two of the trilogy. She said she enjoyed reading the novels because they were different from other works and sad erotic novels allow introspection and give light to a shade that people rarely show.
“People don’t necessarily know how to express themselves in that way, especially through writing, so I think that will be very helpful to a lot of people,” Belfus said. “(It will) make them feel more comfortable to talk about sex, especially those who don’t like to talk about it in public or admit that they read things like that.”
The future on Belfus’ own debut sex piece seems probable.
“Sure, why not?” Belfus said, chuckling.
