I never did get all that much of a chortle out of the Bad Sex Awards, started by the British magazine Literary Review in 1993
Iu00a0never did get all that much of a chortle out of the Bad Sex Awards, started by the British magazine Literary Review in 1993 (this week given to Rowan Somerville, writer of The End of Sleep). Sure they are sometimes funny, but rather than wondering about the discomfort in writing about sex that produces these verbose acrobatics, the response to the awards by the high-minded is often to confirm that there's not much place for sex in serious matters. A majority further declares that the most erotic things are allusive and elusive ufffd all else is a flirtation with pornography.
To me this insistence feels like waffling to cover up a schoolboyish unease with any mention of sex outside pornography or cult fiction. It reminds me of the stock disdain for Mills and Boon ufffd which in fact feature a lot of sex.
I grew up surrounded by the idea that girls who read MBs (as we called them) only wanted to get married and be submissive, decorative housewives ufffd because apparently women who did not have great professional ambitions were incapable of reading "serious literature." People shook their heads at what they considered my perversity when I became popular in my hostel for being able to narrate entire MB stories. If I said they were my favourite escapism, people tutted that I was betraying my intellect. Those were the '80s and people also felt that way about Hindi films and comics.
A lot's changed since then and all sorts of pop culture is now considered cool. So, why do people still look down on MBs? One reason given is their overheated titles. Sample a few: The Devil in the Dark, This Side of Paradise, Obssession, What are Little Girls Made of? I have read MBs of these titles ufffd but these are all also episode titles of the cult series Star Trek, which I have seen.
The other criticism is that MBs have ridiculous plots and encourage gender stereotypes. So here's the synopsis of a Star Trek episode, titled "The Naked Time." An infection spreads throughout the Enterprise. A crew member's inebriated actions place the ship in danger, forcing Scotty to perform a hazardous engineering procedure to save them from destruction.
Can you not already imagine the orgy of tackiness here? The blowsy busty blondes, the cheesy sexism, the lame male fantasies of conquest of alien lands? But neither men nor women who like this stuff are embarrassed by their fan-ship, sometimes verging on the absurd.
The point is, most pulp is like this, so why single MBs out? A lot of MB critics have not read many romance novels. The criticism of these books seems to rest, unstatedly on the fact that they are female fantasies ufffd which they are for they feature unrealistically considerate and consummate lovers and plenty of good sex and satisfying romance.
What is the issue here exactly? As for their fear of the effects on women's minds ufffd do they think women are too stupid to distinguish between fantasy and reality? That's a little, er, sexist.
Here's to a world where people are at ease with sex and fantasy ufffd and often, there's even enjoyable writing. Romance novels are the highest selling genre in the publishing business. Those closet fans need to shake their booty at those prudish snobs.
Paromita Vohra is an award-winning Mumbai-based filmmaker, writer and curator working with fiction and non-fiction. She runs Devi Pictures production company. Reach her at https://www.parodevi.com/. The views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't necessarily represent those of the paper.
