Who's the Whore Now?

The Erotica Book Club met this past weekend. In addition to feasting on Christine's homemade penis-shaped pumpkin bread, we discussed two short stories that could best be described as sensual fantasies for women. The literature wasn't of high quality, but it led to some interesting conversations about the genre. In spite of all the hot sex scenes, it seems the readers' real satisfaction comes from the lovers getting married and living happily ever after. Whatever!

To summarize, here are my six favorite quotes of the night. The first three were shared aloud by group members, while the last three are quotes taken directly from the texts:

1. On the matter of whether it's fair to call a character who is an occasional prostitute a "whore" when she also owns her own business; Lena: "It doesn't matter, she could be a ninja even. But if she has still has sex for money sometimes, she's still a whore ninja."

2. On a prostitute who pays a man for protection, but also insists that he has sex with her so people assume he's her boyfriend and not a bodyguard; Greg: "Who's the whore now?!"

3. On a woman who walks in on her fiance cheating on her on an expensive Edwardian desk she bought him for his 40th birthday; Lena: "That's rude."

4. After a woman is stabbed, her doctor gives her lover some sound advice that is ignored not a full minute later: "She may be more fragile than usual in the next few days... She'll need care, not to be hounded by your desires."

5. In one story, a woman, Terri, accidentally travels back in time to 13th century Scotland where is held captive in a nunnery and her abductor tries to impregnate her. Make sense? Maybe my favorite line by Terri, in which she reveals her true identity will help: "Perhaps [Terri] is a bit androgynous, but it is my name, and I am from the future, whether you choose to believe me or not."

6. The best scene that depicts the sexual differences of a 13th century Scot and a modern promiscuous woman: "Her finger brushed against his puckered hole. A place no woman had ever touched. Yet she did, her slender finger sliding into him. Unaccustomed to the strange sensation, he pushed her away, his cock sliding from her mouth."

Our next book will be better or, failing that, trashier.