Whenever a sex scene crops up, that's when I start skipping paragraphs/pages. Same for when fast-forward is available.
But I'm against there being blanket rules about including them, if the author thinks it's so important. But they're usually totally unimportant to the story. It's best if there's some real relevance.
I'll sound like an old man I suppose but I don't find it necessary in any media. Except the obvious, I mean porn without sexual content is kinda beside the point.
If we're talking fiction, I've almost never found it to add to the story. Even trying to portray romance between two characters it's just not necessary to go through the whole penis/vagina part. Non-fiction, I suppose there could be more cases if you're documenting some weird kinky serial rapist or whatever, but I would have zero interest in reading that anyway.
diskworld manages quite well without single sex scene, or implying some bedroom action has happened between pair (expect very rarely, and even then barely)
There's a scene in the movie Shoot 'Em Up where the protagonist is having sex AND a gunfight. Somehow, the gratuitous sex and violence absolutely fits with the ridiculous tone of the movie.
Not sure if this clip is any good(never giving Google my details just so I can get past the age filter), but this is what I'm talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRrlPAAW1RU
Yeah, when sexual content is marketed towards men it's dirty nasty porn that has to be relegated to seedy sex shops. If it's for women they call it "romance", or if they're being a little more honest "erotica", and you can find it displayed prominently in any bookstore or super market.
no, there just need be great story and good telling of it (suspense - surprise, humor even little, and only just enough background information for imagination to do its work; that is how ingredients to good telling)
No? but at the same time they also can? best sellers literally just depends on whether there's people that want to buy your stuff. That's all that best sellers are.
The Witcher books are the only ones I’ve ever read that had sex scenes that didn’t feel entirely gratuitous, and even then they weren’t graphically detailed.
Going off the Wikipedia list of top selling books of all time, it seems like the top 5 are:
The Hobbit. No sexual content here.
First Harry Potter book. Also no sexual content
The Little Prince. We're 3 for 3 so far.
Dream of the Red Chamber. No clue on this one, but since it's a 250 year old Chinese book I'm going to go with "even if there is some, it's probably very tame by modern standards)
And Then There Were None. And no sexual content here.
So, we're just about 5/5 so I think the answer is no.
No.
Whenever a sex scene crops up, that's when I start skipping paragraphs/pages. Same for when fast-forward is available.
But I'm against there being blanket rules about including them, if the author thinks it's so important. But they're usually totally unimportant to the story. It's best if there's some real relevance.
Not unless that is the audience you are going for. Lord of the Rings, Moby Dick, Animal Farm, etc. to name a few.
It can work but it can be gratuitous as well.
Moby Dick was all about Ahab trying to thrust his rod into a white whale.
Well no explicit sex scenes.
LOTR was all about destroying the ring. Gay AF.
I'll sound like an old man I suppose but I don't find it necessary in any media. Except the obvious, I mean porn without sexual content is kinda beside the point.
If we're talking fiction, I've almost never found it to add to the story. Even trying to portray romance between two characters it's just not necessary to go through the whole penis/vagina part. Non-fiction, I suppose there could be more cases if you're documenting some weird kinky serial rapist or whatever, but I would have zero interest in reading that anyway.
Show a kiss or embrace then fade to black.
diskworld manages quite well without single sex scene, or implying some bedroom action has happened between pair (expect very rarely, and even then barely)
There's a scene in the movie Shoot 'Em Up where the protagonist is having sex AND a gunfight. Somehow, the gratuitous sex and violence absolutely fits with the ridiculous tone of the movie.
Not sure if this clip is any good(never giving Google my details just so I can get past the age filter), but this is what I'm talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRrlPAAW1RU
Depends, are you selling to our "better halves" or not?
They won't buy anything unless it has creepy fetishization of men and a cover with a body that is not humanly possible.
Just take a look through the Amazon "romance" section.
Yeah, when sexual content is marketed towards men it's dirty nasty porn that has to be relegated to seedy sex shops. If it's for women they call it "romance", or if they're being a little more honest "erotica", and you can find it displayed prominently in any bookstore or super market.
The perverts that control society, frantically projecting their own sick ideas on everyone else.
MeToo's leader was a child rapist with an incest fetish.
Well, Crime and Punishment revolves around a mans interaction with an old woman's axe wound. So, maybe?
no, there just need be great story and good telling of it (suspense - surprise, humor even little, and only just enough background information for imagination to do its work; that is how ingredients to good telling)
Why the heck would books have sex scenes? That's for fan fiction and Penthouse letters.
No? but at the same time they also can? best sellers literally just depends on whether there's people that want to buy your stuff. That's all that best sellers are.
The Witcher books are the only ones I’ve ever read that had sex scenes that didn’t feel entirely gratuitous, and even then they weren’t graphically detailed.
Going off the Wikipedia list of top selling books of all time, it seems like the top 5 are:
The Hobbit. No sexual content here.
First Harry Potter book. Also no sexual content
The Little Prince. We're 3 for 3 so far.
Dream of the Red Chamber. No clue on this one, but since it's a 250 year old Chinese book I'm going to go with "even if there is some, it's probably very tame by modern standards)
And Then There Were None. And no sexual content here.
So, we're just about 5/5 so I think the answer is no.