(Illustration: Ant Sang, from Aotearotica via The Wireless)
In her interview with New Zealand's The Wireless, Laura Borrowdale, editor of Aotearotica, uses my story, "Nina", to eloquently illustrate the differences between pornography and erotica. This is what she has to say:
For me, a lot of what distinguishes us [from porn] is the taste and the quality. It’s really important that … the characters are behaving in a reasonable, logical way - the way that you'd expect that character to behave. One of the problems with pornography is the statistics talk about it being increasingly aggressive and degrading towards women, and because it’s pitched at a male audience you end up with images of women being slapped, or choked or pushed around or very aggressively engaged with… But because the women have to respond in a way that shows their enjoyment of that, what happens is you create for people watching it an expectation that that is what women enjoy.
There’s one particular story in Aotearotica called ‘Nina’ by Monica Macansantos in which a woman has a threesome, and parts of it are really pleasurable for her and parts of it aren’t, but you get a real glimpse into what it does for her emotionally. It’s broader than just what happens to her body. I think that’s where we have that difference. It’s a fuller experience than just, "This is what’s happening to a dehumanised body in front of you."
Thank you for your lovely words, Laura! You can read the full interview here.
Copies of Aotearotica can also be ordered on their website.
In her interview with New Zealand's The Wireless, Laura Borrowdale, editor of Aotearotica, uses my story, "Nina", to eloquently illustrate the differences between pornography and erotica. This is what she has to say:
For me, a lot of what distinguishes us [from porn] is the taste and the quality. It’s really important that … the characters are behaving in a reasonable, logical way - the way that you'd expect that character to behave. One of the problems with pornography is the statistics talk about it being increasingly aggressive and degrading towards women, and because it’s pitched at a male audience you end up with images of women being slapped, or choked or pushed around or very aggressively engaged with… But because the women have to respond in a way that shows their enjoyment of that, what happens is you create for people watching it an expectation that that is what women enjoy.
There’s one particular story in Aotearotica called ‘Nina’ by Monica Macansantos in which a woman has a threesome, and parts of it are really pleasurable for her and parts of it aren’t, but you get a real glimpse into what it does for her emotionally. It’s broader than just what happens to her body. I think that’s where we have that difference. It’s a fuller experience than just, "This is what’s happening to a dehumanised body in front of you."
Thank you for your lovely words, Laura! You can read the full interview here.
Copies of Aotearotica can also be ordered on their website.
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