Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Sex and Marriage

I've noted that there's not a lot of marriage in romance. (Sorry we are not going to be discussing the sad state of my sex life lately)

'What land is she living in' you all say '99% of romance is about marriage'. Sure I won't disagree, 99% of Romance is about obtaining the state of being married. But so little of it about what happens after the big/small over-the-top/poignant everything-I-ever-wanted/OMGWTFBBQ-I'm-getting-married?? scenes play out?

I don't know about you, but marriages are damn hard work. Hell, I'm already onto the second one (we won't go into the shortest marriage in existence, where I was left for a younger woman when I was only 22!). Bitter much, me?? Not much after 10 years.

So, when so many of us read romance - of any genre, and especially erotic - why are there not more stories about marriages on the rocks and the ways the characters solve them. And no, I'm not talking about an Oprah and Doctor Phil special here - I'm talking hot, sexy stories, just like all the ones where people are single.

Genuine, sexy, my husband/wife doesn't find me sexy anymore, what went wrong and how do I fix it story lines about people with a kid or two, a dog, and a mortgage, stories.

Are us married folks with kids just too unsexy? Are we over the hill erotically? Is the idea of bits that don't look the way they did at 25 a turn off, even if the story is a wonderful journey?

And most importantly, if I was to write it, would people buy it?

I've had a number of hits with the term 'couples erotica', it sounds like an interesting term. I wonder if they are searching for stories that would appeal to husbands and wives (stroke flicks in effect), or containing husbands and wives in the plot line.

Give me some opinions people.

2 comments:

veinglory said...

I think there is room for a lot more married people romance, or even just continuing relationship romance (marraige optional). But the I used to love that old TV series Hart to Hart

Anonymous said...

I would totally read that!