Erotic Writing is Important (@ceciliatan #erotica #minorities #humanity)

A blogging colleague recently shared some excerpts from Cecilia Tan's articulate commentary after the recent election. I don't generally post things related to politics here on Beyond Romance. I'm very aware that not every reader feels the same as I do. In fact, after the results of the U.S. election, I've come to understand that some people live in a completely different reality from the one in which I exist.

Nevertheless, one thing I think all of my visitors have in common is a love of fiction. And as Cecilia explains, fiction, especially erotic fiction, is not just a frivolous pursuit or a question of writing dirty stories. It cuts to the quick of who we are.

Here's a quote from Cecilia's excellent essay:

Fiction and storytelling are important.

It's important to tell stories, to make things up and share them, because although real life autobiographical blogs (for example) are also important for claiming space and declaring one's existence, sometimes only a story can express your inner truth. Sometimes the act of creating that story reveals our truths to ourselves and without that story we never would have discovered them. But fiction is also important as the only effective tool we have for creating empathy in others. This has been studied repeatedly in multiple languages and cultures. Fiction is even more effective at creating empathy than knowing someone in real life, because although you might have a gay friend (for example) and empathize with them, living through the adventures and tribulations of a gay character in a book has a much pronounced and more long term effect. Fiction is powerful. Story is the most powerful tool we have for changing people's minds and for opening them.

Please read the entire post here:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/some-post-7202497 

Then think about how much you'd lose, personally, if people stopped telling their stories.