Books, Sex, and Teenagers – YA Erotic Fiction

Say the words Erotic Literature and many a mind will turn immediately to the Fifty Shades novels by E.L James. Described by many as mummy porn Fifty Shades has been revered and reviled in equal measure with many people pointing to the abusive nature of Christian and Anastasia’s relationship.

But whatever you may think of her novels, the much maligned author has opened up the erotic literature genre to a far wider reading audience and to a great extent taken away the sleazy opinion of erotic literature in general.

According to recent studies by publishers of erotic fiction, the genre’s audience is dominated by women in their forties but that group is now being matched and at risk of being surpassed by young women in their late teens and early twenties. Kay Jaybee (her pen name) is a writer who is known for her ‘full on whips and chains’ erotic fiction novels and she agrees.

The Perfect Submissive US
The Perfect Submissive UK

“When I look at my sales figures, that’s about 50% of my readership,”She said in an interview with Newsbeat “The other 50% are 18 to 26-year-olds. I guess they maybe do have a little bit more free time and may well be experimenting themselves. Or [they] may just enjoy the fantasy and like to see what options are out there, without having to actually physically do the things that I’m writing about.”
Fully aware of the fact that many of her younger readers may be learning about their own sexuality when reading her books Kay says that “There are things that perhaps, however open your family is, you couldn’t ask your parents and you might not want to ask your friends,” Saying of her novels that, as a learning resource “It just gives you a little bit of information.”

Although Kay’s books were never aimed at the younger end of her audience, her sales figures along with those of other erotic fiction authors revealed a gap in the market that publishers Xcite Books decided to fill and now, many if its authors write erotic fiction specifically aimed towards the Young Adult audience and Xcite author Alice Rain (pen name), whose earlier series Untwisted was aimed at 18-30 year olds is now writing erotic fiction aimed specifically at those who fit in to the younger end of the demographic.

Discussing the age of her readers Alice is keen to point out that all of her novels are labelled as being only suitable for those over 18 and both she and Kay Jaybee believe they have a responsibility over the content of their books no matter what the age of the reader.
“There’s never any question of consent. There’s never anybody underage. There’s never anything illegal. There is no blood loss,” says Kay.“Even when things get slightly more rough in the BDSM stories, everyone is always allowed a get-out.”
Alice believes (whilst men prefer a visual stimulus) “…women like a more emotional connection. They like to read words, if they’re [engaging with content about] sex,” adding that “They can read books like this and see an almost near-perfect relationship which has got amazing physical relationships. I think they like to read it as a way of escaping for an hour or two.”

Unmasked US
Unmasked UK

Up until very recently, the stigma of reading erotica has meant that most women would either not read any, or would not admit to it. Now after the global success of the Fifty Shades trilogy women are far more open about reading and enjoying the genre while men still tend to be more reticent about reading erotic literature, or at least, admitting to that fact. So next time you see someone reading Fifty Shades, Lolita, or The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty when you’re on the train be pleased that we live in an enlightened world where sex is not automatically sleazy and erotic literature can be enjoyed by everyone.
As long as they’re over eighteen.