pornography and erotica

[Scootaloo]

80. The difference is a question of focus and intent

Now this is a bit awkward, but I've written erotic fiction, and have given pointers to other writers. One of the first bits of advice covers exactly this question.

"Before you start writing the piece, decide of you are writing erotica, or smut. Stick with that decision." With a visual medium I guess "porn" would replace "smut" but whatever, same concept.

Now, what's the difference?

Porn (and smut) is content that focuses on the sexual encounter(s). An external plot, if it exists, is simply a prelude or pathway to the sexual scenes ("I'm here to fix the dishwasher, ma'am...&quot . Those scenes make up the bulk of the piece, and are pretty much what it's "about."

Erotica is something that contains some level of sexualized content but isn't about that content's sexuality. Most films that have any sort of sex scene fall into this category, even whatever small handful are actually graphic depictions, the scene is usually just a few minutes, is meant to convey another point of plot, and is included in a large body of non-sexualized content.

it can get tricky; porn / smut is a sub category of erotica, much in the same way that a square is a kind of rectangle, but a rectangle is not a kind of square. And different people may have different stndards; a fetish video of fully clothed women popping balloons may be a heavily sexualized thing for someone who's into that; given that, and the video's focus on exactly that, i'd class it as porn, even though it has no titilation value for me personally.

Those paintings upthread are erotica; they're sexy but they're not sexual. A depiction of sex is not their purpose, even if the intent may be to display the body of a nude woman for titilation purposes.