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By Ciara Rouege

“Naughty Books” (2020) follows a handful of erotic fiction writers as the title would suggest. You would think a documentary about a topic as sensational as sex would be interesting, but it was so boring.

Despite making several three minute skips while watching the film, I didn’t miss a beat because it was repetitive, and for the most part, lacked nuance. Erotica is a genre that has become increasingly saturated with authors, especially since the success of 50 Shades of Grey and the popularity of self-publishing. I’m not surprised, but it was interesting to learn that romance literature out sells any other genre but is underrepresented in media coverage— the film argues because it’s the only genre not dominated by male authors.

Lack of voice

I’m assuming the director’s criteria for being in this film was white, middle-aged woman from a working class Midwestern family that grew up in a rural area with a penchant for striped clothing and punky early 2000s hairstyles. Literally, zero diversity among the authors on every metric: race, socioeconomic background, regionalism, fashion sense…you name it! Actually, there was a peculiar visual differentiation between the authors and their thin-framed, white publishing agents dressed in business casual wear. Having more perspectives could’ve given this documentary a little more color and painted a fuller picture of who the people are writing these books.

Let’s talk about rape culture…or not.

There’s a moment in the documentary where the authors addressed the criticism that erotica often romanticizes sexual and emotional abuse. It talked about women’s relationship with sex as this foreign often demonized experience. They talked about how erotica is a safe space for women to explore themselves as sexual beings, including victims of sexual assault. One author — who writes dark fantasies that include rape scenes — said she has had victims reach out to her complimenting her on the book. She also described writing the scenes as a psychological exercise and a way to express feelings from her own experiences with sexual abuse…then the film just kind of yada yada-ed it, and skipped to Karen on the couch crying about how her success intimidated her ex-husband.

Writing for pleasure

Erotica writers produce a lot of content. Some writers publishing as many as 10 books/novellas in a year, according to the documentary. It wears heavily on the writers, and being a content creator myself, I could relate to the emptiness that comes with being a commercial artist.

Should you watch it?

Of course! Expand your mind even if it’s by half a centimeter. Although, I think what was conveyed in Naughty Books could’ve been explained in a 15 minute YouTube video.

Grade: C-

Where to watch: Naughty Books is available for streaming on Hulu, YouTube, Vudu, Amazon and Apple TV.