This is where my opinion sits, pretty much. But I also think the metaphor isn't just emotional intimacy, but also vulnerability, which is really really interesting and fun to poke at. Sexualized relationships can be the same as their platonic canon counterparts, they're just allegorized. And now I've called NC-17 fic allegory, which has more or less made my morning.
Adding sex makes the reader's emotional connection to the relationship easier to come by, perhaps. But then, as has been amply covered, it's also (probably "mostly") about hot people, and about getting them to be hot together. There are lots of discussions I've read with phrases like "reverse objectification," a feminist movement in which women are claiming porn for themselves, and etc., but it boils down to "we write/read because we think it's hot. And yay for porn."
no subject
This is where my opinion sits, pretty much. But I also think the metaphor isn't just emotional intimacy, but also vulnerability, which is really really interesting and fun to poke at. Sexualized relationships can be the same as their platonic canon counterparts, they're just allegorized. And now I've called NC-17 fic allegory, which has more or less made my morning.
Adding sex makes the reader's emotional connection to the relationship easier to come by, perhaps. But then, as has been amply covered, it's also (probably "mostly") about hot people, and about getting them to be hot together. There are lots of discussions I've read with phrases like "reverse objectification," a feminist movement in which women are claiming porn for themselves, and etc., but it boils down to "we write/read because we think it's hot. And yay for porn."
:)