So I was listening to Alex Anders’ interview with Mark Coker on the Sounds Erotic Podcast, and something Mark Coker said about one of his early reading experiences got me to thinking. Apparently, at some point in his young life, he came across a Judy Blume novel with some “sex parts” which proved to be quite exciting. He didn’t mention the title, but if I were to guess, I would venture to say it was probably Forever. We passed around a copy of that one in school, with the “sex parts” underlined. In that book, the guy’s penis was named Ralph – which still amuses me on so many levels. Ralph? Really? If you’re going to name your penis, wouldn’t a guy pick something like “Thor” or “Hammer” or even the more noble “Lance?”But I digress…
Mark Coker got me to thinking about my own early sexual reading influences. Yes, I read Judy Blume’s Forever. I also read her racy follow-up (not a sequel, but an adult novel – with sex!) entitled “Wifey.” I had to steal that one from the library because I was “too young” to check it out. But I did finally, guiltily, return it. Six months later, dropped it in the drop box outside. It was a little worse for the wear…
I read Flowers in the Attic over and over again. Fascinating stuff. Forbidden love between brother and sister. Gee, I wonder why I now write about incest? I read lots and lots of Stephen King, and yep, there was sex in there too.
I devoured teen books. Some with sex, some without. The one I remember quite clearly was made into a made-for-TV-movie with Rex Smith (Sooner or Later). An older boy (17) musician falls in love with a younger girl (13!!). In the sequel (Waiting Games) they have sex. And then she thinks she might be pregnant. (She’s 14 by now…) Something like that just would never get published in today’s world. But I read all about it, and it wasn’t even an adult book. It was in the “teen” section.
Of course, that was just my mainstream exposure to sex in fiction. That doesn’t take into consideration my exposure to “pornography.” My father had quite an extensive collection under his bed. And my mother’s version of porn was under her bed too–stacks of romance novels with half-naked men in loincloths and women with heaving bosoms on the cover. I read lots of those. With phrases like, “He slid his tumescent manhood into her quivering sheath…” But there were some graphic parts, regardless. Kathleen Woodiwiss’s Flower and the Flame starts out with what is, basically, a rape. What we would call “dubious consent” in erotic fiction nowadays…
My father’s collection, though, was far more interesting. A few stick out in my memory.
There was the Easter Hustler edition with the woman on the cover in a bed of jellybeans, and my first thought was, “Wow, that’s a lot of jellybeans!” and my second was, “Does she get to eat them all?” (A free ebook to anyone who can find that image on the Internet for me – that would be too cool!) And that particular magazine ruined The Wizard of Oz for me forever with their Dorothy fucks the Tinman, Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion spread. Every time I see that movie now, I can’t help but remember the Scarecrow with full make-up, his hard cock surrounded with straw, aiming for Dorothy’s promise land. There’s no place like home, eh, Scarecrow? (A free ebook for anyone who can find that particular photo shoot too!)
But my father had stuff that was far more graphic than that, though. Lots of Japanese bondage. I puzzled over those. That looked more painful than pleasurable to me. There was something called “water sports” that confused me. Surely, they couldn’t be talking about water polo? Ummm no. This kind of water sport involved lots of red rubber enema bags and trips to the toilet. Peeing was sexy? Really?
The pictures were interesting – but I liked the stories. I devoured Penthouse Letters. I read all the text next to the pictorials in the magazines. Words like “cock” and “pussy” and “blowjob” were all new and exciting. I had quite an extensive sexual vocabulary by the time I graduated high school, I must say!
My father also had a bunch of novels, a few of which have stuck with me. I remember one about a young girl hitchhiking who gets picked up by a couple who take her home and have anal sex with her. She also later has sex with their friend. And their kids. And the kids have sex with each other. And they’re very young kids too. Talk about an eye-opening read! And I then realized why my father always warned me to never, never hitchhike! (And if you can find the title of this book – I can’t remember it – I’ll send you a free ebook! In it, I remember she masturbates with a long tapered candle… if that helps…)
Of course, I never should have seen or read any of those things at such a tender young age. But I did. I imagine we’ve all read or seen things we shouldn’t have that shaped or molded or influenced us, as people, as writers, as sexual beings.
So what are your early naughty reading firsts? What do you remember?
Selena Kitt
Erotic Fiction You Won’t Forget
www.selenakitt.com