The Real Reason Most Indian Women Who Write Erotica Use A Pseudonym

Women are judged in society for speaking about sex and sexuality, and labelled ‘sluts’. This often results in women using a pseudonym for writing erotica. Time to have a hard look at this?

Women in Indian society have often faced repression and criticism whenever they have tried to express their sexual desires or sexuality. There are a few Bollywood movies that talks about female sexuality but some are banned, some are censored. Our society often questions women about their moralities, indecency, and obscenity thus, sexual freedom is eventually truncated.

Sex is a subject that everyone finds interesting, but when talked about it in public, people consider it a “taboo”. People in our society like to read erotica as it is one of the popular genres in reading and actually doesn’t matter whoever writes it, but if the reader sees that it’s a female writer, they are surprised and many thoughts pop up into their mind. Isn’t it?

A female erotica writer needs to deal with many trolls on social media. It becomes essential to stand up to such trolls as we need to break the stereotype!

See, girls, we do write many articles related to social issues, relationships, travel, fashion, lifestyle, and so on with our own identity but why do we fear writing an erotica? Even if we start writing it, we are not sure of whether to give it for publishing or not. And then one more question presents itself: if we give it for publication, can we give our own identity? And the answer comes “NO”.

There are many female erotica writers who hide their identity for publishing their erotica.

Girls, you are not doing anything wrong, be proud of what you are writing, doesn’t matter if it’s erotica. If you love writing erotica and you are good at it, go for it! Give readers a chance to read yours with your own individual name!

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We tend to choose a pseudonym as we fear judgment from the family as well as society. We feel when we hide our identity we can express ourselves better, we have that freedom of expression. We actually need to let our kinky side loose and make efforts to write more erotica because if we like it we should do it.

Rosalyn D’Mello, who has authored many erotic stories and has edited an anthology of women’s erotica, says, “A pen name allows you artistic freedom, and gives room for subversion. Given the kind of moral policing that is rampant in Indian society, there is always the danger that a writer may indulge in self-censorship in order to go under conservative radars. There is also a tendency for people to relate explicit writing with the writer’s personality, and to assume that the accounts being narrated are first-hand, which can be invasive to the writer. It is also beside the point, as presumptions about the writer’s personal life then take precedence over the writing.”

It’s actually a kind of sacrifice that female erotica writers make to hide their identity, as they don’t want their close family members or friends to know about it, else society will be a pain in the neck.

I feel it’s time for the women to say “I love what I write and I am proud of it, be it erotica. It’s all about me and my creativity. No one is there to judge.”

So, here is a question: Women expressing their sexuality in the form of writing or any other form of art – isn’t it a way of empowering themselves?

Image source: a still from the movie Ishqiya

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