Tayari's Blog: Sexual Healing

Posted by TayariJones on November 24, 2007 01:15 PM
Filed under Writing

It's award season everybody and the "Bad Sex Award" long-list has been announced. The award ceremony promises to be great fun with the bad passages read by an actor. (And I guess this is one time we should celebrate the lack of diversity in the list of finalists.)

I got a kick out of this list, but it got me to thinking about what makes a good sex scene, well, good. One of the best sex scenes I have ever read is by Toni Morrison in The Bluest Eye. The coupling in question takes place between Cholly and Pauline Breedlove, Pecola's parents. What makes it work for me is the way that the power struggle in thier marriage is played out in bed as well. Another memorable sex scene is in Percival Everett's Erasure. In this scene, Monk describes sex with a colleague as being like riding a bicycle.

You may wonder why I think these sex scenes are good even though they are not exactly sexy. I choose these examples because the sex between the characters works as character development and also layers the conflict in the overall novel.

There is a little bit of sex in my second novel, The Untelling, but it's not hot sex. Aria and Dwayne have an uncomfortable encounter as they are trying to get pregnant. (At least he is.) The characters have had sex many times before, but I thought that this moment was the only one worth sharing in the novel because it was the only time thier sexual experiences were really interesting and character-developing.

Now, if you were to ask me about the hottest sex scene I have ever read.. well, there is no titillation like adolescent titillation. (Indie rockers Royal Pink have a song called "Judith Krantz" that is totally dedicated to this principle.) So, that said, the hotter that hot writing award goes to Judy Blume for the two explicit pages in the novel, Forever.

notes:

  • thx ed for the link.
  • the book pictured at right.

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    There are 1 comments on "Sexual Healing". If you'd like to leave a comment, click here to jump down to the comments entry form.

    Comment #1, by Ladylee [TypeKey Profile Page]

    Ahhh yes... I remember the well worn pages of my high school library's copy of Forever. I'm suprised our library even carried it. We ALL got a hold of that one, lol.

    November 26, 2007 08:14 AM

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