I'm a member of an Erotic Romance crit group over at AQ Connect. One of the subjects that came up recently was “safe sex” in erotica, or romance in general. I'm not a big reader of erotica, and what I write is more romantic than most of what is considered “erotic”, but in what I have read “safe sex” wasn't a theme.

The argument has been made that, in our modern times, it should be represented in erotic literature. Both as a reality of modern life, and as a public service, we as authors should embrace “safe sex” in our writing. It's a valid point. We often strive for realism, even while maintaining the fantasy, and issues of STDs and unwanted pregnancy are relevant to our times.

The raw mechanics of procreation can be very clumsy and even comical from a purely physical POV. It is a challenge to describe the sex act in a literary, and erotic, context that draws the reader into the complex emotions that are the true depth of our sexuality. Add to those difficulties the need to apply safe sex concepts and the scene can become anything but erotic.

In my opinion the more classical examples followed by most writers are simply rendered unworkable when we throw safe sex into the mix. The sex scene must be approached, then, in a completely new way. Safe sex must be an overriding principle around which the scene unfolds. You can't just add it to your old sex scene.

It can be erotic, however, and I think it can add new spice to cliché scenes and overused verbiage. A sex scene incorporating ideas of safe sex and contraception has a new dynamic, a new flow, from more classical scenes we are used to. That will make them fresh and relevant – always a good thing in any writing.