My life in books

With a Rough Tongue: Femmes Write Porn, Amber Dawn and Trish Kelly, eds.

As I think I’ve mentioned before, I’m rather selective about the porn I read. The most boring sort for me is the standard male/female porn – especially if it’s aimed primarily at a male audience.

I find reading about sex – vanilla or kinky – between two (or more) women, or two (or more) men much more interesting. I could theorise that this is because same-sex sex is by definition without the inherent implications of the male/female power imbalance, so that any power dynamics and gender roles in the exchange are deliberately chosen by the participants.

Which brings me to With a Rough Tongue: Femmes Write Porn. I find the butch/femme dynamic interesting, both in fiction and in cultural studies, at least in part because I don’t identify as either – though my partner, despite being male, identifies as femme. Being femme (or butch, but we're talking about femmes here) is more than a gender identity, it's a sexual identity.

This volume presents a range of interpretations of being femme in sexual situations. And it’s hot reading, too. If stories about femmes at their peak of sexual presentation are your thing, you’ll find at least something in this collection to enjoy.