Erotica, female‐friendly

Erotica can be expressed through all forms of art and deals with erotically stimulating or sexually arousing content. Traditionally, men were seen as the primary consumers of erotica. However, luminaries such as Anaïs Nin (1903‒1977) and her contemporaries paved the way for later works in female erotica. While erotica that is favored by men is explicit, mechanical, and visual, women favor erotica that is flavored by emotion, hunger, desire, lust, whims, caprices, personal ties, and deeper relationships. In the 1970s, Nancy Friday researched women’s fantasies and wrote about them in her books. BDSM, which has long been a central part of women’s sexual fantasies, has now reached the mainstream through the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy.