What is Hear of Her Press’ intention for female-led erotica?
Hannah
“Standout, original, self-published story centering female pleasure and fantasy”
Erotica for women is a part of the publishing industry which has been consistently mocked, overlooked and parodied by the patriarchal media overlords. The Fifty Shades franchise, dubbed as ‘mommy porn’ when it emerged as a sparkling success in the world of publishing, was just about the first of its kind: a standout, original, self-published story centering female pleasure and fantasy (regardless of individual opinion about writing quality), and since then the genre has gone from strength to strength. Sarah J. Maas is more proof of the popularity of erotica for women, and anyone not living under a rock will have by now heard about Heated Rivalry (written by a woman, and the TV series enjoyed overwhelmingly by women according to data from HBO). Reading and writing fan-fiction is dubbed as an embarrassing pastime for teenage girls, and Mills & Boon as similarly embarrassing but for middle-aged women. For me, Hear of Her is a chance to get ahead of the game and find the unappreciated treasure troves of writers who believe - like us - that erotica for women is important, valid, and that there is a place for it as respected literature rather than as a punchline for a joke about women having the nerve to want to be aroused.
Abbey
“It is time we view erotica as a legitimate form of literature, something which is just as artistically viable as any other form of writing.”
My first encounter with any kind of erotic literature was much like every other teenage girls’ experience: buried under my duvet at 3am fixated on whatever Wattpad book had the best looking guy on the cover photo. Wattpad seemed to embed itself in the culture of sexual-awakening for many women, becoming a platform that enables the writing and reading of erotica without any kind of publishing gatekeeping. We’re living in a digital age where this is possible, where erotica is less censored; where the word “smut” is often a recurring theme in anyone’s BookTok algorithm. Yet despite steamy literature being widely accessible and enjoyed, many still view it in a negative light. Erotica has long been undervalued in the world of literature, written off as something taboo; misunderstood by the masses. Historically, the suppression of female erotica is linked with the policing of female sexuality within society. Consistently seen as something dangerous, unnatural and immoral, writing about women’s desires has always been dismissed. Nowadays, digital platforms like Wattpad have paved the way for the re-emergence of female erotic writing, but the stigma has never fully disappeared, with the rising belief that romance books are “anti-intellectual”. This often stems from a discomfort of taking women’s sexuality seriously because women’s desires were dictated by men for so long.
Hear of Her is determined to change that, one steamy story at a time. Our press is about exploring women’s pleasure and being loud about it. We are concerned with writing and publishing erotica that is free from shame, that explores kinks in a healthy, consensual manner, and ultimately carves out a space for women to be open about their desires. It is time we view erotica as a legitimate form of literature, something which is just as artistically viable as any other form of writing.
Georgia
“Romance provides escapism and fantasy fulfillment, existing separately from reality while remaining deeply responsive to it.”
Romance, and by extension erotica, has always reflected the social and political environments in which women exist. Shifts in popular sub-genres and tropes are rarely accidental. Periods of peace have often coincided with the popularity of ‘Prince Charming’ narratives, while times of uncertainty and change have given rise to darker, gothic romances, as seen in Dracula (1897) and The Turn of the Screw (1898). Catherine Roach (2010) argues that the popularity of romance lies in the “reparation fantasy” it offers, helping heterosexual women navigate a “paradoxical relationship toward men in a culture still marked by patriarchy and […] violence.” Romance provides escapism and fantasy fulfillment, existing separately from reality while remaining deeply responsive to it.
Despite being a foundational and persistent genre, erotica is frequently dismissed and generalised. Critics have labelled it ‘mummy-porn’ in the case of Fifty Shades of Grey, or ‘fairy porn’ in reference to Sarah J. Maas’ romantasy novels popular on TikTok (BBC News, 2015; Jones, 2024). By denoting these novels as ‘porn’, their cultural and literary value is reduced. At best, this constitutes dismissal; at worst, it becomes a market-shaping judgement that determines what is published, how it is presented to readers, and whether it is granted critical legitimacy. This rhetoric represents a continuation of the repression of women’s sexuality in literature and a mockery of women’s pleasure.
Erotic fiction persists because of the emotional release it offers. It enables the negotiation of power within heteronormative relationships, invites exploration of taboo, and grants emotional and sexual autonomy to women who may be unable to safely enjoy sexual intimacy in their lived realities. Anti-feminist criticism of romance frequently functions as an attempt to regulate what women should and should not read and enjoy. In this sense, resistance to romance and erotica reveals enduring anxieties about female pleasure rather than inherent flaws within the genre itself.
The contemporary suppression of women’s sexuality in publishing operates more subtly than in earlier periods. Romantic and erotic fiction is frequently rendered invisible, absorbed into general fiction categories due to ongoing moral and reputational anxieties within the industry. As a result, vast amounts of women-centred romantic and erotic content continue to thrive online. Contemporary erotica offers an opportunity for women to define their own sexual identities and desires, and in doing so, challenges long-established institutional control and anxiety surrounding female sexual representation in publishing.
Hear of Her Press exists in direct response to this landscape. It aims to be a safe, welcoming, and pleasurable online community publishing women-centered romance and erotica, while refusing to censor or control women’s sexuality and desire.