Erotica Cover Watch: Why only women on the covers of erotic books?

[davidfcooper]

Erotica Cover Watch: Dirty Girls: Erotica For Women, ed. Rachel Kramer Bussel

Dirty Girls is, as the strapline says, ‘for women’. Having a naked babe on the cover seems such a wasted opportunity here.

Why not an image which, in keeping with the contents, is for women rather than the usual: an image of a woman?

Editor, Rachel Kramer Bussel, says, ‘the stories are written by women, and it’s being published by a feminist press, so if you ask me, putting a man on the cover would’ve been totally antithetical to what the book is ostensibly about.’

This sounds dangerously close to the notion than feminism is anti-men. It’s not. Feminism is anti men ruling the world. Why shouldn’t a sexy book aimed at women feature an image of the thing most women find sexy, a guy?

What do you think?

Comments

[doc-neuro.livejournal.com]

well maybe some of it is lesbian erotica. if you're trying to reach out to women lesbians would certainly be turned off by a pic of a naked guy butt on there. and then there's the fact that women arent nearly as homophobic about seeing naked pics of the female form as guys are and would be more likely to have a neutral or positive response to that sort of cover, whereas with one with a guy it would either be positive or negative. you can catch more flies with a neutral response to a cover than you can with negative. so I think there is a certain rationality in it, I dont think its anti-man.

[doc-neuro.livejournal.com]

anti-man is more along the lines of that chick flick "The Women", and the producers of it bragging that there are no men in that film at all, not even extras.

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

How anti-male is it really? I've seen lots of movies that have no women in them at all.

[doc-neuro.livejournal.com]

what movies are those. I'm sure there are at least women in the background somewhere. well perhaps not too many war movies, but those dont really count.

a few of them...

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

The Great Escape
Twelve Angry Men
Master and Commander
Glengarry Glen Ross
Lord of the Flies
My Dinner with Andre

Okay, maybe "lots" is an exaggeration if we're not even counting extras, but still, here are several. And even if there are no men whatsoever in The Women, it still fails the Mo Movie Measure.

[davidfcooper.livejournal.com]

Shoshana thinks the cover is totally appropriate, since it portrays the woman experiencing the pleasure described in the fiction.