Why is erotica still sticky territory in India?

While the genre might have taken off in the United Kingdom and the United States, Indian erotic writers, booksellers and publishers believe there is still taboo around the subject in the country

In Balli Kaur Jaswal’s Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows, which made it to actor Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club in 2018, the neglected widows from the United Kingdom’s Southall area find a sense of agency by narrating or writing erotic stories. But while Jaswal’s characters, like Manjeet and Sheena, easily found license and recognition as tellers of these tales, the same doesn’t hold true for Indian erotic fiction writers. And those who do enjoy creative freedom say it is empowering.

“It’s like putting up a picture of yourself in a bikini on social media. It can be empowering as you make yourself vulnerable,” says author, editor and podcaster Aastha Atray Banan, who also had 12 short stories published by Juggernaut in the ‘Sexy Reads’ category in 2021. Her more recent book is a non-fiction take on love—The L Word: Love, Lust and Everything in Between, published by HarperCollins India in 2021.

Sreemoyee Piu Kundu, author of the 2014 feminist erotic fiction novel Sita’s Curse: The Language of Desire, believes erotica can be liberating. “In Sita’s Curse, my character Meera finds freedom through her body after being abused and neglected for years.” Kundu, who also runs Status Single, a Facebook community of those who identify as single women who advocates for single women’s rights and aims to dispel stereotypes, has had an up-close look at their lives. “Be it through porn, erotica, or even the rapidly growing self-pleasuring market...none of it is talked about—but that does not mean it does not exist.”

In short supply

While one cannot deny the slowly growing demand for these books, the supply is lacking. Siddharth Pansari, founder of the bookstore Story, in Kolkata, says, “There has always been an interest in erotica and soft erotic content, but the supply of these books has been scarce.” At least not enough to be noticeable. “It’s only when a bestseller like the Fifty Shades of Grey series came along did we see a considerable upswing in retail sales,” says Swagat Sengupta, chief executive officer of Kolkata’s Oxford Bookstore. 

Kundu couldn’t agree more. “I think the only other erotica from India after Sitas’ Curse was Ananth’s Play With Me. I cannot think of many books in English published in India that have dealt with the theme,” she says.  

Most publishers agree. “I cannot even name five books in this genre that have come out recently. Internationally, there may still be some, but we do not even get that many submissions in this genre, at least not well-written ones,” says Sayantan Ghosh, executive editor of Simon & Schuster India, who remembers small bookstores on railway platforms stocking regional erotica like Mastram. “But those were pre-OTT days. Nowadays, I think people would prefer to watch the content instead of reading it,” he says.

Now streaming

Perhaps the ease of consuming this content unobtrusively on one’s device makes it popular. The lines between erotica and romance are often blurred on platforms like Storytel, Pratilipi, Audible or even Juggernaut. 

It is an open secret that this genre is consumed on smart devices in diverse ways. “Be it erotic or micro-fiction on Instagram-illustrated accounts or Literotica, people want to consume it, but the medium they use differs. Literotica got its highest number of site visits during the pandemic,” says Banan. 

As Banan points out, micro-fiction or even small posts on online platforms are popular. Illustrated, body- and sex-positive, erotic confessions are often what illustrator Indu Lalitha Harkiumar spotlights on her Instagram account @induvidulaity, which she refers to as,“People-powered art projects on gender, sexuality, abuse, desire, and belonging.” Her illustrated projects highlight issues like consent, abortions and a series called #cock-a-doodle, with a self-explanatory series of confessions of lovers and their relationships with their partner/lovers’ bodies. 

“Ever since [the release of] Fifty Shades of Grey, erotica has perhaps always been read more on a Kindle device or through other mediums. The availability of short stories like those on the Juggernaut app, which a reader can purchase for as low as ₹10 or ₹15, has been a good strategy to keep engaged with the genre but not enough that it disrupts the market,” feels Ghosh. 

Language is key

Regional writers in the genre, however, have enjoyed better success. Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay, who writes in Bengali and is known as the ‘Elena Ferrante of India,’ received acclaim and criticism for her novella Panty. In her works, she establishes the female gaze with a decidedly erotic edge. Her stories, be it Sankhini, Panty or The Yogini, have been translated into several languages by prestigious publishers like Tilted Axis Press, founded by Man Booker Prize-winning Deborah Smith. Marathi author Sayali Kedar’s books Desperate Husband, Two Timing, and Chitrakatha are also quite popular on audiobook and e-book streaming services. 

Let’s talk love and non-fiction

Other than erotica, there have also been many non-fiction books that talk about sex and sexuality. Seema Anand’s The Arts Of Seduction and Madhavi Menon’s Infinite Variety: A History of Desire in India were published in 2018. More recently, Leeza Mangaldas’s The Sex Book: A Joyful Journey of Self-Discovery and Tanaya Narendra aka Dr Cuterus’s eponymous book Dr Cuterus: Everything Nobody Tells You About Your Body, have drawn attention to the subject. 

But while these sex-positive books are informative and offer tools to help readers navigate their bodies, sales of print copies tell a different story.

“While there is interest in the genre, people tend to buy non-fiction like Madhavi Menon’s Infinite Variety: A History of Desire in India or Wendy Doniger’s Reading the Kamasutra instead of fiction. Though Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows is doing well,” says Touseef Mirza, head of sales at Midland Books in New Delhi’s Hauz Khas. 

People are still shy about walking into a bookstore and buying these books, feels reader and former bookseller Supratim Sahay* (name changed). “If an erotic novel is sold under the garb of romantic fiction, people will probably buy it. Women still come in and buy whole box sets of 12 Mills & Boons every month,” he says. 

What’s love got to do with it?

Perhaps, romance is more acceptable than erotica, a grey area that even Banan explored in a conversation with her mother. “One day my mother asked me ‘do you write erotica’? And I kind of hemmed and hawed and said ‘yes, you know the Mills & Boons type”. She has read many of those, so I think that was a version she found more acceptable,” she says. 

Erotica is not a genre that Indian BookTokers or Bookstagrammers find comfortable talking about. While the internet is rife with memes and reels about the steamiest books to read or the “hottest book boyfriend,” Indian Bookstagrammers are still mostly putting up pictures of their favourite, societally more acceptable reads in picturesque settings. 

Nandini Grover, a 21-year-old student and self-confessed bookworm, is one of the only few bookstagrammers who posts about reading new adult romances or romances with erotic content. “I’m young and I don’t have a boyfriend and I do not see anything wrong with daydreaming and swooning over my fictional book boyfriends,” she says.

Also Read: Why is mythological fiction so popular in India?

Also Read: Karen Anand’s book ‘Masala Memsahib’ tells culinary stories from five Indian states

Also Read: 10 business books you need to read