Reviews for Wanton Women

The average rating for Wanton Women based on 2 reviews is 2 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2021-01-19 00:00:00 Seong Kang So it's fifteen years after this has been published, and God only knows how long it's been on my TBR mountains. I am focused on making them shrink this year and needed something quick, and it's been awhile since I had a good erotic read. Sadly, this wasn't it. In fact, I got through the first chapter and man oh man, have times changed. This opening chapter, in which Ruby exerts her executive power by basically raping a man in her office as a means to seal a business deal, just doesn't wash in today's #MeToo climate. But even if we weren't where we currently are, I don't think I'd have felt comfortable with this. It's abuse, pure and simple. Abuse of the guy, abuse of Ruby's power as an exec and as a sexually dominant woman. It made me feel totally slimy, and that's reason enough to stop walking and pass this along.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-04-27 00:00:00 Christopher Grosklos Content note: Though I've read my share of erotic literature, I am not generally a fan of the concept. I am also not a fan of writing which eroticizes rape, sexual assault or misogyny in any form. I am not the kind of reader who can simply brush that off as 'it's just part of a fantasy of control,' or 'it's fantasy, not reality--the author isn't really suggesting people behave this way!!' The same goes for incorporating unsafe sexual activity in one's erotica, which in the age of AIDS and increased restrictions on women's choices, is not something I can view as acceptable to encourage or validate. So this review is from someone who isn't really 'into' this particular scene. That being said: Crap. This is one of those books I'm actually embarrassed to admit I read. At least the back flap acknowledges that the 'themes' include gang rape, so I guess anyone who wants to make the same mistake I did in reading the book anyway can consider herself forewarned. These three novellas include quite a lot of nonconsensual sex, all of which is written about in a profoundly disturbing manner. By profoundly disturbing I mean I was creeped out by the casual tone with which the author's described incredibly violent assaults, and the inherently offensive nature of writing which uses forced sex acts and other acts of violence as tools of erotica. Even by the standard of mainstream erotic writing, which is pretty grotesque, the violence here is outstanding. I was also squicked by the repeated descriptions of unsafe sex in this work, including anal sex sans condoms. I could not help but note that the two novellas which feature unprotected anal intercourse (both quasi-consensual and totally nonconsensual) take place in 1955 and 1927. I suspect the author chose these eras specifically because these settings dodge the specter of HIV exposure through these actions, allowing the reader and writer to shield themselves from how dangerous unsafe sex acts are in our modern reality. I'm also annoyed by the review on the front cover of my copy which states this author was attempting 'literature' here, not just smut. To me, literature requires character development and a plot. Not just a bunch of pornographic writing loosely centered around some people with names. The piece about the gay nuns in this book sort of rises to the realm of a decent story, but even I can't get all the way to 'literature' there. There is such a thing as good erotica--this isn't it. (Also such a thing as good literature and...no.) I was going to give it one star for the decent prose quality at least, but the offensive content made me want to cancel that out.