Defining Smut
Dirty, filthy smut or just clean fun? (Photo by Nick Rudnicki)
Smut. Filth. Porn. Erotica. These words conjure up different images for different people, ranging from flirtatious pin-up photos to hardcore videos of people getting their brains fucked out by various objects. Everyone has different interpretations of these words, and people will probably always question whether there’s any difference between porn and erotica.
As the editor of a self-described smut zine, I often receive emails and comments from people who have some preconceived notion of what I do. They figure that “smut zine editor” is actually code for “I produce pornographic videos and would like you to strip naked for my next work!” Thanks, but no thanks.
Though most Montrealers seem to be quite open-minded about sexual literature, visiting Americans will often go riding off on some “you’re polluting young minds!” moral high horse when I reveal my profession. My grandfather, for instance, recently found out about my website. It was my own fault, as I’ve got an email signature that lists the URL of the magazine beneath my name. Still, I never expected anyone in my family to actually take the time to go there! My parents, of course, already know what I do for a living and seem to be tentatively supportive, but my 90-year-old grandfather was outraged.
“I’ve never seen such filth!” he declared in his email. “If you remain on this path, there is nothing for you but misery.”
He was, I think, mainly upset that I had (at the time) links to the Suicide Girls website on my page. He referred to the models on the site as “daughters of the devil.” Coming from a staunch Catholic, I can see he meant this as a slur, but as someone who likes the “scary” kinds of chicks featured on the site, that’s pretty hardcore. In fact, it’d make a great band name for some goth/metal rockers.
It also made a pretty good poem, but I’ll spare you my weird fetishes.
Anyway, it upset my grandfather to even read about the sexual exploits of his granddaughter and others of my generation, whereas the people whose work is featured on my site wouldn’t bat an eye at most of the stuff I publish. Maybe this is the famed generation gap, or maybe Montrealers are just blasé about all things erotic. Is it possible that too much exposure has caused sex to lose its appeal?
In the words of Ralph Wiggum, “That’s unpossible!”
But to get back to my grandfather’s concerns about the so-called filth that I publish, I have to wonder what makes something “dirty” anyway. To me, nudity alone is not enough. Breastfeeding mothers certainly aren’t behaving in a lewd or offensive manner, despite their bare bosoms, and nude models in figure study classes rarely turn anyone on. If you’ve ever been to a nude beach, you’ve probably discovered that most of the people who dare to bare are exactly the people you didn’t want to see naked. It’s all about the context – and the intent.
For Black Heart, the intent has never really been to titillate. Sure, I’m happy if the images in my magazine turn people on, or if the stories get them off, but even quickie sex should be about more than just grunting, puffing and the expulsion of cum. If you just want a sexy story, there are millions upon billions of them available online. They’re not very well written, but they do the job. As in real-life sex, the point is a realistic scenario propelled by characters that are interested in each other on a level more human than animal.
The sex isn’t the be-all, end-all of the story’s existence, though it’s certainly climactic and interesting. Is that kind of fixation dirty? For that matter, is a meditation on the power struggle in an S&M relationship dirty? There are plenty of pieces in Black Heart that have little to do with straight-up fucking, and you’ll never find any heaving bosoms except ironically. Is this porn? Erotica? Smut? Filth?
I like the term “literate smut.” Coined by Nerve.com back when they were cool, literate smut supposes that the reader is more discerning about the hows and the whys of the erotic plot than the average porn consumer. Literate smut encompasses anything that requires a big juicy brain to get turned on before the other juices start flowing. Given that the brain is the body’s biggest erogenous zone, it just makes sense to massage it, wrinkle it and play with it a bit before getting to the hot, kinky sex.
Hey, even nerds need their perverse pastimes.
Oh, and as for my grandfather: One of my other family members revealed that, despite all of his condemnations, he had quite a number of viruses on his computer. Three guesses as to their source…
(Originally published at Hour.ca)
