I was thinking about this today, cause it /really/ pisses me off. I find it insane how certain books/authors will literally use literally the most ridiculous workaround to portray raw, no condom, no nothing, sex in the main plotline

My worst example for this is love hypothesis, and before trashing the sex scene, I have to say i actually liked this book. So Adam and olive are making out and getting in the mood, AND THEY GET TO THAT PART WHERE HE'S LIKE, WAIT, I DON'T HAVE A CONDOM and instead of literally doing anything else olive turns around and tells him, SHE IS ON BIRTH CONTROL????? mind you, Olive is self proclaimed demisexual, and for a while outside of a relationship, an academic working for quote unquote inhumane hours, SHE DOES NOT HAVE AN ACTIVE SEX LIFE. Olive also doesn't have any forms of pcos or any other complications, her randomly being on birth control, WHEN IT IS NEVER MENTIONED BEFORE IN THE BOOK, is insane to me, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT'S ONLY THERE SO ADAM DOESN'T HAVE TO WEAR A CONDOM Edit: Bc my point for this came off wrong, I'm editing to say ik birth control has many uses, my main issue was that it felt as just an excuse for said unprotected sex to happen, which is the trope in intimacy scenes that I'm complaining about. The fact that there's no other basis for it and she just blurted it out was what irked me, not the fact that she might, hypothetically, take it. I have to mention here that's not the only just thrown there characteristic that I didn't enjoy in the book, as an aroace person I disliked how her demisexualness was explored and also just blurted it out, in the first few chapters, but that's a whole different matter. I just dont think it was nuanced or ernest

And it got me thinking, just how many romance books/eroticas pull strings like these to portray this fantasy Edit: I'm not shitting on ppl enjoying this trope, I mention later on I've had my run with it as well, just from the broad selection of spicy books I have encountered, I think its over glorified and way too common. To compare, just as I expect a book with bdsm elements to do it in a safe, consensual, not necessarily educational but good way, from a similar pov I find it frustrating that unprotected sex is often shown as more 'sexy' and has no reprecautions whatsoever, not maybe even a little mention. My main issue is sexual health, not conception

I think this is annoying especially in /way/ too much about having to wear one and the measures of protection from pregnancy fall only on the woman (my girls birth control isn't always effective). And that aside why are we glorifying std spreading? I can understand a scene where after a while they don't have one at hand and they use it as a "I need this so bad do whatever" but this is totally different

I'm not gonna say that books have to be a hundred percent textbook accurate cause some of these are just for fun too, but it's getting to a /point/ yk. Idk what's your opinion on this, do we like the rawdogging?

In case you find it helpful, there’s a translation of sorts for Joseph’s speech. I can sometimes figure it out by saying it out loud, but sometimes I get stuck. https://www.wuthering-heights.co.uk/josephs-speech

Hey everyone, not long ago I recommended Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil to a friend, who really liked it and would like more like this. I suggested a few she didn't like like Gideon the Ninth, and she needs the topic of pregnancy to be avoided at all cost. Also, because she doesn't read in English, I can't recommend books that came out this year as they mostly haven't been translated yet. Do you have any suggestions for books similar to BOBMS?

Which side of the spectrum do you belong to--the 'anybody who reads a lot of spice/smut should atp call it 🌽 addiction' or 'We should let people read whatever they want because barely anybody picks up a book these days.'?

Also context, I saw two of these opinions on the same YouTube video, which is why I'm posing these specific questions. As for me, I do not care what people are reading as long as they are reading (I say this because around me, I've noticed such a lack of reading that I just wish somebody picks up a book) because books genuinely provide a lot of political and general knowledge along with empathy. Moreover, whatever you read should not be on a pedestal to judge and scrutinise, like who is one single person to determine how wrong or right another single person is? Unless the book is specifically normalizing SA, I do not care.

I’m really happy to see that others make as many spelling mistakes or typos or other grammatical errors here on Pagebound as I do, and no one gets called out. We just seem to mostly type and chat and carry on. (Admittedly, i often do go back and correct some of those mistakes…because my perfectionistic tendencies override good sense.) All in all, I think we’ve struck a reasonable balance.

Thoughts?

hii, so based on another discussion here at the pagebound club I did a deep dive into the lists here for books about classism, feminism, racism and mostly colonialism but I struggled a bit with finding books that investigate deeper on such themes world wide

I am mostly interested in less explored geographical areas like eastern Europe, Balkans, the Mediterranean, East Asian, the middle east, South Africa, South America maybe or even Oceania (I have never seen one about the later so I apologize if it is too much of a generalization) Obviously I understand that all these countries were highly influenced wether economically, politically or by military by central Europe and the US but what I am looking for is an insight from the perspective of the other country who is faced with the consequences and circumstances of those decisions.

If my question is better suited for some forum instead of here please do let me know and I appreciate any insight and notes on the matter I am very interested on both the anthropological and historical aspect, whichever point of view is welcome

Thank you a lot for taking the time to read ❤️