As a little bit of background, my wife and I were eating dinner the other day when she said she had read my most recent story and that she liked it. But she brought up a (valid) point that I usually only write about a certain type of person, usually described as white or tanned, skinny/athletic, perky boobs, tight butt, flat tummy/abs, etc. She asked why I never write about people of other ethnic groups or characters of different physical attributes (specifically larger women). I didn't really have an answer besides that my ideal type when it comes to erotica or porn is skinnier women with smaller perky boobs and a tight butt. Just is what it is.
But it started me thinking about writing stories in a way that didn't describe characters in the usual ways, instead describing bare minimums and letting the reader fill in the blanks. So maybe you talk about personality, hair color, eye color, things like that, but purposefully avoid describing the character in terms of race or size. I honestly don't know if it would work or not; people, especially white people, tend to assume characters are white if they're not described as such (a famous example is Hermione in the Harry Potter books; iirc, JK Rowling never described her as any race, people just assumed she was white).
So, do you guys think this is an issue, that erotica stories tend to be very lacking in diverse (besides fetish or niche stories)? And do you try to actively write stories that are more inclusive? How important is it to you? And lastly, what do you think of the idea of avoiding descriptors to allow the reader to decide?
(Posted Mar 03, 2016)