Renee Rose's Blog - Posts Tagged "non-consent"
Consent/Non-Consent in Spanking Romance
I'm working on a contemporary spanking romance right now. It's a paranormal (sorry, every writer's gotta have their vampire love, right?). It features consensual spanking. In it, the couple starts with erotic play-spanking and progresses to a domestic discipline (DD) relationship. I think it's still pretty hot, but I know there are those readers who really prefer non-consensual spankings.
I think this comes back to my thoughts on DD being about making it real. DD *sort of* takes away that consent piece. It's the consensual non-consent. In other words, it's where the spankee has given blanket consent to be spanked, which means they must submit even when they don't feel like a spanking or don't think they deserve one. And that makes it hotter somehow.
I think for me, personally, I prefer some kind of consent. In a historical setting, the consent is just that physical punishment is the norm. It's to be expected. Sort of a societal consent, if you will. That's why writing historical spanking fiction seems easiest.
In my opinion, contemporary spanking romances are the trickiest. Corporal punishment just isn't the norm anymore, so inventing a situation where it seems plausible is a stretch, unless its within the fetish or DD context.
But the more I think about this, the more I realize that no matter what setting, my heroines pretty much consent. I think I'm really not comfortable with the situation where the hero must chase them around the room and hold them down to spank them (a la Outlander). I don't like them to protest overmuch and insist that they're not a child and shouldn't be treated like one. I'm just uncomfortable with those scenarios. It feels too much like abuse and not enough like submission. I don't like the hero who would do such a thing-- I feel like heros should have a natural authority that the heroine naturally submits to. But I'm totally submissive by nature, so it figures that my heroines would be that way.
But I know that many other spankos really prefer the taming of the shrew approach. They like the feisty brat who must be tamed.
So in a way, I feel like my vampire spanko novel would make a good vanilla intro to the spanking fetish. But for those who don't like it consensual, it could be a disappointment (although I *believe* that it has enough heat for all spankos). I ended up loving the characters.
For my full, unedited and graphic thoughts on all things related to spanking, see my (adult only!) blog at reneeroseclosetgirl.blogspot.com
I think this comes back to my thoughts on DD being about making it real. DD *sort of* takes away that consent piece. It's the consensual non-consent. In other words, it's where the spankee has given blanket consent to be spanked, which means they must submit even when they don't feel like a spanking or don't think they deserve one. And that makes it hotter somehow.
I think for me, personally, I prefer some kind of consent. In a historical setting, the consent is just that physical punishment is the norm. It's to be expected. Sort of a societal consent, if you will. That's why writing historical spanking fiction seems easiest.
In my opinion, contemporary spanking romances are the trickiest. Corporal punishment just isn't the norm anymore, so inventing a situation where it seems plausible is a stretch, unless its within the fetish or DD context.
But the more I think about this, the more I realize that no matter what setting, my heroines pretty much consent. I think I'm really not comfortable with the situation where the hero must chase them around the room and hold them down to spank them (a la Outlander). I don't like them to protest overmuch and insist that they're not a child and shouldn't be treated like one. I'm just uncomfortable with those scenarios. It feels too much like abuse and not enough like submission. I don't like the hero who would do such a thing-- I feel like heros should have a natural authority that the heroine naturally submits to. But I'm totally submissive by nature, so it figures that my heroines would be that way.
But I know that many other spankos really prefer the taming of the shrew approach. They like the feisty brat who must be tamed.
So in a way, I feel like my vampire spanko novel would make a good vanilla intro to the spanking fetish. But for those who don't like it consensual, it could be a disappointment (although I *believe* that it has enough heat for all spankos). I ended up loving the characters.
For my full, unedited and graphic thoughts on all things related to spanking, see my (adult only!) blog at reneeroseclosetgirl.blogspot.com
