Liz Everly's Blog, page 111

Dance Your Kink

by C. Margery Kempe

Big props to my Lady Smut colleagues for helping to celebrate The Big Book of Submission. I could not be more pleased! Or exhausted. The jetsetting life is fatiguing if you’re also a working stiff.

\(>_

So battling fatigue, pining for the good life, wishing I were still in Sopot while mounds of work glare at me and my colleagues mutter under their breath, here’s another Friday dance party special to get you moving and motivated — or at least I hope it will get me moving and motivated — with a bit of a kinky theme.

Madonna’s ‘Human Nature’ is a big fave of mine because it’s a great song, but it’s also a fun video. BDSM is so often portrayed as super serious. It’s play! Kink can be as simple as wearing that special outfit for your lover. Which is how a lot of kink hides in plain sight.

Besides, I too have absolutely no regrets.

Madge has been good on sharing her erotic explorations for a long time and it’s easy to forget how she was the Anaïs of pop music, pushing all the boundaries to see just how far we would follow her. Good stuff.

Back in the day it was more challenging to get the truth out there but you know Cat Woman was getting some fun on that fur rug. The woman with champagne tastes didn’t care what other people thought of it.

People often misunderstand S&M as abuse. Rihanna’s video was a cheeky way to hit back (see what I did there?) at critics who victim blamed her for domestic abuse. Consensual sex — even when it’s rough — is not abuse. You can’t choose what gets you off. But you can choose a partner who understands that and loves you for it. That’s bliss.

I almost forgot to include my first youthful introduction to the concept of bondage. RIP Polystyrene. You were the stuff.

Choose Lady Smut: we understand that sex is a many splendored thing that includes all kinds of fun.

From Lolita to Brolita: Getting Your Girly Kink On with Otaku

The Big Book of Submission: 69 Kinky Tales

Click on photo to buy.

by Madeline Iva

It’s our week of Kink at LadySmut.com.  This theme week was brought to you by the letter K.

No, just kidding.  We’re celebrating the release of THE BIG BOOK OF SUBMISSION (Our very own C. Margery Kempe has a short story included in the anthology.)

But first, a word about Kink & LadySmut.com.  We walk a fine line with sexy here at the blog.  When considering kink with a capital “K” some LadySmut bloggers get rather flustered.  Would I ever??? they say and gulp. (Unless you’re Alexa. She’s sitting at the bar saying Bring it.)

Me, I don’t have this kind of problem.  Would I ever? Not no, but hell no.

Experiment with a kinky life style? No. Er. Well, depends on what you mean by kinky?

With people besides my DH? No.

Doing things that involve an investment of significant money, time, travel, interactions with strangers, first aid training, and ads on Craigslist? Nope. Never. Nagada.

Sexy french maid — DO try this at home.

However, enjoying Kink as a fantasy? Now that’s fun.

The more unexpected and fantastical the better.  Bring on the alternative worlds–futuristic, historic, or over the top cray-cray–even a mix of all three. (I’m talking to you, OUTLANDER fans.)  Especially if it also involves a sorta-still-innocent kind of feel. (Jamie!)

Okay, now back to our regularly sponsored blog.

You know who also wears these same kind of vivid fantasy spectacles? The Japanese.  At one point I was watching two different Japanese TV shows. One was called MOYASIMON, about a young man going to college who, oh, happens to see and hear the microbes and bacterium that exist all around us.  (Only in Japan, people.)

The other show was called MARIA HOLIC.  It’s all about Kanako, a high school student suffering from latent masochism and lesbianism who tortures herself by transferring to an all girl’s boarding school.  Kanako immediately finds ‘the one’ for her–Mariya Shidō.  Sweet and blonde, Mariya shares a room with Kanako and also has a secret.  It turns out that Mariya is really a sadistic cross-dressing boy!  Mariya, and his sidekick Matsurika, delight in tormenting Kanako. Kanako, masochist that she is, gets off on it, gouting with nose-bleeds for Mariya a lot, but also the other girls at school.  (Nosebleeds are an expression of LUST in Japanese culture. Like I said folks, only in Japan.)

Cast of Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture. (The full title just kills me.)

At any rate, there amongst the rest of the normal (?) people in each cast you may notice something rather odd. Go ahead, look at these pictures from both shows and see if you can spot what I’m talking about. (I’ll hum a little song while I’m waiting….do-do-do….One of these people is not like the other people…do-de-do…)

From left to right: Mariya, Matsurika, three other girls, and Kanako down front with the nosebleed.

Did you notice the maid?  Weird, right? Having a person dressed like a maid–and not just a modern one but a victorian-girly-sexy-maid amongst every one else is so frickin’ odd.  The first time I was like: WTH??? What’s is this? The second time I dived into Wikipedia trying to figure it all out.

This brolita character is actually played by a female. The idea is that the hero’s bestie from grade school went away and has come back…as a woman! He’s done this out of his love for Moyasimon. A love that is *not* returned.

Okay, so it turns out that Japan has it’s own version of “trekkies” i.e. those who dress-up in fantasy costumes in homage to their favorite fictionalized characters.  This culture in Japan is called Otaku.  Women who engage in otaku have one aim and that is to be moe.

Being moe means to be heart-wrenchingly adorable.  Not just cute, but cute to the point of someone wanting to just squeeze you to death because they can’t stand how cute you are. One kind of way to achieve moe is to dive into Lolita fashion.  There are many variations of Lolita — which is all about a girly-cute kind of historical dress and is not actually regarded as sexual.  (In the same way that trekkies aren’t normally regarded as sexual — though if you give me a really fit looking Spock, I’d–well never mind.)

There’s Goth Lolita, punk lolita, etc.

And then there’s maid culture — a whole other thing in Japanese otaku.  Also multi-layered, not always sexual, the maid thing still definitely signals submissive.  At the maid cafes in Japan, customers are treated like masters & mistresses instead of…well, customers.

Everyone in American culture over the age of twenty-five is long familiar with the whole maid-costume-as-kinky fantasy thing.  Our “French maid” wink-wink, nudge-nudge thing is also understood in Japan and yes, there is a kind of French maid’s costume there that signals sexual fetish.

Then there are Lolita Maids.  The Lolita maid is a combination of the maid motif and of the Lolita motif.  While the whole Lolita culture is about an historic appeal to modesty and moe–and the non-sexy maid thing seems to be about submissive moe, when you put them together some people in Japan don’t like it — because…it’s just wrong and confusing is why.

(!)

And then, there’s Lolicon.  While the Japanese don’t automatically sexualize grown women dressing up as adorable girl-children, well, sometimes they do.  And that lust for barely adolescent is called lolicon and it’s not okay — except when it is.

In MARIA HOLIC, the maid is a girl named Matsurika who serves Mariya, and subverts the submissive ideal of a maid by speaking rudely to Mariya and criticizing his sadism, although she does follow his commands, shadow him around the campus in general, and let her clothes get ripped up from time to time.  Mostly, though, she doesn’t take sh** from anybody.  So she’s wearing a transgressive confusing moe outfit in which she acts transgressively anti-moe.  I tell you, with Matsurika, it’s paradise for some lucky woman’s studies major out there.

BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE!

In MOYASIMON the Lolita maid turns out to be a Brolita — a guy dressed up in a Lolita Maid outfit.  Thus conjoining three different strains of kink: Lolita, maid costume play, and transgender um, sissification. (Don’t know what sissification is? Look it up here.) It’s even more kinky, in a show that has all these cute bacteria bouncing around the screen.

Brolita — but you can’t tell, can you?

Wait–my head is spinning you say. Well, I guess they’re just used to it in Japan.

At the time, watching the shows I just thought it was freaky and interesting, even if i didn’t get all the nuances.  Which I probably still don’t quite understand, and have probably mis-represented to you.

Is it wrong to combine cuteness with sexy kinkiness?  Hugh Hefner revolutionized porn when he gave men the image of a nice-girl-next-door all nude and aroused.  Or are we normalizing sex and making it more women friendly by taking our feelings of desire out of the super-gritty realm and adding in fun and fantasy?  Tell us what you think.

And follow Lady Smut you moe people.

 

Adding Kink To Your Sex Life? Join The Club!

By Elizabeth Shore

This week we’re marking the recent release of The Big Book of Submission, in which you can find our own C. Margery Kempe’s story The Rhino. And, while I’m always happy to celebrate the success of fellow writers, I find myself struggling to figure out what to say about kink. Honestly, I feel I have as much knowledge about the BDSM lifestyle as I do about, say, spark plugs. Or urban planning. But seriously, what’s a little lack of knowledge to stop me from gabbing about this topic? I’m a writer, after all. It’s what I do. So I decided to take the bull by the horns – or, in this case, take the butt by the plug – conduct a bit of research, and share my findings with fellow readers. Certainly I can’t be the only kink novice out there, and no doubt there are many who wish to add naughty to their nookie. So come along, students. Class is now in session.

For the kink philistine who wants to whip herself (heyo!) into shape, it’s best to begin at the beginning and start munching. Turns out, a “munch” in the BDSM world is the place to kick off one’s adventure. It’s an informal or casual social gathering for folks involved in the scene. Munches are the appetizer on the BDSM menu. It’s not so much an educational get together as it is a place to meet like-minded others. However, from what I’ve learned, there are plenty of novices who attend munches in order to familiarze themselves with how the BDSM scene works. If you’re planning to go, be aware of proper etiquette so you don’t wind up getting yourself spanked before you actually want to be. (!) For example, don’t ask someone at a munch what he does for a living, where he works, or any other personal questions that would out him to the outside world. Many people need to keep their kink under wraps from the rest of their lives, so probing into what one does aside from BDSM will win you no fans.

A munch may be directed toward a specific group (just for subs, for example), or might be focused on a topic such as the proper way to dominate. So, OK. You’ve decided you want to attend a munch. Where, oh where do you find one near you? Fetlife to the rescue.

Fetlife is the social network site for the kink-lovin’ populace. They boast a membership of over three million devotees (yowza!) and label themselves as “the BDSM and fetish community by kinksters for kinksters.” There are forums, event listings, advice, photos, and overall general resources for those who want to get their flog on.

In addition to Fetlife, there are bloggers a’plenty who will happily spank you with good advice, such as Jay Wiseman, The Pervocracy, submissiveguide.com, and Bemused Enlightenment, just to name a few.

When I think of BDSM gatherings, my mind inevitably conjures up images from the masquerade/bondage party scene in Eyes Wide Shut. It seems like something I could get into, especially if the people were as good looking in reality as they are in the film! (Uh-huh, I like to dream) Such parties apparently actually exist if one knows where to find them. Robin Reinach, author of the novel Broken Open, undertook a boatload of research in sussing out the kink scene in NYC, and she discovered that there are indeed Eyes Wide Shut parties around, some even held in swanky hotels.

Other elements of BDSM hold less appeal in my book, including fire play (ouch!), participating in a “slave market,” or electro torture. Still, perhaps what’s most appealing about BDSM devotees is how non-judgmental they seem to be. It’s an all-inclusive, anything-consensual-goes kind of atmosphere which, when it comes to sex, is something to be thankful for.

So there you have it. BDSM 101, for the unintiated. Get out your vinyl suit and join the fun. Oh, and for more fun, don’t forget to follow us at Lady Smut. If you don’t, we might have to spank you. :-)

 

 

 

 

The Sexy Submissive

By Liz Everly

Submission. The word intrigues me.

The act of submission and how it relates to sex provides much fodder for my feminist erotic-romance writer mind. I don’t pretend to understand it with any kind of depth—maybe sensitivity and imagination, yes. And I always say to each his or her own between consensual adults in any discussion of preferences or orientation. I can see the sexiness in submission, in giving yourself over to someone else completely, and trusting them, sometimes literally, with your life. I also get that this kind of thing takes place in many bedrooms without even calling it submission or BDSM—in a subtle sort of way.

It also must be said, of course, that it could be VERY interesting for a lover to submit to you. Even if for just one night.

I’ve read a lot about BDSM, talked with a lot of practitioners, and I can say that if it’s done right, with respect and honor, I have no qualms about it—even from a feminist perspective. Women submissives are powerful. If you don’t understand that, you should probably read more about it. But in any case, as long as it’s the choice of healthy individuals (men and women), I don’t think it’s a feminist issue at all. Where I take issue is with folks using the lifestyle to abuse and manipulate—but that’s not only in the BDSM community, is it? It can be anywhere.

In my guise as an erotic romance writer, I have met many swingers and BDSM practitioners—mostly online. While I don’t want to brush any one person with a broad stroke of generalization here, I’d say that many of them live around their sex lives. While that sounds interesting and pleasing to most of us, realistically speaking, I could not give it that kind of attention. (More power to those who can.) But the people I know in these lifestyles spend all of their extra money on toys, outfits, conference, clubs, and so on. That’s interesting, but not for me, at this point in my life.

Click on this to purchase. Great cover, isn’t it?

But I will say that I’ve learned a lot about BDSM by reading about it and most recently I read “The Big Book of Submission” because CM Kempe’s writing is included and that’s always a treat.

What I found interesting about the book was the different views of submission it took on. It reminded me of this faceted gemstone of story. One view enlightened me about how some people really get off on pain. Another view offered a playful look into it, where married folks are just sort of experimenting with submission. And the book delved into the different forms of it—even choking. What hooks me, of course, is the story, not just the different kinds of submission the book explores.

I thought it was a fabulous collection—well worth a read and not just from the sort of ogling perspective (what DO these folks do in their playrooms or bedrooms?), but also from a story perspective. One story was told mostly through a letter from a submissive to her dom, who had asked for a description of how she felt during one of their sessions. Another story was told from the perspective of a submissive woman training her dom. Yes—you read that right.  It was any interesting collection of short stories and I read through it in no time. Check it out.  You won’t be sorry. While you’re at it, subscribe to Lady Smut.  You don’t want to miss a thing, do you?

Failing to Follow Instructions

by Kiersten Hallie Krum

Click on picture to buy!

My post last week on the controversial spanking scene in Outlander was meant to post this week to correspond with our own C. Margery Kempe’s release of the short story The Rhino in The Big Book of Submission.

Hashtag #PostingFail.

To be fair, following instructions has never been my forté.

For those of you inclined toward BDSM erotic romance stories, be sure to check out The Big Book of Submission. And if you haven’t had the chance to read it, click on the below link for that Outlander post, now properly chastised.

Outlander: A Spanking! A Spanking!

Follow Lady Smut. Instructions not included.

You Won’t See Yourself Coming: Blindfold Magic

Click me. Click me right now.

By Alexa Day

Some time ago, I was at a workshop presented by sex educator Sheri Winston. (Her book, Women’s Anatomy of Arousal, is a terrific resource for anyone interested in women’s sexuality.) Sheri talked about the way we use our senses to achieve orgasm and about the way we often give sound the short end of the stick. When we give full voice to our climax, she said, we can achieve stronger orgasms.

Women's Anatomy of Arousal: Secret Maps to Buried Pleasure

It’s the next best thing to being in that room. Click and get one.

Then she led us in a guided meditation. Something that would involve lots of sexy vocalizations but no touching. And if we reached orgasm during this meditation, well, that was so much the better.

I had two thoughts.

Thought One: This is the coolest workshop I have ever attended in my life.

Thought Two: I don’t think I’m going to be able to manage any part of this while surrounded by people.

So while everyone settled into comfortable positions, a couple of us looked around nervously, apparently sharing Thought Two. Sheri noticed us in a very nurturing but nonjudgmental way and said we could use blindfolds if we wanted. The blindfold, she said, would make it easier for us to concentrate on our own meditations, even in a room filled with people.

I didn’t know how helpful that would be, but I was willing to try anything that might make me more comfortable.

And it worked. I’m not going to say how well it worked, but it worked.

The blindfold’s power is simple. It cuts off the outside world. The outside world will absolutely interfere with an orgasm if we allow it to do so. The blindfold prevents this interference. When you can’t see reality, you can rewrite reality to suit your purposes. Reality isn’t a room filled with people or the bedroom with the cat’s bed in the corner or the couch in front of the TV anymore. Reality is a temple or the nicest suite in the hotel or that secret place that’s home to your best sexual fantasies.

Shaken

You will look every bit as hot as this in your blindfold.

I think that’s why the blindfold is so useful for sexual submission. A submissive carries a great deal of responsibility to focus on his or her sensual experience. The transformation of pain into pleasure, the elision of restraint into relaxation, and all the wonderful worlds of sense play can be muddled by visual stimuli. The blindfold leaves a submissive with nothing but sensation.

Loads and loads of wonderful, mindbending sensation.

The blindfold also locks out the more judgmental parts of the real world. Even subs who play privately live with concern about What Other People Think. With the blindfold on, a sub can’t see what he or she must look like, so it’s harder to feel self-conscious and easier to release into subspace. Plus, as ridiculous as it sounds, not being able to see the real world is almost like being invisible to the real world. The blindfold offers an escape from the outside world, even if the outside world is really only present in a sub’s thoughts.

There’s powerful magic in a blindfold, but then submission is a powerful magic all its own. This Friday, The Big Book of Submission: 69 Kinky Tales offers 69 stories to stimulate the kinky imaginations of readers everywhere. Get ready to spend some time inside this fictional subspace with your favorite authors, including Lady Smut’s own C. Margery Kempe!

Just take that blindfold off first.

And follow Lady Smut. We might not see you coming, but we can hear you just fine.

Sexy Saturday Round-Up

Hello, Sexy! Rounding off the week with some great blog posts curated by Lady Smut? Welcome and enjoy.

From Liz:

Writing hot scenes—or not.

When do you quit a series?

Want to learn a bit about kink? Here’s the Kink Academy.

From Elizabeth:

What’s the best sex around? Why, it’s swinger sex, of course.

Having trouble getting your creativity juices flowing? Here are six obstacles that block you and six ways to get rid of  them.

Get ready for Sunday brunch by making the finest scrambled eggs EVER.

When, oh when, did it become OK to go to out in public wearing nothing but pasties? Tell me that, Miley Cyrus.

What the heck is he talking about? Man speak v. woman speak – 10 common misunderstandings.

Coming from giving oral sex.

From Madeline:

How much do top male models earn? How much do top female models earn?

Mocking the fate of Russia’s space sex geckos.

Coming Out About Spanking from Salon.com (Thanks for posting this on FB, Alexa). Here’s the other side of the coin, an essay on Finding the Courage to Reveal a Fetish from the NYTimes.

Shoe porn: slide show of shoes at the NYTimes.

Ladies, I give you the ORGASMATRON.

From Alexa:

OMG, stop with the sex recipes … said no one I know, ever. YourTango’s sex cookbook continues with sex frosting.

The work of a few thieves — and a lot of looky-loos — won’t keep us from taking nude selfies.

A fairly long list of foods that resemble dicks is sure to get you tittering.

Gone to Gdańsk

C. Margery Kempe is currently visiting Gdańsk (and Sopot), Poland for a crime conference and hoping it’s not too hot on the sunny shores of the Baltic Sea. She will be appearing as K. A. Laity and Graham Wynd for a change of pace. Pictures to share on her return!

In the meantime, be sure to follow Lady Smut here as well as on Facebook and Twitter because you don’t want to miss a thing!

 

Bonkbusters & The Younger Man: Q&A with Michelle Bentham

Striker: HarperImpulse Contemporary Romance

Like younger man/older woman romances? You’ll love this book. Click to buy

By Madeline Iva

Cheerio ladies and gents.  Today British author Michelle Betham is here to chat with us about her sexy soccer series — STRIKER, EXTRA TIME, and FINAL SCORE.

MADELINE IVA: Tell us once again Michelle: what’s a “bonkbuster”? (We don’t use this term in the U.S. but I love it.)

MICHELLE BETHAM: A “bonkbuster” is, basically, a novel – usually a contemporary romance – which includes more than a fair amount of, well, sex, and usually a big helping of scandal! Think Jackie Collins, Jilly Cooper, that kind of thing. Pure escapism, really.

MADELINE IVA: A little over the top–just the way I like my romance.

Meanwhile, I’ve read you’re from the North East part of England.  What kind of sexy men does one find in the North East of England? Would we recognize any British movie stars or famous movie characters from that area? (Rochester? James Herriot? Er, Rob Brydon?) Are your bonkbusters set there?

MICHELLE BETHAM: I’m from the North East of England, yes. A Geordie girl born and bred! But as far as sexy men are concerned… well, this part of the world hasn’t turned out too many globally recognizable movie stars/characters (as yet!), but, the most famous one out there right now would probably have to be Sons of Anarchy’s Charlie Hunnam. He was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, just a few miles up the road from me, and I think it’s fair to say he’s pretty easy on the eye! Especially when he’s on a motorbike…

Charlie Hunnam — clearly Betham likes a rugged kind of guy.

And Newcastle-upon-Tyne is where – in the main – the ‘Striker’ series of books are set. Because I love the city, and I love the North East in general, so there’s usually always a North East connection somewhere in all of my books.

MADELINE IVA:  Ah.  The first book in your series is about a journalist willing to “play dirty” with a footballer (soccer player).  Just what dirty shenanigans does your heroine get up to? ;>

MICHELLE BETHAM: Well, Amber starts out as a bit of a “good girl”, really – career driven, focused, not really interested in a relationship, least of all with a footballer. But then Ryan Fisher crash lands into her life and all of sudden he opens up a whole new world to her. He’s a bit of a bad boy, the younger man.

Extra Time: HarperImpulse Contemporary Romance

Ever read a ‘Bonkbuster’? Here’s your chance! Click to buy.

MADELINE IVA: Nice! I love stories with a younger man.

MICHELLE BETHAM: He makes Amber feel sexy again, helps her to lose her inhibitions, which sees the sex in this book shift out of the bedroom and into places Amber would never have dreamed of having sex in before! I think it’s safe to say that a lot of the things that go on in the soccer stadiums in this book have very little to do with sport!

MADELINE IVA: Wow.  Now *that* sounds fun!

Your other book EXTRA TIME & FINAL SCORE are stories about “sex, secrets, and the trust cost of fame.” What are some of these secrets about?

MICHELLE BETHAM: Without giving too much away, we’re talking career-ending scandals, betrayals that could tear families apart; faces from the past coming back to re-open old wounds… And all three of the main characters in these books have secrets. All of which do, eventually, come out into the open. And when they do, it isn’t always pretty…

MADELINE IVA: See, I like it when things aren’t too pretty.  Well, thank you so much Michelle for stopping by today.

Buy Michelle’s books by clicking on any of the book covers above– and for those of you who adore SONS OF ANARCHY, follow her blog HERE–she’s a rabid fan herself.  

Final Score: HarperImpulse Contemporary Romance

Click to buy.

Meanwhile, if your goal is to score the sexy, follow Lady Smut.com.  We’ll love you into overtime.

 

 

Save A Horse – Ride A Cowboy

By Elizabeth Shore

Riding up and down Broadway on my old stud Leroy

And the girls say, save a horse, ride a cowboy

Everybody says, save a horse, ride a cowboy

– Big and Rich, Save A Horse (Ride A Cowboy)

I was visiting a friend over the past weekend and thinking about what I should blog for my Wednesday post. When I posed the question to her, she immediately piped up with: Cowboys. Of course, she’d just returned from a two-week vacation in Wyoming so one can understand visions of mounted men dancing in her head. I, on the other hand, realized that – aside from remembrances of the rugged guy from a certain cigarette ad –  I’ve never really given much thought to cowboys. Time to make amends! So c’mon, cowpokes. Rustle up a can of beans and gather ’round the campfire. Let’s think about cowboys.

For me, the first image that comes to mind is from Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. Her husband, Ladd, is a true cowboy, in charge of a large cattle ranch in Oklahoma. She calls him the Marlboro Man and says he looks good in jeans. Which he does. On her cooking show, interspersed with demonstrations on how she makes gooey chocolate chunk cookies, she’ll sometimes have clips of footage showing her personal cowboy riding a horse or rounding up cattle or doing both at the same time. Hmmm. So far, so good.

When I asked my friend what she likes about cowboys, she replied that to her they represent the ultimate real man. Honest, hard-working, uncomplicated. Cowboys are the antithesis of the angst-ridden artistic worrier discussing his feelings in a Woody Allen movie. That’s not to say they’re living stress-free. One bad storm wiping out prize livestock and suddenly there’s a big ‘ol pile of worry about how bills are going to get paid. But somehow it seems as if cowboys handle that stress differently than city guys. They don’t analyze their concerns to death, they tackle them head on the same way they’d round up a stray calf.

Romance has appreciated cowboys for years, and for good reason. In a 2011 Time magazine article entitled “The Rise of The Cowboy Romance Novel,  Sarah Weddell from SmartBitchesTrashyBooks.com said about a cowboy’s erotic appeal, “There is something very sexy about knowing that at 4 in the morning, if it’s 20 degrees below zero, that a guy’s going to get up and take care of things.” Cowboys have been described as “authentic” “genuine,” and “hunky,” and they are certainly, without doubt, all male. Cowboys aren’t metrosexual. Their nails aren’t buffed and their faces aren’t always shaved. They might be sweaty and dusty and their jeans might be ripped. They handle big, heavy animals so they’ve got to be strong. I’m not seeing a problem.

Readers don’t seem to see one, either. Among this year’s RITA winners was Jane Porter’s novella Take Me, Cowboy. It’s the fourth book of Jane’s Copper Mountain Rodeo series, all of which are flying onto e-readers as soon as they’re released. And nine-time RITA Finalist Jane Graves kicked off a new series with Cowboy Take Me Away which got a starred review from Booklist. Cowboys are versatile hero material. They can be sweet or erotic, contemporary or historical, of this world or an alternate one. And, as the Village People will attest, cowboys are pretty good at being gay, too.

So let’s hear it for the western boys. The studs who wear spurs, who rope steer, who can ride a bucking bronco the way I’d like to ride a bucking … um. Well. You get the picture. And speaking of pictures, I’m happy to share a few. Enjoy! And follow us at Lady Smut, partner. We lasso you a new post seven days a week.