50 Shades for Grannies: Erotica is for Older Women, Too!

by Desiree Holt, for GalTime.com

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Whoever said age is a state of mind knew what they were talking about. Though I’m 76, in many areas I still feel as if I’m in my forties or fifties. Especially when it comes to sex—reading about it, writing it or experiencing it.

Here’s how I’ve learned to look at myself: as a younger woman I was a racy Mustang with a four-in-the-floor stick shift and speed was my thing. As a senior, I am a more solid supercab pickup or maybe an SUV, with a lot of power still under the hood and a desire to explore new adventures.

All it takes is a good erotic story to leash that power and enjoy a sex life that is fulfilling.

I think the older we get the more we have an appreciation for the sophistication of sex, the shades, the things that make a real difference. As an erotic romance writer, I find my heroines get older and older in each story I tell. Like me, they’ve learned how to replace youthful vigor with a more nuanced experience. In fact, many of my readers – young and old alike – tell me erotica and erotic romance novels are a great place to learn and discover new ideas.

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Here are five excellent reasons why reading “those books” can be both fun and educational for the older set.

It will rev your engine

You can find tips in erotica on how to prepare for sex. As the body ages, its responses and impulses slow down. The mind may be willing but nerves and muscles aren’t quite as quick. In erotic romances, the scenes are written with a great deal of foreplay. There are so many ways to light the fire under temptation, ways for a couple to seduce each other, beginning with sensual conversation. You may even consider reading passages from a favorite erotic romance to each other. As the mind is stimulated, so is the body.

Envisioning fantasies will get you in the mood

Everyone has fantasies, whether or not we want to admit it. Who doesn’t want to be the woman a man lusts after, captures and takes to his bedroom and ravishes? Or the woman seduces by the erotic quality of a meal with a man whose hunger for her sparks in his eyes? Putting yourself in the place of a heroine in a sensual, erotic story kindles the mind as well as all those nerve endings in erogenous zones.

Play the part of characters