i hate the word spicy can we bring back calling things erotic
rolling up to Wendy's to get an erotic chicken sandwich
I never thought Terry Pratchett's advice would be useful in THIS context
'Erotic' is when you use a feather.
'Kinky' is when you use a chicken.
So you're saying I need to order a kinky chicken sandwich?
I'll note that the use of "spicy" in this context dates back at least to the 1930s and possibly earlier; there were plenty of pulp magazines with titles like Spicy Detective Stories.
Yeah I think "spicy" is useful specifically in the context of genre fiction, because I feel like that treats the element of genre as just as important as, if not the platform of, the sexual content. Like there absolutely is erotic literary fiction out there and there is literary erotica that kind of has one foot edging into genre fiction, but also there is a lot of genre fiction that features sex as a major part of its story and/or its appeal to its audience. There's like, a difference between mass market romance novels with a lot of sex and literary erotica--romance that is marketing itself as such has a higher obligation to couch itself in the expectations of its genre while literary erotica, like literary fiction, is more about exploring its respective subject and has a bit more freedom with how to present that exploration. That isn't to say either has any inherent superiority, just that there's different goal markers with regard to artistic intent, audience expectations, and execution. Anyway, I think "spice" works in this context because like in cooking, spice can determine much of the nature or character of a dish, while not being the dish itself.























