Should Your Characters Wear Condoms?-BL Morticia #sex #adult #mm

Should Your Characters Wear Condoms?

BLMorticia

Hey readers. Another post by wicked muse BLMorticia toady and I’m asking, should your characters wear condoms? Not too long ago friend and fellow author Gavin ML Fletcher wrote a post about this subject responding to a comment from a reader on one of his books. Read his article here.

In short, the person said something like his writing men on men sex without condoms was a detriment to gay men. That’s not it word for word, but that about sums up this person’s remark. When he posted this on FB weeks ago, he wrote that article about author responsibility. Although I wanted to tackle it right then, I decided to do a little investigating first. I wanted to look at the next few romances, m/m and m/f, to see if condoms were used in the love scenes. Now, I don’t have like statistics to show but instead a consensus. In most of the books I’d read, the author didn’t have its male protagonist wear a condom. Between the time of that article I read and now, I read about 15 books. I’d say 12 of them had the couple engaging in sex without the latex.

But it’s fiction, you say. Well yeah DUH! I mean, Its’ supposed to be an escape from the reality so it’s not required for the men in the stories to wear a condom. As Gavin brings up in his article, it entertainment he’s writing so he’s not obligated to show the two men in the story being responsible adults. Why this person felt the need to pick on Gavin I’m not sure, considering many of the stories both het and m/m haven’t used any condoms and seemingly not a lot of people make a stink. Did that take you out of the story? Did you immediately put it down and say, oh no I can’t read this because the man isn’t wear latex. Sorry, I think that’s bullshit. If you did, okay, it’s your prerogative but as I stated its only fiction.

Another point? It really is up to the author and how he or she writes the story. Many feel that historicals and or paranormals are the only stories where it’s okay not to use condoms. Why? Well of course, back in the early days, people didn’t have the access to latex they do now. And well, if you’re having sex with an alien or a vampire, why should you need a condom. *laughs* For me, Michael, and Rawiya, we follow the “at our discretion” rule. In most of my m/m romances, the man’s wearing something. Why? My characters though snarky and snide wanted to wear the latex. Still, I won’t even flinch when I read one where the characters don’t. Does it take me out the story? No. It really is up to the author and how they want to write the characters. In fact, ML characters Bryant and Nathan don’t discard the latex until they become a committed couple. It’s the way they wanted it and if they desired it another way, I would’ve done that. Is there anything wrong with this? Not at all. Again, I’m the author, those are my characters, my decision.

So how am I as an author being a detriment to gay men? As Gavin stated in the article, porn directors do bareback all the time. My fave studio Corbin Fisher does most of their scenes that way. Is anyone ready to criticize him or Jake Cruise? Probably, but it won’t stop them from making the movies they want to make. The same applies here. Gavin writes homoerotic stories with protagonists who don’t wear condoms. If you don’t like that, don’t read his work. I think when seeing some of his covers from his other works and his blog which is very sexy btw, *grins*, you can tell what kind of fiction he writes. Every author can write things the way they want and in my opinion, shouldn’t be thrown under the bus because of it. 

So, how about you? Do you as the reader feel the author should make their characters wear latex? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

BLMorticia is currently a published writer with Naughty Nights Press and Rebel Ink Press. She entertains her readers with hot and smexy sex, humor, and lots of swear words. She attempts to incorporate metal music or the military in most of her works. Nothin’ sexier than metalheads or military servicemen and women! She also writes a biweekly column on Blak Rayne Books and blogs on the First Thursday of the month at NNP Blog. For more info, please visit, Erotica With Snark

Thanks for the awesome post, BL! Really enjoyed it. All the best. ~Blak Rayne