Writer’s Digest Guest Article on #SaferSexInFiction
My #SaferSexInFiction guest article appeared on June 15, 2018, on the Writer’s Digest site with the headline “Why Writers Should Consider Including Safer Sex in Fiction.”
The guest article begins:
The May 7, 2018, Los Angeles Times article by Soumya Karlamangla entitled “STDs in L.A. County are skyrocketing” caused me to see red. It had been 25 years since I had tried—unsuccessfully—to get the entertainment industry to commit to portraying safer sex in films and TV shows. And now STDs are on the rise.
Before I continue, let’s establish a few ground rules:
First, I use “safer sex” rather than “safe sex” because, as health experts explained to me years ago, no sex is absolutely safe.
Second, I have never advocated portraying explicit visual scenes of condoms being pulled on. What I have been advocating for years is the creative inclusion of a reminder in a sex scene about “protection” (by which I mean a condom).
Third, why is this inclusion of safer sex in fiction so important? We’re talking about fiction, aren’t we?
As I explain in the Writer’s Digest guest article, fictional characters have a powerful influence in our 24/7 media world. What these fictional characters do can dramatically impact what people do in real life.
Given the skyrocketing of STDs, we fiction writers and screenwriters (film and TV) can help combat this STD rise by using our fictional characters to model healthy sex practices.
Wondering how writers can portray safer sex? Here are two examples of #SaferSexInFiction portrayals — one in a novel and one in a TV series:
In Mercedes Lackey’s novel SACRED GROUND (first published in 1994), this is a scene between protagonist Jennifer Talldeer and David Spotted Horse:
… Her skin tingled at the touch of his tongue; his technique had definitely improved. He pulled away just long enough to ask, “Your safe-sex, or mine?”
“Mine,” she replied, rattling the little plastic packet she pulled out of the pocket of her jeans.
In Episode 4 of Season 2 of Netflix’s DEAR WHITE PEOPLE, Coco (Antoinette Robertson) has a conversation with her roommate. Coco admits she’s pregnant and explains why she hadn’t used a condom: “I got caught up.” She later tells her roommate, “You really should use condoms.”
Join me in encouraging #SaferSexInFiction. Use hashtag #SaferSexInFiction to share examples on social media.
Click here to read my entire Writer’s Digest guest article.
© 2018 Miller Mosaic LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks. Phyllis is available by skype for book group discussions and may be reached at pzmiller@gmail.com
Her Kindle fiction ebooks may be read for free with a Kindle Unlimited monthly subscription — see www.amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller — and her Kindle nonfiction ebooks may also be read for free with a Kindle Unlimited monthly subscription — see www.amazon.com/author/phylliszmiller