It's funny how I've been in fandom 11 years, and I can remember this conversation being had 11 years ago. Sometimes I think we just worry too much! It's intimidating how someone always hates this word or that word. I've decided to just play nice with whatever words the author likes using. Any word is going to look weird if you squint at it enough. Maybe readers need to do less squinting?
I'm fine with all of these, and I'm gonna defend both moist and slit. Slit is a perfectly good word that describes the general shape of some women's anatomy. Along that vein, I also like cleft! It has a more naturalistic feel to it I think. Furrow is similar. In published erotica, I see "sex" a lot, as in, "She could clearly see the soft curves of Ann's shaved sex." Of course there's going to be someone out there who's like, "If you call it a furrow I'm backbuttoning." But maybe that person is just not as invested in sexytiems with ladies as I am. Maybe that person isn't ready for my fic. Feeling like picking the wrong word can drain all the sexy out of a scene you've carefully built up with steamy tension and sizzling chemistry between your characters is way too much pressure. As long as people know the general thing you are describing with your words, I think it's all right. Objections to a good-faith word choice usually seem to me like the person just wanted an excuse to dislike the content.
Re: Word Choices in Smut
I'm fine with all of these, and I'm gonna defend both moist and slit. Slit is a perfectly good word that describes the general shape of some women's anatomy. Along that vein, I also like cleft! It has a more naturalistic feel to it I think. Furrow is similar. In published erotica, I see "sex" a lot, as in, "She could clearly see the soft curves of Ann's shaved sex." Of course there's going to be someone out there who's like, "If you call it a furrow I'm backbuttoning." But maybe that person is just not as invested in sexytiems with ladies as I am. Maybe that person isn't ready for my fic. Feeling like picking the wrong word can drain all the sexy out of a scene you've carefully built up with steamy tension and sizzling chemistry between your characters is way too much pressure. As long as people know the general thing you are describing with your words, I think it's all right. Objections to a good-faith word choice usually seem to me like the person just wanted an excuse to dislike the content.