I’ve just discovered the magical world of erotica, as drawn by lady artists.
TMI? Maybe. Maybe not, considering I’m a female illustrator struggling to get NSFW illustrations published. Just last week I was told that my 32 page illustrated book about women in BDSM communities wouldn’t be printed by a popular online book publishing company. (There’s not even penetration! Just boobs and butts and maybe the occasional strap on!) So, yes, in fact — I have a personal interest in this fight.
Anyway, I thought I was alone in the struggle — but I recently stumbled upon the work of Megan Rose Gedris (known as Rasalrian online) an artist who specializes in erotic images and comics. Gedris’ work is published online. She makes regular non-sexy comics and art too, but she’s best known for paving the way for women publishing drawn pornography.
The 26 year old lives a double life as a writer and artist by day and a burlesque dancer by night. (Yeah, I know, I wish I lived this life too.) She’s been drawing comics since the age of 10 and putting her work on the web since she was 15 or 16. Made famous by her now finished webcomic Yu+Me Dream and her current ongoing series Meaty Yogurt, it’s likely you know who Gedris is if you’re familiar with internet comic culture. She’s also the mother of the brilliantly titled I Was Kidnapped By Lesbian Pirates From Outer Space!!! All these comics are safe for work btw, so if you want to check them out at your desk IMMEDIATELY AFTER YOU FINISH READING THIS, you can.
But Gedris works NSFW canon includes Darlin’ It’s Betta Down Where It’s Wetta (about a mermaid named Pearl and her quest for a vagina) and Eat Me (about a girl who visits a world where all the people are made of food.) Both of these comics are hosted by Filthy Figments, a website dedicated to erotic comics created by women.
Gedris says of the wide gamut her material spans:
“I never set out to cover gender and sexuality. To me, it was just like, ‘well, this is who I am and these are the people that I know, and so these are the stories that I am naturally drawn to writing,’”
Gedris is not alone in her quest to create smut — Filthy Figments is filled with sexy art for gay, straight, lesbian, transgender, genderqueer, and polyamorous viewers alike. Following this new trend, a bunch of well known comic artists got together to launch the Smut Peddler Kickstarter to fund their anthology of women-centric comic book smut. Launched by Iron Circus Comics and featuring some online favorites as Kate Leth, Jess Fink, and Niki Smith (to name a few…) the comic is a rare gem of sexy art. As of three days ago, the Kickstarter was successfully funded.
What does the success of these comic artists mean for the relationship between women and sexy stuff? It’s simple: Ladies, too, like making smutty things. Ladies like consuming erotic material. Yes, live action pornography has real life consequences for women that we might not feel comfortable supporting, but illustrated pornography created by and for women allows for a safer expression of sexuality. By funding work made for women specifically, we are feeding a very important and often neglected section of consumers: women looking for safe smut.
Images courtesy of Filthy Figments.
