Learning to Say "Yes" to Sex

I have a lot to be thankful for this month, including a recent visit to Beyond Romance, the blog of Lisabet Sarai, with my post "Discovering Sex and Self in a Foreign Land."  Lisabet's novel Raw Silk was one of the inspirations for my novel, Amorous Woman, so it's a special pleasure to be her guest. 

In this post, I discuss perhaps the master narrative of erotica:  an innocent woman's discovery of sexual pleasure.  Let's face it, even in our supposedly sex-saturated age, we are all bombarded with messages about the dangers of sexual desire, but women particularly still run the risk of being slut-shamed at any sign of erotic curiosity or pleasure.  The excerpt I posted at Lisabet's blog represents my protagonist's first moment of awakening--that saying "yes" does not mean the sky will fall on your head.  On the contrary, it can well be the first step on a wonderful journey.