anais

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Anais Nin

In at least one respect, Anais Nin is the 20^th century equivalent of a woman like Aphra Behn. Like Behn, Nin also was the subject of a fair amount of notoriety over her erotic writing. In Nin`s case, she was proclaimed by many individuals from different stripes, from book editors to reviewers to scholars, as the first woman to put an authentically female voice in the erotica genre. This belief can be expressed in very audacious ways, such as is said in the back cover to the Pocket Books edition of Delta of Venus, which claims that Nin "created the female language for sexuality." In any case, Anais Nin is famous among the public for this groundbreaking erotica, so-called for its unprecedented acceptance by the public at large. While Behn contended with the attitudes of a society which could barely accept a woman doing anything outside the home, much less write, and even less write about erotic themes, Nin`s erotica was published at a time -- the 1970's -- when the women`s movement and the sexual revolution were already in full swing.

In actuality, these stories were written in the 1940`s, for a client who was a connoisseur of pornography, and after the writing of these stories, Nin put them away for many decades, not wanting anything to do with them until close to her death, when they were finally published. The stories` long suppression may have worked in Nin`s favour, since they were released during a time when both sexuality and feminism were much more widely accepted. The notion of a declared feminist writing in a genre which had been traditionally restricted to men no doubt intrigued many people, and the result was that in the space of about two years, Delta of Venus sold nearly a million paperback copies (Gray 101). Her erotic texts were also reviewed in mainstream magazines and newspapers, and while not all of the reviews necessarily glowed with praise, the overall opinion was that Nin`s erotica was remarkably different, and refreshing, from how men

wrote on similar themes. For example, a Time review on Little Birds said that while "traditional pornography gets to the point quickly.... Nin... lingers over the calligraphy: she works as hard keeping her partners apart as she does to bring them together." (Gray 103) In other words, these stories allegedly contain more complex plots and a level of conflict unheard of in a genre where sexual encounters are the only true convention. Other reviews, like that of the New York Times, notice the language used in the text; the situations which are described are not explicit enough to be judged obscene (Drexler 28). The text itself is freed from the usual "dirty" language of previous male excursions (Zinnes 11). Another reviewer states that the erotica would most certainly be protected by the law, even as many contradictory decisions were made in the courts of the time, as "it would be difficult to imagine a community whose standards would be offended by Nin`s tales (Gray 104)."

Anais Nin herself publically projected the unique femininity and sensitivity of her erotica; her recognition of this coming after having re-read her writing many years later. Originally, she had believed that " my style was derived from a reading of men`s works", (preface xvi) and was so uninterested in her text that when she gave her erotica to her editor, she said "Do anything you want with it" (Ferrone 35). But, at least publically, her preface stated that she came around by deciding that "rereading it these many years later, I see that my own voice was not completely suppressed". (preface xvi) She says that erotica written by a woman would be different from that of a man (Hinz 203), which can range from general depictions of sex to the depictions of the characters themselves. But the fact she once believed that her own writing was merely imitative of previous texts suggests that the content of the erotica is not far removed from the writings of the past. As was said in the introduction, the most common event in the Victorian genre is the

humiliation of women, which is achieved through numerous acts of sexual violence, including depictions of the rapes of young virgins or of flagellation (Webb 94). Surrounding the violence is a general amorality and heartlessness toward those actions. It must also be noted that rapes and flagellation are only particular forms of violence; essentially humiliation covers anything which degrades and abuses the woman. A writer who claims to be different from this sort of sexual writing would have to get rid of the violence and objectification of women. So the question which must be answered is whether Nin`s female characters are, in fact, depicted differently from other works of sexual literature during and surrounding her time.

It must be noted that this paper will focus only on the depiction of women in her stories. It will not discuss another implication of Nin`s comments in the previous paragraph, which involves female and male voices. As a fascinating area of discussion, this topic would be worthy of mention since it brings up notions of whether men and women really are different in terms of literary style, or feelings about sex. Nin certainly attempts to convince us that because she is a woman, her erotica would be quite different, but such an idea will not be discussed here.

The first thing to notice is that most of the female characters, if they have any sort of occupation, have professions which are easily sexualized. There are numerous stories involving either prostitutes or models, both of which involve (often) women who use their bodies, and appearance. Sexuality is a frequent component in these lines of work. Such stories as "A Model", "The Basque and Bijou" and others show women who work in such jobs, yet this alone does not necessarily entail that the stories will subject women to abuse, or sexual degradation. If the woman is a complex character, and does not get herself involved in eroticised violence, yet has sex with a particular individual(s), it is still sexual writing, but not necessarily traditional

writing. So the actual existence of such people as prostitutes and models themselves is not the evidence which needs to be analysed, but, rather, the portrayal of those women. Are they still subject to abuse, lack of autonomy, or heartless actions, or do they display independence and respect?

A female character`s relationship with men, and even with other women, will certainly reveal to the reader the status of those women. The story "Hilda And Rango" gives us a woman who has a very particular expectation of the dynamic between the sexes. The character of Hilda originally has a relationship with an author, whose "work was so violent and sensual that it attracted women to him immediately." ("Hilda" 113), yet in private, with Hilda, he turns out to be the passive subject in the bedroom. Hilda has to be the aggressor in the bedroom, and this, she feels, is a distortion of femininity: "She felt that woman was meant to respond to man`s desire. She had always dreamed of having a man who would force his will, rule her sexually, lead ("Hilda" 114)." While Aphra Behn merely gave us a description of a situation which depicted the man leading, and the woman submitting ("On a Juniper Tree"), Nin gives us actual thoughts from a heroine, who believes very strongly that this dynamic is the proper one. She does not want to be the one who initiates the sexual encounters, yet she is forced to, as there is no aggression on part of the male.

Male action is something which Nin frequently depicts as needed in order for the sexual bond to be most fulfilling. Hilda`s belief seems to be the philosophy which all other sexual responses are compared to, because there are situations in which women who do not find themselves with such aggressive men find themselves unfulfilled, even if those women made the choice to enter unconventional relationships. In my view, the most extreme of these examples

involves depictions of lesbians. Without the sort of aggression Hilda wishes for, all lesbians lack completion in their sexuality. For example, the title character`s response, in "Elena", to her gay male friend`s dissatisfaction in his relationship is that "It is like the love between women, then." " There is no fulfilment, no real possession." ("Elena" 118) Same-sex bonding lacks the necessary dynamic between the aggressive man and the passive woman, because of an inferior attempt by two people of the same sex to play the roles of man and woman. "Mandra" contains a sex scene which subtly infers this. "(Mary) likes to be touched at the mouth of her sex, below the clitoris. She touches the place with me. It is there I would like to push a penis and move until I make her scream with pleasure." ("Mandra" 143) While the sex scene is certainly portrayed as erotic, the language emphasizes the lack of equipment, almost revelling in the fact that this is a perversion of what is natural. Nin presents another example of unfulfilled lesbian sexuality. In "The Basque and Bijou," there is a description of a public performance at a brothel involving two women, one pretending to be a man through the use of a rubber penis strapped to her. "Crouching, Bijou was sliding this fake virility not inside but between Viviane`s legs, as if she were churning milk, and Viviane was contracting her legs as if she were being tantalized by a real man." ("Bijou" 189) The problem is that this situation is not authentic, and is merely a compromise for the spectators: "The foreigners must have asked to see a man and woman together ("Bijou" 189)." This means that the situation is phony, as no pleasure can be have if there is not a male organ involved. No matter what the two women try to do, their coupling pales in comparison to a man, playing the role of aggressor, with a woman, as passive subject. The Basque is able to correct the absence of male power, when he becomes excited by the two women, and enters into the prostitute`s room. Vivienne "looked at him gratefully..... Two virilities would satisfy her more than that teasing,

elusive one ("Bijou" 190)."

These situations represent an attitude that only a man who overpowers a woman can create fulfilment. Only virile men with brute sexuality can make women happy. Hilda cannot be happy with a writer who is gentle to her, because she is not swept away by any brute power. The lesbians are depicted as incomplete because they are both women, who don`t have the proper equipment or attitude to fulfill the binary dynamic. There is no other way to reach the heights of sexual passion, except an actual, strong-willed man, against a passive women. Even the lesbians attempt to imitate sex between the aggressor and the passive. Since the women are not meant to take the lead, only to follow, the men can conceivably do anything they want to possess the woman, and the stories sometimes depict the most extreme versions of this aggression. In "Mallacora," the main female character of Maria is attacked while swimming near the rocks on the ocean`s edge. She is lured by another swimmer who she can hardly see in the dark; an individual whom, ridiculously, Maria mistakes for a young woman, because of a supposed stereotype of American women as having "voices like boys," and "not (having) breasts." ("Mallacora" 36) Of course, the two start caressing each other in the dark, and eventually, Maria finds out to her horror that this is really a man, but it is too late. Her screams are not heard, and besides "her scream was only something she had been trained to expect of herself." ("Mallacora" 36) She tries a few times to escape, but is always overtaken by the force of the man. The result becomes passionate: "In the water they wrestled, but each movement affected her only more physically, made her more aware of his body against hers, of his hands upon her." ("Mallacora" 37) If this were any other story, the depiction would be seen as rape of the worst sort, because the woman has nowhere to turn, and cannot escape. But Nin treats this like a wild, forbidden, yet romantic

adventure -- "From that night they met only at this hour. He took her there in the water, swaying, floating. The wavelike movements of their bodies as they enjoyed each other seemed part of the sea." ("Mallacora" 37) --, because Maria has finally been saved from the damnation of chastity. This is Behn`s "The Golden Age" for the kinky set, because the accent is on the fact that Maria, a chaste woman, soon lets the man have his way with her, not on the fact that she screamed for help. The reference to her trained reaction is reminiscent of Behn`s belief that honour and shame is something imposed upon women in order to control their sexual activity. A woman`s screams cannot be taken seriously, because it is really a result of society telling women to feel guilty for the sex, when they should actually invite such tremendous attention from such a willing man. Such attitudes in fact create an opposing, yet equally demeaning generalization. In a world where honour and chastity are tied to women`s sexuality, some people believe that good women do not really want sex, no matter what the women say. But in a world where such protection of that chastity is seen as a mental block, or a poor excuse, people will believe that women never truly object to sex, no matter, again, what the women say. The situation in "Mallacora" is similar to Webb`s description of the Victorian pornographic novel Raped on The Railway, when he says about a particular rape "After he has completed the rape, Brandon proceeds to apologize, blaming his behaviour on her extraordinary beauty. The lady is flattered and forgives him, realizing that she has quite enjoyed the experience (Webb 94)." The depiction of this female in both Raped and in Nin`s story is that of one who enjoys violence: who doesn`t truly object to rape.

Nin`s depiction of women is not confined to adult women, which leads us to Nin`s most controversial images, that of sexuality with minors. With these stories, men yet again press their will upon helpless females, only now it is the most helpless of society. The most provocative

demonstration of this kind of violence is in the first story of Delta Of Venus, "The Hungarian Adventurer," in which the main character of the Baron becomes the older playmate of the daughters of a Spanish ambassador and his wife, and as a result, he becomes very close to those daughters. It would seem like merely a hopeless cliché if the Baron`s object of desire was a nubile nineteen-year old, and if the plot were the standard older man/younger women erotic situation. But this story is not so fluffy and harmless, as "one little girl was about ten, the other twelve." ("Adventurer" 4) "Shrieking, the two little girls would run into the Baron's room and playfully throw themselves over his big bed. He would tease them, fondle them." ("Adventurer" 5) And the "games" which are being played are also subtle forms of assault. One particularly explicit situation is when "he raised the quilt with his forefinger and dared them to catch it." ("Adventurer" 6) The children, of course, chase the finger, but "(a)fter a moment it was not the finger but the penis they caught over and over again, and seeking to extricate it, he made them grasp it more strongly than ever." ("Adventurer" 6) The Baron is able to take advantage and exploit these kids' desire to have an older playmate, and to act freely and childishly "which they were not permitted to lavish upon their more solemn father and mother." ("Adventurer" 4)

All these women, young and old, are exploited. Their autonomy is removed from them, and with that, their dignity. The men in these stories commit many acts in this way, but it becomes even more extreme in the story "Pierre," where the main character actually has sex with a dead woman found on the shore. He sees this corpse as an object of immense beauty: "Her long hair clung to her shoulders and full, round, breasts. Her smooth golden skin glistened. He had never seen a more beautiful body, washed clear by the water, with lovely soft contours exposed." ("Pierre" 227) Alongside her unique beauty, is a natural obedience: "He loved her passivity and

silence" "... her body merely moved in rhythm with his." ("Pierre" 228) He is most aroused by this woman, and is frustrated that he cannot satisfy himself with effortless ease. "He moved desperately, to rid himself of this torment, to inject his warm liquid into her cold body." ("Pierre" 229) This event is even more about portraying women as sexual objects, not beings, because the woman is dead, cannot respond, and does not give or receive pleasure. She is fully inert. The other stories at least had living beings, but "Pierre" removes even that little bit of character, in order to give us a scene of total sex and no personality. The dead woman, as well, is found naked in a harbour. What should that tell us about her demise? The irony of this moment is that the man is treating the woman just like those who probably raped and drowned her: without respect. The depiction of women in all of these stories is negative; they exist only to be used by men. In "Mallacora," the woman is raped in a place where she cannot escape, in "The Hungarian Adventurer," the young girls are too young to fully comprehend the actions of the man, and in "Pierre" the woman is totally inert, unable to fight back against the man who uses her dead body for his own pleasure.

We will now see that, besides the actual act of degrading, this literature, like the Victorian texts, portray women who, after attack, discover that they actually enjoyed it. I have just referred to the situation in Victorian pornographic novel in which the woman forgave the man`s attack, because she realized that she liked it. In "Hilda and Rango," Hilda meets a man who demands submission to his own power. She meets Rango at a party, and is struck at his demeanour, quite unlike that of the writer: "He pulled himself up from his faltering, tottering posture and faced her as if he were a big lion facing a tamer." ("Rango" 114) His aggression attracts her, and eventually a number of encounters occur. The very end of this story depicts her

eventual submission sexually, to the aggressive author of the encounter: "He was like a demon crouching over her, his hair wild, his charcoal-black eyes burning into hers, his strong penis pounding into her, into the woman whose submission he first demanded, submission to his desire, his hour." ("Rango" 120) Hilda finally submits to his strength, his hour; the implication of this is that she should not be passionate, she should experience passion from another person. To submit to someone in this way is like a very brutal rape, where the woman has no choice but to submit. Hilda`s reaction, however, is that this sort of sexual conflict is better than the tender relationship of before.

Nin`s women find out that they enjoy more than just rough sex. In "Mathilde," the woman experiences what ought to be considered actual torture. During a scene of group sex, while her and a few men are high on opium, one by the name of Martinez has a vision of a woman whose flesh is "elastic". "The legs would part in an inhuman impossible way, as if they were severed from the woman... as if one had taken a tulip in the hand and opened it completely by force," (Nin 15) "Every movement tended to open the body completely until it would tear." (Nin 15) His friend later attempts to act this out toward Mathilde at the end of the story when he, also in a drugged state, "held the penknife open and he bent over her parted legs, and he touched her with the tip of it, pushed it slightly in." Mathilde, also on drugs, at first thinks it is a dream, and she "felt no pain, no energy to move, she was hypnotized by this open knife. Then she became wildly conscious of what was happening - that it was not a nightmare. Antonio was watching the penknife tip touching the entrance of her sex." ("Mathilde" 24) Mathilde is essentially swooning over the pen-knife, like a masochist. We do not read of Mathilde`s actual fear, if there is any.

The woman known as Bijou, in "The Basque and Bijou," experiences something similar,

except there is also the added torture of being prodded and poked in public. The Basque`s (male) friends visit his house every weekend, and the Bijou is treated in front of all these people as if she is some exotic, strange object the owner bought while on vacation. The Basque would fondle her in front of everyone, and, for example, "would open her dress, take out one breast and say to his friends, "Did you ever see such a breast? Look!" "The Basque pinched the nipples, which reddened." ("Basque" 193) He also manages to put a man`s warm pipe against her sex, and also shaves off her pubic hair so her genitals will look just like that of a painting the men were discussing. What is absolutely amazing is that Bijou does not put up much of a fight. She screams at him to stop poking at her, not because she is hurt, but because she is becoming orgasmic. Earlier, we are told that "Bijou moved away from the pipe because she did not want them to know that all the Basque`s fondlings had wetted her." ("Basque" 194) This utter cruelty turns Bijou on. In fact, virtually all of the most passionate experiences for the women characters are of this nature. They usually don`t seek out these things; those things just happen to them, yet the women end up enjoying the tortures that the men inflict upon them. This is necessary in order for the sex to occur, because a reader of porn will not be satisfied if every chance at a sex scene is halted because of morals, and rejection. So the women must be depicted as passive, and masochistic. They are not portrayed as aggressive. The story of Hilda`s sexual adventure ends with its moral of the proper sexual dynamic, but it also includes the real nature of an aggressive woman. When the two find themselves in Rango`s bed, Hilda "fumbled for his belt with the cold silver buckle, felt below the belt at the buttons of his pants, felt his desire." ("Rango" 116) Rango becomes angered at this act, calling Hilda a whore, because she did the first sexual move. Hilda`s reaction to his anger is not defiance, but a tearful admission that her nature has been perverted

enough for her to be capable of such an apparently heinous act. "I was taught by someone... someone I have lived with for a number of years and who forced me...forced me to act...... She dropped, exhausted, on her bed and fell asleep weeping not only for the loss of Rango but for the loss of that part of herself she had deformed, changed for love of a man." ("Hilda" 117) Her sorrow expresses to the reader that women are not merely denied aggressive behaviour, but that women cannot truly be aggressive, because this assertiveness is really a subtle form of aggression on the part of a lazy man who does not want to behave like a man should. What makes Hilda and Rango different is that the woman knows what to do, and the man does as well. When Hilda was with the writer, she was confused, because the natural order was altered, and her role was different. With Rango, she still plays a role, and she is still controlled, but it is a control which she accepts. Also, by saying her assertiveness is really a control, the text can remain conservative, and depict women as people who only accept sex if it is violent and coercive.

Nin`s point of view is actually well connected to her erotic writing, as she does feel that women are of a particular nature. In response to a statement she made in her Diary saying that "to be violated is perhaps a need in woman, a secret erotic need," she said in an interview that such an event like rape is a test of a man`s strength, as well as a way for a woman to be relieved of sexual guilt (Hinz 61). If women released their sexual guilt, then rape would not be possible. Nin makes rape sound like a rather silly thing, by suggesting that a man is supposed to take a woman through the most harsh force, while at the same time, the rape victim is not really a victim at all, but someone who can't be honest with herself about how passionate this adventure really is. She can`t admit that some women really are raped. We are reading Behn`s argument against Honour and chastity all over again, and is also another version of the Victorian pornographers'

depiction of women as enjoying the aftermath of a rape.

Nin`s own life outside of her work is equally disturbing. As a child, she suffered abuse at the hands of her father. Often, she was beaten, and embarrassed by him, including an incident when, as she and her siblings took baths, the father barged into the bathroom with his camera (Bair 18). The most bizarre, and distressing, part of this story is that, when she grew up, she didn`t attempt to understand her abuse in a way which most of us would expect, but actually wallowed in this sickness caused by abuse. The high point of these emotions came many years later, as the father and daughter reunited. Their conversations soon revolved around each other`s sexual adventures. Later, they felt that they had gotten along with each other so well that they believed the other person was the most suitable for them. The unfortunate part was that they were father and daughter (Bair 171). Yet despite their blood relationship, what eventually occurred was a two-week, intensely sexual, affair. Her willingness to get herself involved in a sexual relationship with her own father is an extension of what she felt as a child. As with many other children who`ve been constantly abused, Nin saw such abuse as normal, since it always happened at the hands of a parent, who ideally does the best for the children. Nin herself had a feeling that this behaviour might be wrong, but the attention she received made her feel good. And there was no one in the house who tried to stop it, so it must have been right (Bair 21). Nin has clearly had a personal experience of the sexualizing of humiliation. She was abused, and after the abuse, she came back to her father, not to ask how he could do such a thing to her, but to reciprocate sexual feelings. Her experience with her father is a real-life example of the depictions in her work. Her female characters suffer abuse, abuse which at the start hurts and humiliates, yet later, sometimes during, or after the abuse, the women run back for more, because they

discovered that violence felt so good. So they get abused and humiliated some more, by those very same people.

Even without the facts of Nin`s life, her work is still harsh toward women and their bodies. This harshness is part of the overall drive of sexual literature to break taboos, and fill the text with as much sexual encounters as possible. Of note is Nin`s relationship with another writer who made his name with a novel that pushed the boundaries of acceptable expression: Henry Miller. Nin`s preface to Tropic of Cancer heaps great praise for his "savage lyricism," (Preface xxxii) and its potential to " restore our appetite for the fundamental realities." (preface xxxi) She also believes that Miller`s "gross caricatures are perhaps more vital, 'more true to life', than the full portraits of the conventional novel...." (preface xxxii) In other words, Nin infers that Cancer is a book which details the real world, and what people are really like, and, at the same time, glorifies such content as being necessary, insightful. The incredible insight contained within Miller, apparently, is that people should only speak in painfully pretentious and profane language, that it is noble to be poor and a freeloader, that women are there only to be sexual objects, and that those women, as people, are nothing but pieces of meat. Miller`s narrator and characters actually use even more hurtful language; women are not even depicted as women but as "cunts". It isn`t just their genitalia but also their entire being that is denoted by this term. Miller`s narrator uses such terms to describe his longing for a particular woman: "O Tania, where now is that warm cunt of yours.. ."(Miller 5) Speakers such as Miller`s narrator do not talk about women as people, but as sexual objects, so everything about women is seen in terms of their genitals. This approach allows for the most dehumanizing moment in the novel, as another character by the name of Joe describes that part of the body in terms of his dismissal of the gender. This occurs

after an peculiar evening with a woman, whom he refers to only as his "Georgia cunt," which includes a moment where she shaves her pubic area. After this, he has a sudden realization about the nature of women. "I never in my life looked at a cunt so seriously.... it only goes to show you there`s nothing to it after all." (Miller 139-140) "When you look at them with their clothes on you imagine all sorts of things; you give them an individuality like, which they haven`t got, of course. There`s just a crack there between the legs..." (Miller 140) Joe states that after sex, he just ignores her and reads a book. "You can get something out of a book, even a bad book... but a cunt, it`s just sheer loss of time..." (Miller 140) Joe, and the other male characters, can only see women in terms of their sexuality, their bodies, so it only stands to reason that he would think all women are the same, because all people of every gender are the same. We all have noses, and eyes, and mouths, as well as sexual organs. Yet Joe does not distinguish the body and the soul of the woman. He does not care about the woman, only her body, so is disappointed because there is no uniqueness in that body.

Word choices obviously fuel reactions to a piece of writing. Miller`s words are different from Nin`s, which would explain why Miller appears more insulting and crude than Nin. Yet both of them treat sexuality in the same fashion. Miller`s characters treat women like meat, like objects which can be poked and prodded at. Nin`s women are also poked and prodded at, and their bodies, especially their sexual organs, are degraded for the entertainment of the other characters, and the readers. Actions such as this are shocking, regardless of what one feels about them afterward, and Nin thinks this is a good thing. "(L)et us congratulate ourselves"... "to startle the lifeless ones from their profound slumber." (preface xxxiii) Nin does this as well, because we see many shocking things in her work. As well, the women in all of these stories are depicted as not

being complete, unless a man fills them, literally and figuratively. Just as Miller`s vision of women is of "cunts" for penises to fill, Nin`s vision is of women who have not found the right experience until a man arrives and makes them feel pain. By feeling pain during sex, those women, as a disadvantaged and, to these writers, inferior sex, experience life, in precisely the way these writers depict that it should be. All the depictions of women in Nin`s writing suggest that women and men have not yet discovered what real sex and relationships ought to be: sadomasochistic. The man is the sadist, the woman is the masochist. The women must enjoy, or at least tolerate, the actions, or else the erotic effect will not work. As far as Nin is concerned, this is what sex is, so if the woman were to fight back, or to do things differently, then that would be anti-sex. It would not be erotic.

Anais Nin`s depiction of women contains little difference from that of her male counterparts, in her time as well as before. Anais Nin does not confront the fundamental essence of traditional pornography, from her time, back to the Victorian era, and that of the Restoration, which is that women are treated as sexual objects, without real voices, who are merely extensions of the men, and who are displayed only for male pleasure. Nin does certainly present female characters in a somewhat more detailed fashion. These women are often the protagonists, and the descriptions can occasionally bring about content much more detailed than anything in Miller, or other porn novels. The situations which the women are involved in, however, are little changed from what was presented before. The women merely confirm what Miller`s characters believe; that women actually enjoy the sorts of activities men force them to do (Miller 175). No shred of insight is truly provided as to why women are aroused in general (Miller 175), since the stories only give us what we come to expect from this material. A more fascinating text would certainly

be a psychological portrait of the women. Why would a woman be foolish enough to enjoy being poked and prodded for public display, as Bijou does? How does a woman, such as Maria in "Mallacora," attempt to enjoy being attacked on the beach, even as she initially screams for help? The problem with these possibilities is that such depth would kill the erotic mood such writers were so desperate to create. It would no longer be erotica, it would be literature. Texts which would create a different depiction of women would be those which present women as sexual beings, who do not see sex as violent. Passionate encounters, and romance could exist even in depictions of graphic sex. Women would not be forced into sex; but would enjoy it, and would not be presented as masochistic. The romance novels of today would certainly fit this bill, as some of these texts are, in fact, pretty close to soft-core pornography in terms of generic sexual detail, yet the presentation of women in a sexual situation is far less controversial.

This paper attempts to show that Nin`s original misgivings about her work may have been appropriate. Her female characters are certainly more like characters than the cyphers which wander into Miller`s text, and Nin herself criticized Miller for "de-poetizing" women (Fitch 198), and reducing them to a biological sameness (Fitch 201). Nin, however, did not want to believe that she was doing the same thing, even though her striving for unusual content reveals that there are actually no healthy relationship anywhere in the erotic texts (Miller 171). The women are also portrayed in a disturbing way, mainly through women who learn to enjoy sex only after they are taken by violence (Miller 176). Such depictions exist throughout Victorian porn, which critics properly denounce as violent and demeaning to women and sex. And to see that sort of idea, with equal detachment, in a writer such as Nin ought to give one pause before proclaiming her a champion of a new kind of sexuality.

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