In The Midst Of A Sex Recession, Is It Any Wonder We're Obsessed With 'Faerie Smut'?
People on TikTok are horny. You would be forgiven for assuming that the focus of their lust might be overly zealous sex workers sharing their four-figure conquests, or scantily-clad reality TV stars on the video-sharing app. You would, however, be sorely mistaken, for TikTokers the world over have, in fact, become weak at the knees for a genre of books that dedicated fans have christened 'faerie smut'. Confused? Stay with me — a stable of steamy authors whose work has garnered cult followings likened to those who fawned for Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, have written books (and created worlds) under a subgenre that combines fantasy with sexualised content. Whether it's Rebecca Yarros' Empyrean romantasy series, which has enchanted readers with its dragon riders and steamy sex scenes since its first entry Fourth Wing was published in 2023, or Sarah J. Maas' A Court Of Rose And Thorns collection, in all of its fairy and fae-filled glory, the world is in the throes of a romantasy revolution.
Has the world lost its mind? Potentially, but in the midst of a sex recession, is there any great surprise that these steam-inducing, heart-wrenching stories have taken off? Figures have shown that we're having less sex than ever before. In 2020, studies suggested that nearly a third of men and women in the UK were sexually inactive, while a similar figure are having sex, but say it’s been more than a week. That's to say nothing of the 'boysober' movement that drew inspiration from Korea’s rapidly spreading 4B movement or the fact that recent data has found that young women — who comprise the majority of romantasy books' audiences — are happier than ever, and miss a romantic partner less than men do. Our increasingly virtual world has meant that physical romantic opportunities have dwindled as the pool of potential partners has emptied out, splintering onto a mass of different dating apps or social media platforms. In their place, readers have found fictional companions in Yarros' and Maas' characters.
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TikToks using the hashtag #acotar — an acronym for A Court Of Rose And Thorns — have skyrocketed to over a million posts and close to 9 billion views, which doesn’t even come close to the thousands of content series that have spawned from the book’s popularity. The publishing houses responsible for both author's works have recommended that the books are suitable for those 16 and over, yet their reach has unfurled far beyond that.
It makes a sad kind of sense that eventually we'd stop looking for physical and start looking for imaginative intimacy. Fictional fairies can't ghost you! Or break your heart! Or roll back your reproductive rights! This week, when Yarros' latest novel, Onyx Storm, was published, almost 60 branches of Waterstones across the UK opened as fans queued for the title. The book's publisher Little, Brown said it was the company's biggest pre-ordered title since it released the Harry Potter play script in 2016. It is fitting that on January 20, President Trump was inaugurated for the second time, signing two executive orders revoking a Biden directive aimed at preventing discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation within hours of being sworn in. The next day, Onyx Storm, was released and women flocked to get their hands on a copy. Make no mistake: the popularity of Yarros, Maas and their contemporaries is a response to the world they're living in. Women want — nay, need — an escape from reality, if only for just a few pages.
Sarah Rogers*, 30, started reading Yarros' books after learning of them through Sophia Tuxford of The Girls Bathroom podcast. 'I always saw the books and thought I wouldn’t get into them and then in July, I was waiting at London Bridge station one day on the commute home and popped in to WH Smith, saw A Court Of Rose And Thorns, picked it up and I've never looked back,' Rogers tells ELLE UK.
Asked to explain the appeal of the genre, Rogers explains, 'These books have strong female leads that don’t paint women in a weak light of always needing a man. The women often face a bit of push back from a man in their life who tries to “protect them” and they end up finding their own voice to advocate for themselves.'
Contrary to what people may have been lead to believe about the steaminess of the books, the world has become an increasingly hostile place for women, and it's the feeling of escaping into a story that transports you away from the drudgery of everyday existences that upstages the sexual shenanigans of the story's protagonists. 'I think women, especially of our generation, are so used to reading stories where men save the day or make women "realise" their potential that it's actually just nice to read about female characters who already know their worth and what they're capable of.'
Whether they're 'boysober', sexually inactive or just not as interested in physical intimacy as they are in fictional frolicking with fairies and faes, there's something to be said for women getting their kicks from 500-page thick tomes filled with steamy, saucy scenes occurring in a world far away from here. Is this the future? Who knows. But is this the present that women need, crave and desire? Clearly. Rogers is now part of a book club, which has 13,000 members. Their current read? Onyx Storm, of course.
*name has been changed
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