#don’t get me wrong tho these are also both ridic hot lol

[mermaidsirennikita]

When I think about maybe the reactions to two of the like….. unsafe I guess? (Which, debatable, but whatever.) Sex scenes in Sierra Simone’s New Camelot series (both of which are in American Prince because Embry is a FREAK) I think there’s a real display of how some romance readers view m/m sex scenes (as erotic scenes wherein arousal is more important than romance and feeling) and m/f sex scenes (as scenes where, if there is any degree of ambiguity, we must condemn it as abuse).

Ash and Embry’s first time, told via flashback from Embry’s POV only, is in a literal war zone. Ash outranks him. Embry was SHOT lol. Ash is very angry with him for being shot because feelings. Embry has just been pumped up with morphine and rather loopily is like “you should fuck me because I’m grateful that you saved my life and you need to relax and we have Vaseline in the first aid kit so LETS GOOOOOOOO”. And Ash is initially like “you are crazy”. But he does give in fairly quickly, and they have several rounds of very intense, rough sex in which Embry is again bleeding from at least one bullet hole the whole time, Ash is into that, he’s into the pain, and yes it’s consensual but the morphine does technically slide it into dubcon for me. Yes, there are soft moments—the love is very clear; Ash at one point tells Embry “you look beautiful in the moonlight” and I highlighted it on Kindle lmao—but it is a pretty wild first time. I rarely see this scene discussed as morally dubious, possibly dubcon. I don’t see the general safety issues discussed. (Embry Moore would rather bleed out than miss a chance to get railed, absolute legend, nothing but respect for my president.) People don’t give disclaimers when they talk about this scene and how hot it is.

In contrast, there is also a scene in the book when Embry saves Greer after she’s kidnapped by the villain. She’s bound, it’s very clear that while it didn’t happen, a rape was planned and imminent. They are both a MESS. She asks him to basically…. Rape her. But in a way she fully consents to (CNC, rape play, whatever you wanna call it). He resists, she persuades him because she wants to remake this moment into something pleasurable in her mind to cope (which is a real phenomenon) he acquiesces, and they even agree to a way for her to safe out WHILE being bound again.

Like, it is a very rough sex scene and I don’t expect everyone to like it (it’s one of my favorites in the series but oops). They’re both venting a lot of emotion—and like, the series does make it clear that Embry has a lot of kinks that lean towards CNC, but GREER DOES TOO. And I think that honestly is, illustrated in the scene, something they are able to find more with each other than with Ash, because consent is so key in his games.

We see it from both of their POVs (his self-loathing because he loves it and thinks it’s wrong, hers emotional but also sooooo into it). They actually break character at least once lol. And yeah, there is a moment after that I love where she gets out of bed and realizes he’s looking at her completely bloodless because she’s basically covered in bite marks and bruises. I won’t say it isn’t rough—but there is full consent, full ability to stop it with safe outs discussed, and Greer even reiterates her consent and enjoyment after when he is (consistently for his character) beating himself up about it hardcore.

But I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen this scene discussed as “basically rape”, assault, the one time this series went too far.

Yes, you could argue that Greer’s (and Embry’s tbh) emotional state clouded the consent. But I would argue…. Less than the morphine lmao. It is a dark scene, and they are both getting off on it being an imagined assault. But it is very much NOT ONE, and at some point the illusions of it being one kind of drop away and they’re both just having super rough, angsty sex.

And I just have to think that it’s because there’s this expectation that heroines must always be treated with tenderness even when they don’t want to be…. Whereas m/m heroes can be treated very roughly and it’s fine because you’re not seeking romance, you just want to get off. It’s experience via projection versus fetishization. The heroine is more real in this m/f scene and has real value as opposed to the hero in the m/m scene, who is basically a cardboard fuck object.

(Which I find particularly annoying with Embry because he’s a top 5 romance character to me, and I think the way he is believably both of the people he is in these scenes is so well done by Sierra.)

I also think of course that there’s a lot of kink shaming surrounding CNC, and even though Ash gets off on Embry’s pain in their scene, the word “rape” isn’t used and Embry is a man and should be to take the pain. So it’s not as bad, apparently.

Anyway… I love both scenes, the reader reaction contrast to them just irks me.

#romance novel blogging #anyway sex scenes can be character development pls get on that train #don’t get me wrong tho these are also both ridic hot lol #the greer/embry scene is i shall admit one of the hottest things i’ve ever read #but it’s more than that!