By Lea Marie Mastorakis (2025)

In this report, I explore the ways in which femininity is depicted and reflected in erotic romances from the 1960s to the 2000s through the lens of three key best-selling erotic romance authors: Jacqueline Susann, Anne Rice, and Jaid Black. Looking at various kinds of primary sources, including book reviews, articles, obituaries, book covers and their respective titles, and authors’ websites, I investigated how each of these authors portray their heroines and femininity, in addition to how other people at the time viewed these portrayals. My research revealed that these three authors depict femininity to be masochistic, submissive, weak, and shallow. Furthermore, they demonstrate an emphasis on the importance of creating heroines that are intensely sexual, a main part of these authors’ depictions of femininity. 

Masochistic Heroines

These three authors have created heroines that are submissive and masochistic, especially to their hero counterparts. In her New York Times book review of Jacqulinne Susann’s Love Machine, written in 1969, Nora Ephron describes her viewpoint of Susann’s heroines. She writes that these women are “the most willing group of masochists assembled outside the pages of de Sade.” The use of the word “masochist” works to reflect how Ephron sees Susann’s heroines to enjoy their own pain. She also writes, “no one writes about sadism in modern man and masochism in modern woman quite as horribly and accurately as Jacqueline Susann.” In this quotation, Ephron emphasizes her view that Susann writes about masochism in women in a way that is uniquely accurate. Moreover, Ephron sees Susann’s depiction of femininity to be masochistic in nature. Ephron even uses this viewpoint that Susann’s female characters are masochistic to make a broader generalization about women, as a whole; she notes, “There is a steak [sic] of masochism in most women that should insure Robin Stone’s becoming one of the most popular characters in modern fiction.” For context, Ephron explains Robin Stone as “ the hero of Miss Susann’s new novel, ‘The Love Machine,’ and . . . he has brought happiness to almost none of Miss Susann’s fictional heroines.” Through this explanation of Robin Stone and his popularity amongst women, Ephron argues Susann’s heroines love and desire men that don’t make them happy, reflecting the masochistic qualities of Susann’s female characters. 

Femininity as Submissiveness

Similarly to Susann, Jaid Black creates heroines that are also submissive to the heroes of her novels. In her review of Black’s 2002 novel, The Empress’ New Clothes, uploaded to Smart Bitches Trashy Books in 2007, SB Sarah explains how the heroine, Kyra, is submissive in the novel. SB Sarah describes the culture in the book to be “male-dominated,” discussing how Kyra was required to wear see-through clothing so that the men she encounters through the novel could admire her. Sarah also repeats the word, “subjugation,” when discussing Kyra’s relationship to the male-dominated world she’s living in, reflecting the submissive nature of Black’s heroine. Sarah also points out how Kyra was willing to give up her former personhood and desires; Sarah asks, “why does Kyra let go of her worries, her homesickness, and her old life so easily?” Sarah’s explanation of Kyra’s abandonment of her past self describes her capitulation to Black’s fictional sexual patriarchy, highlighting the female heroine’s submissive nature.

Anne Rice’s heroines are similarly submissive and are made inferior to the heroes in her novels. Patrick McGrath’s 1990 New York Times book review of Rice’s novel, The Witching Hour, published that same year, summarizes the plot in a way that explains the subjugation of the women in the story. He explains that the male character, Lasher, is actually the protagonist of this novel. He notes that Lasher “appears to . . . mainly the women, as a slim, pale, elegant figure with dark eyes and dark hair and a hypnotically seductive power over any of them reckless enough to entertain him.” Describing the hero as “seductive” and “elegant” but calling the women “reckless” if they entertain him not only reflects that the women are easily seduced by him but are also at fault for doing so, despite the acknowledgement that he is so attractive. This idea of the women being enticed by the male protagonist but being blamed for giving in to him demonstrates not only how they are submissive to Lasher but that they lack some sort of self control. In addition, McGrath explains that the novel begins with a young woman, named Suzanne Mayfair, learning how to summon demons, one of them being Lasher. But, she is burned at the stake for being a witch very early on in the story. Her summoning of Lasher also results in him bedeviling her descendents. Rice’s origin of the rest of the story reflects some level of feminine dominance; Suzanne does learn how to summon demons. But, she ultimately is killed and ends up opening the door for her family to be victims of Lasher’s demonism generations later. This summary from McGrath, combined with his notes about Lasher’s ability to easily seduce the women in the novel, point out the submissive nature of femininity in Rice’s work. 

Shallow & Superficial Female Characters

According to the primary sources, Susann’s work depicts femininity to be shallow.  Ephron’s review points out how superficial and weak-minded the women in Susann’s novels are. She writes, “her characters’ motivations leave much to be desired and their mental processes are often just plain silly.” She doubles down on this point, noting that they cry very often, describing these instances as “an emotional act in which they indulge 35 times in the course of the novel (a figure that does not include the number of times they refrain from bursting into tears in order to prevent their mascara form [sic] running).” Ephron’s description of the emotional states of Susann’s heroines exhibits her opinion that femininity in this work is defined by low-level thinking and mental weakness, as emphasized by how much the women in the novel cry and lack robust motivations. In a 1969 interview with Barbara Frum, Susann answers questions about her novels and success. Susann explains how she comes up with her stories, explaining how she “started out with a theme.” She then goes on to explain how she struggled with finding a deeper background for her characters, so she created each of her dolls, specifically for her 1966 novel, Valley of the Dolls, with a main characteristic; she gives each of them one identifiable trait, including “talent . . . [and] beauty.” Giving each of the characters one specific character trait is reminiscent of Ephron’s viewpoint that the women in Susann’s novel’s lack depth. Additionally, Susann’s obituary, written by Laurie Johnson and published in the New York Times in 1974, takes note of the harsh criticisms her work received. Critics called her books “popcorn,” said that her work “goes down quickly and easily,” and was even asked if she thinks she is “writing trash to make a lot of money.”  These critiques, in addition to the interview with Susann and Ephron’s review of Susann’s novel, demonstrate a sense of shallowness in Susann’s work and character building. These sources express that this lack of depth makes Susann’s characters’ femininity come across as surface level.

A key way in which femininity is represented as shallow and weak-minded in these authors’ novels is through the aggressive inclusion of their sexual desires, which also happen to be submissive. An article published in the New York Times in 1973, written by Martin Kasindorf, recounts an event that Susann hosted for bookstore owners. The part of this article that is relevant to feminine sexual submissiveness is the way that it starts; it includes a quote from Susann’s 1973 novel, Once is Never Enough. It states, “She dropped to the sand, and he took her in his arms. When their lips met it was everything she knew it would be. And when he took her, she knew it had been the moment she had waited for all her life.” Even without much context, it is evident that the heroine in this scene exhibits a deep desire to engage in some kind of sexual relationship with the hero, so much so, that she had been waiting for it her whole life. This sexual scene being expressed as an experience that satisfies the female protagonist’s lifelong yearning illustrates how her sexual desires are at the forefront of her mind and most intense longings; this quotation from Susann’s novel reveals that Susann’s female characters are intensely sexual. 

Femininity & Sexuality 

Jaid Black drives this sexual depiction of femininity, particularly in submissive ways, home. SB Sarah’s book review has a lot to say on this topic. She notes that there are “nonstop sex scenes and moist channels” in The Empress’ New Clothes. She also explains how the men in the novel are “constantly horny for sex” and that one of the characters “REALLY wants to hump Kyra and bind her to him.” While these details explain the sexual nature of masculinity in Black’s novel, Sarah goes on to discuss her opinion that the story allows for “an exploration of female fantasies of sexual subjugation.” She continues to explain this viewpoint by including quotes from the novel that depict the dominant nature of the men and submissive nature of the women throughout the story. The quotes are explicit and involve the men asking the women who their master is and who possesses them. As part of her summarization of the plot of the story, Sarah points out that “Kyra accepts her new position as mate, empress, and often-humped object of Tor’s sexual desire.” While Sarah frames this as Kyra being somewhat liberated through her ability to influence Tor with sex, at the end of the day, Black still writes her heroine to be sexually submissive; she’s accepted her fate: she belongs to Tor. 

Another place in which Black reflects this aspect of her depiction of femininity is with her book covers. On her website, she lists each of her book titles and their respective cover art. Many of these novels have covers that show strong men standing in the center of the frame, looking dominant, with women posed at their side, looking more submissive. One example is the cover for her novel, Playing Easy to Get. Pictured at the center is a shirtless, fit man with a woman wrapped around him from behind. The way that the heroine is delicately wrapped around his firm frame reflects his dominance and her submission. Other covers showed women physically restrained, illustrating their sexual submissiveness. The cover of her novel, Tremors, is a picture of a naked woman whose hands are trapped in hand-cuffs. A different one of her novels, Stalked, has a cover that also depicts a naked woman, but this time, her arms are tied behind her back with a rope. These women being naked and physically restrained paint Black’s version of femininity to be sexual and submissive. Her book titles, when combined with the explicit covers of submissive women, also demonstrate female sexual submission. The Possession, Besieged, Enslaved, Seized, and Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down are just a few examples of book titles that are reminiscent of female subjugation, as emphasized by the fact that she even has a book called Subjugated, that also has a provocatively dressed woman bending over on the cover. The covers and titles of Black’s novels highlight how she depicts femininity as something that is defined by being sexual, particularly in a submissive way. 

Conclusion

These three erotic romance novelists, Jacquelinne Susann, Anne Rice, and Jaid Black, depict femininity in a variety of ways but have central themes of masochism, submission, weakness, and shallowness. They also portray femininity to be sexual and involve some level of subjugation. These authors and primary sources provide only a very small snapshot of femininity in erotic romance. Because my research is only representative of a fraction of this subject, I could not make a claim about any change over a long period of time. If I had the opportunity to keep exploring this topic, I would be curious to see if a more holistic approach to the subject matter would better encapsulate a change in how femininity in erotic romance novels has been depicted as women have been more sexually liberated in society. 

Bibliography

“E-Bodice Ripper.” Forbes, June 1, 2007. https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2007/0618/048.html.

Black, Jaid. “Tina Engler Keen: Founding Ellora’s Cave & Erotic Romance.” Interview by Alex Anders. May 18, 2012. Audio. https://alexandersbooks.podbean.com/e/tina-engler-keen-founding-elloras-cave-erotic-romance/.

Ephron, Nora. “The Love Machine.” The New York Times, May 11, 1969. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/01/04/home/susann-machine.html.

Jaid Black Official Website. Accessed April 7, 2025. https://jaidblack.com/.

Johnston, Laurie. “Jacqueline Susann Dead at 53; Novelist Wrote ‘Valley of Dolls’.” The New York Times, September 23, 1974. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/01/04/home/susann-obit.html.

Kakutani, Michiko. Review of The Vampire Lestat, by Anne Rice. The New York Times, October 19, 1985. https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/19/books/books-of-the-times-vampire-for-out-times.html.

Kasindorf, Martin. “Raven‐haired, Deeply Tanned and Radiant.” The New York Times, August 12, 1973. https://www.nytimes.com/1973/08/12/archives/jackie-susann-picks-up-the-marbles-ravenhaired-deeply-tanned-and.html.

Kraft, Eric. Review of The Queen of the Damned, by Anne Rice. The New York Times, November 27, 1988. https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=duke_perkins&id=GALE%7CA176001234&v=2.1&it=r&sid=summon.

McGrath, Patrick. Review of The Witching Hour, by Anne Rice. The New York Times, November 4, 1990. https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/04/books/ghastly-and-unnatural-ambitions.html.

Rice, Anne. “Playboy Interview: Anne Rice.” Interview by Playboy. Playboy USA. March 1993. https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/books/anne-rice-playboy-interview-1993/.

Sarah, SB. Review of The Empress’ New Clothes, by Jaid Black. Smart Bitches Trashy Books, March 16, 2007. https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/the_empress_new_clothes_by_jaid_black/.

Susann, Jacqueline. Interview by Barbara Frum. CBC. Originally aired 1969. Video. YouTube. 7:57. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55xZ7xVkYR8.