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<h1 class="left">My intrusive self is charring to death as the girl sitting across me in the metro hides the cover of what she is reading behind her tote bag. A fleeting smirk. Back to poker face. Mercifully, the metro jerks to a halt, and the book's spine peeks from beneath her fingers to flash a hint of glittering wings and the word 'Court' — it’s a dead giveaway. She's deep in what the internet has baptized 'fairy porn'. I watch her navigate between public propriety and private pleasure. Voyeuristic as it may be, writers ought to stay updated on the latest reading material, so my intrusion was purely professional.</h1>

<h1 class="centre">Often considered a pioneer in the genre, Sarah J. Maas's A Court of Thorns and Roses series, originally published in 2015, has now sold more than 38 million copies globally and has been translated into 38 languages. In 2024, her sales outdid the top 10 adult bestselling books. Hot, steamy, mayhem-ridden writings have finally seeped out of the niche corners of Wattpad into the veins of mainstream publishing.</h1>

<h1 class="centre">Online, under the blankets, in broad daylight — dedicated readers of erotic fantasy literature are omnipresent. Perhaps, the Harry Potter fans have grown up. Levitating feathers don't charm them anymore — they insist on exploring the other side of mythical creatures, the one where desire burns fiercely, myths moan, and the politics of seduction are at play. Perhaps we’re looking at an entirely different side to the rise of this particular genre. Fantasy erotica, popularly termed 'Romantasy' has surged, largely driven by BookTok, that book-obsessed corner of TikTok, which has over 80 Million posts about Romantasy books. Goodreads recognises this genre as 'Faerie Porn' (how many of these books spell the word 'fairy') and has also added Best Romantasy as a category for its annual Choice Awards last year.</h1>

<h1 class="right">My Instagram feed, saturated with romantasy recommendations, doesn't qualify as researched evidence — so let me pass it on to an aficionado. "It's a global rise that does reflect in India as well," notes Shreya Punj, Head of E-Commerce at Harper Collins India. "Thanks to the internet, we receive the same kind of recommendations." Bookstagram has flattened internet culture and the divide that existed between Western and Indian readers, she further asserts. Consequently, those thick, judgment-inviting, spice-replete books have colonised all of our feeds.</h1>

<h1 class="right">Horny fairy dystopias aren't just guilty pleasures existing under the guise of a porn category; they’re case studies in the modern psyche. "It's good old escapism. Girls want an outlet to not be a part of this world. You want to be in a world where the protagonist always has shit under her control, and you know things will end well for her," Punj reasons. Contemporary fiction has imprisoned our imagination of fairies in a unidimensional, pastel-coloured Disney princess. In the romantasy world, fairies aren't passive magical creatures — they're active, desiring, complex beings who own their sexuality and supernatural energy. These female characters defy societal expectations, wield unimaginable power, and embrace their sexuality without apology. It offers some shelter and empowerment to female readers in an otherwise patriarchal society.</h1>

<h1 class="centre">Beyond its otherworldly backdrops, romantasy taps into something profoundly alluring: male characters who represent a fresh vision of desire. "These men know what they're doing," Punj says. "They fight for the woman, they don't try to control her, they accept that in most cases, she is more powerful." The romantasy hero is a blueprint for the modern thirst trap—dangerous, smitten, and always down bad for his high-fantasy goddess.</h1>

<h1 class="centre">The element of community also lends itself to the rise of the genre. Massive online threads, deep-dive analyses, and fan theories have turned these novels into interactive experiences. "It serves two purposes," Punj explains. "Your solitary enjoyment, and then the human need to belong to a community with shared interests."</h1>

<h1 class="centre">Erotic writings have always struggled for their place in literature. In her essay, The Pornographic Imagination (1967), Susan Sontag argues that while the purpose of literature is to capture complex human emotions, erotica is oblivious to these rationales and "reports only on the motiveless tireless transactions of depersonalized organs." It lacks the beginning-middle-end characteristic of literature. "[Erotica] concocts no better than an excuse for beginning; and once having begun, it goes on and on and ends nowhere." Romantasy alleviates these tribulations by literalizing erotica. It has a plot—often labyrinthine, always seductive. Sex isn’t just a cheap thrill; it’s a plot device, a world-building tool, a catalyst for chaos and character arcs alike.</h1>

<h1 class="left">In publishing, it’s a cliché to judge a book’s worth by how swiftly it's read and how seldom it's put down. It’s intriguing to see women glued to these 500 pagers about sex wrapped in silk and sorcery, and breeze through them in no time.</h1>

<h1 class="left">The literary gatekeepers will always continue to relegate erotic literature as dirty. "The highbrow literature divide will never get bridged— it has always been there. Earlier, it used to be against rom-coms and now romantasy," Punj explains. But the unapologetic female cult of contemporary smut readers is fervently embracing the sin. Hell, after all, deserves some spice in its library. "In the end, the idea is to say that we don't disparage the choices of others." My metro ingression reveals a truth about modern reading: we're all hungry for stories that lend flesh to our fantasies. But this revelation also poses a few thoughts. Women have found their escape through dystopian fantasies that exist in a pseudo reality, that is far from relatable, and yet seems to conjure the kind of visuals which press their pleasure sensors. If the fantasy world is helping women regain a sense of control of their sex life, what does that tell us about the changing dynamic of pleasure for women?</h1>

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