Biggest turn offs?

Thorn_

Thorn_

CHYOA Guru
I'm curious about what are things people don't like in reading to the point where it's just actually derousing(Deroused? Derectified?) to read. I don't know if this has been a pre-existing topic before, but I wasn't looking that hard. And while we all have different levels of how much we like or dislike something, I want to ask the question of what is someone's biggest thing they find to be just plain gross.

Personally, I don't like stories that are supposed to be based on real life people. I just find that really creepy and weird. I know that might not be a popular opinion, but it is mine. And there is plenty of stuff I don't have issues with in fiction. Like it would be easier just to list all the things I WON'T self pleasure to. But it really does weird me out when a story is supposed to be about a real person.
 
A big turn-off for me is incest, and there tends to be a lot of it in written erotica. With visual media, it's a concept that has to be spelled out (unless they're twins, you can't really convey visually that the people involved are related). When one is writing about sex, EVERYTHING has to be literally spelled out, so making it about incest is easy. I just don't see the appeal, beyond a knee-jerk reaction to "forbidden fruits."

There are also certain word choices which bug me, such as:
  • "Penis" or "Vagina." This isn't a middle school health class, it's erotica; more colorful language is necessary for the right mood. If I'm reading a novelization about Star Wars, I want to read that the Death Star "exploded into a trillion glowing fragments" - I don't want to read that it "spontaneously combusted."
  • "Boobies." Please, we're not five-year-olds!
  • Anything about anal sex which refers to fecal matter. I don't like anal stuff to begin with, but when one starts talking about driving the Hershey Highway or plowing the Poop Chute, it makes me want to throw up. To put it succinctly, there is nothing sexy about poo.
Finally, I can't maintain interest if there's something non-consensual going on. Violent rape is forbidden by the site rules, but I'm uncomfortable even if there's a degree of reluctance. I need to know that sex is something that the people involved fundamentally WANT, even if there's some anxiety or nervousness about it. I don't judge those who enjoy rape fantasies, as long as they stay in the realm of imagination and play-acting; if a man and woman (for example) want to play a game where he ties her to the bed and fucks her while she protests and struggles, that's fine as long as they've both agreed to it in advance and there's a safe word. it's just not something I can enjoy myself, whichever side of it I'm on.
 
Oof, this question just seems an invitation to kink shame. It's a fair question, but I think I'll steer clear of that side of it.

For written erotica specifically I will say poor writing (obviously), rushed or overly short scenes, and emotionless robotic characters. This last one in particular kills it for me. I want to have at least some idea as to what the characters are feeling and thinking during a scene. It is one of the big strengths prose has over other forms of media.
 
grimbous said:
Oof, this question just seems an invitation to kink shame. It's a fair question, but I think I'll steer clear of that side of it.
Click to expand...
That's not really the intention. People are obviously not all going to share the same preferences. That's why there is such a variety of categories on the main site in the first place is because not everyone is interested in the exact same stuff.
 
Auraicide said:
That's not really the intention.
Click to expand...

As I said, it is totally a fair question. An interesting one at that. And I have no doubt your intentions were good. In the past I've seen certain folk get a bit...er...judgy shall we say. This topic just seems an easy lob for these types.
 
For me a big turn off is extreme cruelty. Someone once tried to add to one of my stories that the main character was shot in a way that she could never get pregnant. I didn't approve it of course because I felt it was overly cruel.
 
- Everything that makes me think "Come on! That's impossible!"
That can be unlogical things like a guy opening a girl's pants while she kneels on the floor, going down on him.
But also unrealistic things like huge genitals or instant character changes.​
- Fast forwarding of erotic scenes. (That's what the site is for, isn't it?)
- Wording that doesn't fit the tone of a scene. (Like calling her pussy "cunt" in neutral descriptions or a rather shy or conservative woman calling her pussy "cunt" in direct speech)

Xenolan said:
incest [...] I just don't see the appeal, beyond a knee-jerk reaction to "forbidden fruits."
Click to expand...
Familiarity. Closeness. Unfamiliar emotions. Changing established relationships. Shift of power. Secrecy. ...

Xenolan said:
"Penis" or "Vagina."
Click to expand...
I agree on Penis but I think Vagina just sounds too good in English to not use it. Obviously mainly suitable for neutral descriptions, though the minimizations like vaj and va-JJ also fit perfectly in dialogs of some characters.
 
gene.sis said:
- Everything that makes me think "Come on! That's impossible!"
That can be unlogical things like a guy opening a girl's pants while she kneels on the floor, going down on him.
But also unrealistic things like huge genitals or instant character changes.​
- Fast forwarding of erotic scenes. (That's what the site is for, isn't it?)
Click to expand...

I agree with the huge genitals completely. I prefer a more realistic description of what a character should look like. As for character changes, I once saw someone try to make a shy virgin into an instant slut that went on a talk about how many different guys she had banged. How can a virgin have banged more than one guy, much less the fifty that was being described?

As for fast forwarding to erotic scenes, I think the story leading to the erotic is just as important. If all it suddenly goes "BAM, they fucked" in the middle of a dinner party with no build of to WHY they fucked, then where did it even come from? I know of a few stories that seem to have died off because the story portion was cut short to insert random erotics.
 
Scat. Watersports. Necrophilia. Guro. Beastiality. Pedophilia. (Last three don't really apply to this site, thankfully.) Feederism and some of the associated weight gain/slob sub-genres are also not anything I'm keen on.

Sexual violence has never been something I'm into, nor is pain-for-pain's-sake. BDSM within reasonable limits and generally consenting parties is fine, and non-consent has its place in sexual fantasy, but I've never admired straight-up rape fic. Even with mind control, I prefer influence to straight up "I give him/her their orders" - that's more of a power fantasy than a sex fantasy to me, and while plenty of folks want that, it's not generally what I'm looking for.

I dislike bad anatomy (i.e. normal humans with impossibly-sized genitalia, impossible insertions, etc.), but I have a soft spot for impossible anatomy when in the service to fantasy (surgery, aliens, magic, super science, etc.), and when dealt with realistically within the context - i.e. yes, Superman could plausibly use Plastic-Man as a condom; no, Wonder Woman could not fit a normal-sized fire hydrant up her vagina...unless magic or something was involved. Even then, it's about establishing the setup for the fantasy as well as carrying it off.

Bimbofication, hucow, and related very specific combinations of physical and mental transformation leave you with a character that isn't recognizably like the one you started with... so it ends up being very depersonalizing, unless handled carefully. A long slow slide into degeneration or prostitution is more interesting to me, especially if the individual has opportunities to make their own choices, fight back, say no in a meaningful way, give in to their desires, take control of their sexuality, etc. The "spiral of despair" isn't exactly something I'm keen on, but I do like the "discovering a new side of myself." Still, it takes a bit of skill and effort to pull off well. Magical personality/body re-writes can be an interesting premise, but get tiresome if addressed briefly and in quick succession like some of the superstories threads. Magically quick transformations work, but only if you take the time to then emphasize the effects and consequences.

Racism. Mostly you see this in some interracial stories, especially "black breeding" stories. It's a taboo that Crossing the Divide and others play with while carefully avoiding going over the line; I think it's appropriate to stop short of naming any race as superior/inferior, or talk about "pure white heritage" yadda yadda. Just not my cup of tea.

That's not trying to kinkshame anybody - hell, read the crap I write - just personal preferences, and why. Everybody is apt to feel different. I might not be into cakesitting or diapers or adult babies either, but that's not because there's anything inherently wrong with those.
 
Don't much like blood, virginal or otherwise.

Oddly, though visually -- irl and in porn -- I find scat wholly unappealing and gross, it can be a turn on in some written erotica for me.

Poor writing of all kinds is a turn off. I'm not a total grammar freak, but it has to be above certain basic standards, and probably more importantly there has to be some story or context that makes the erotic aspect appealing (to me). Also like others have said, purposelessly exaggerated genitalia and impossible body mechanics are distracting and generally annoy me.
 
Last edited:
Nonsexual body fluids. IRL, hearing "I'm taking a shower" causes Pavlovian arousal. I even try to skip the rest of the sentence when the author is describing sweat, or even "musky" smell.

I'd feel weird, but most guys I've 'known' are the same. I guess we really are a clean bunch.
 
Anything being described as flat-out humiliating or terrifying to the protagonist / their partner. Embarrassing or scary are edge cases, they can be sexy if they are done WELL, but humiliation and terror are never good in my book, they're just dark and painful, and I don't like them.
 
I think it's worth mentioning that many of my turn-offs are things I would still put into a story; I just don't get a sexual thrill out of it.

For instance, in one of my own stories, I included a scene where a major female character was chained in a dungeon, completely unclothed, and it definitely happened against her will. I specifically mentioned that she felt scared and humiliated by the ordeal, and I even included an explicit photo illustration.

The reasoning behind this seeming hypocrisy is that I don't write these stories with the sole intent being to arouse sexual excitement. I want people to feel many emotions as they read my stories, and in this case I wanted to inspire feelings of sympathy for the woman, revulsion at the antagonist, and righteous anger along with the protagonist who rescues her from her chains. Furthermore, NONE of the other characters were described as getting aroused by seeing her chained up; even the one who did it reacted with disgust at the idea that he might have "violated" her. If any of them had gotten obviously turned on by it, I would have made those characters very unsympathetic ones. I had no intention of writing a scene in which she was actually raped, and I would have rejected any submission where that happened.

Again, I don't have a problem with it if people get off on this sort of thing in a FANTASY context. And, I'll admit that I included the illustration in part because I imagined some readers would get a bit of a rise out of it. It's kind of like Princess Leia in a metal bikini chained to Jabba the Hutt's throne; a lot of Star Wars fans, including me, found that to be a pretty damn erotic image. That doesn't mean that we sympathize with Jabba the Hutt or think he's got the right idea about how people should be treated; it just means that Carrie Fisher looked really hot in that metal bikini.
 
Anything that takes too much prep. It's why in real life I have never really done anything to do with bondage or anything like that. Not for lack of interest but simply because I tend to find having to do much prep beyond condoms just kills my arousal stone dead
 
obieblu_tumblr said:
Nonsexual body fluids. IRL, hearing "I'm taking a shower" causes Pavlovian arousal. I even try to skip the rest of the sentence when the author is describing sweat, or even "musky" smell.

I'd feel weird, but most guys I've 'known' are the same. I guess we really are a clean bunch.
Click to expand...

I'm the opposite. I can't get tired of bathing scenes. But....I don't like voyeurism scenes with it. For whatever reason, peeping on other people having sex is what sets off my "EW" factor. I just don't find it arousing.
 
Auraicide said:
I'm the opposite. I can't get tired of bathing scenes. But....I don't like voyeurism scenes with it. For whatever reason, peeping on other people having sex is what sets off my "EW" factor. I just don't find it arousing.
Click to expand...

I like bathing scenes, I just don't run across them often. I'm cool with getting all the congealed sweat/oil/bacteria/dead skin cells off before all the licking and prodding starts.

I like voyeur stuff... even did a nude photoshoot once. I plan to write something inspired by that, sometime. I combined both ideas and was writing someone spying on someone bathing, today. Haha. Not your thing...
 
obieblu_tumblr said:
I like voyeur stuff... even did a nude photoshoot once. I plan to write something inspired by that, sometime. I combined both ideas and was writing someone spying on someone bathing, today. Haha. Not your thing...
Click to expand...

I mean....I think it's different if someone accounts from their own personal experience. I can understand that a bit better. It's just your own account of things that happened. People do that all the time, even outside of places like this. "Hey, bro. So I had this chick on all fours..." "It was like two hours of him on top of me with his little dick. I might as well have been fucking a scarecrow."

But things like "I know this person in real life, so I'm going to write....about them." That just seems really gross to me. But then...I'm the kind of person who has never once performed self relief to people they know. Something about that just really weirds me out. And if anyone has read some of the really, really, messed up stuff I wrote and it seems like a really arbitrary line to draw but, that line does exist.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top