You Call It Smut, I Call It Self-Care: The Real Power of a Sexy Beach Read
Image: Kotryna Zukauskaite
Because turning pages that turn you on is more than indulgent—it’s liberating.
I was celebrating the start of summer poolside in Key West when I hit the good part of my book. You know the part I mean—the hot scene that gets the heroine going and then works its magic on you as well. I read, reread, then dropped the book, grabbed my partner, and dragged him back to the hotel room for some live action re-enactment. I think we eventually made it back to the pool, but honestly? I don’t remember.
Let the Hot Girl Reading Era Begin
There’s just something about the pivot into our beach reading selves. A hot beach book is about more than a chance to unwind. It’s about unleashing our inner appetites that we otherwise keep covered up with sweaters and responsibilities. We strip off our outer layers and shed our “good girl” personas at the same time, giving ourselves permission to explore fantasies we’d otherwise ignore. The opportunity to indulge our imagination—combined with the sensual pleasures of sun and sand (or chlorine)—is an intense rush: summer self-care at its finest.
Not all beach reads bring out your inner sexy beast, but the best ones do. When the temperature soars, so should your libido. A sexy book offers exactly that: escapism, excitement, and heat in all the most entertaining ways. You don’t need a plane ticket or even a partner, just a towel or a chaise longue, a candy-colored paperback, and a story that makes your thighs stick to the chair for reasons that have nothing to do with the temperature. If summer makes us thirsty, a good beach read is the quench.
What Gets Us Hot and Bothered
Walk past a row of women in summer and chances are excellent that, just as you’ll smell the unmistakable fragrance of SPF 50, you’ll spot an array of these titles on display. No shame here—and why should there be? In a swimsuit and sunglasses, we’re emboldened to declare ourselves as sexually curious—and even lusty. You might argue we should own that all year round, but something about the exposed skin and escape from routine seems to make that declaration easier. We satiate our appetites and hold them up without apology.
Yep, I’m a grown-ass woman who enjoys getting turned on. Deal with it.
Author Jennifer Weiner, who acknowledged that she struggled with the b-word—here, that’s “beach”—wrote in a 2020 essay for Goodreads, “It’s not hard to discern a whiff of Coppertone-scented sexism in the label. Fast-paced, diverting books that are by or for men are called thrillers or mysteries or sometimes just plain old books, while the ladies get every kind of label, from chick lit to women’s fiction to upmarket women’s fiction to domestic fiction to, well, beach books.” Many point to these sub-genres with less respect, to the detriment of both authors and readers: Women-driven reading is varied and rich in its subjects, even within the beach reading section of the bookstore.
One look and you’ll quickly see that there’s a flavor of spicy lit for every palate. A friend of mine is into what she calls “monster smut,” hot stuff about fantasy beasts and beings. More literary-leaning titles like The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. The classics, like Anais Nin’s Delta of Venus or Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying. Of course, the cultural phenomena like The Valley of Horses (sequel to Clan of the Cave Bear) and Fifty Shades of Grey. There are straight-up traditional romance novels with covers featuring heaving bosoms and muscle-bound chests and contemporary “women’s lit” like Seven Days in June (whew) that show less but promise just as much action.
Claim the Time, Crave the Pleasure
Part of the seduction, if you will, is the ownership of not just the book itself, but the time and space to indulge in it. Maybe we read other books to satisfy our book club’s monthly selection or to participate in conversation at work. These we read for ourselves, insisting on our own pleasure both in the present reading and, hopefully, in the future sexual satisfaction. According to an interview with sex and relationship therapist Aleks Trkuljia, “The reason why … reading erotica is a wonderful way to prompt libido and desire is because it usually doesn’t have anything to do with screens, and it prompts your imagination and sense of fantasy.” We’re prioritizing ourselves as sensual, sexual beings. Those who say beach reads aren’t feminist couldn’t be more wrong.
Yes, It’s Feminist. Deal With It.
It’s feminist because it’s about you doing you, unapologetically and for no one else’s approval. You want to read three Elin Hilderbrand titles in a row? Go for it. You want to steal your kid’s YA series and binge it over a weekend? Why not? Go old school and revisit How Stella Got Her Groove Back? Great one! Author Virginia Woolf once said, “This is an important book, the critic assumes, because it deals with war. This is an insignificant book because it deals with the feelings of women in a drawing room.”
But there’s nothing insignificant about our feelings, experiences, or choices. When the weather turns warm and we strip away our daily responsibilities and restrictions, we unleash the hot inner selves that wait to be freed. Relaxing into our sensual selves with a singe-worthy read transports us to a fantasy world, but the pleasure at all levels is real. It’s about you and your enjoyment.
Let’s get ready to turn up the heat.