“After All, Consent Is Sexy”

Audio erotica has its roots in long lineages of both sexually explicit material marketed towards women and feminist ways of thinking and talking about this material. This chapter charts these lineages to show how audio erotica apps – especially the four on which this book focuses, Quinn, Dipsea, Emjoy, and Ferly – refer back to, and simultaneously develop, new practices within feminist erotica for women. It examines second-wave feminist conceptions of pornography versus erotica: specifically, how erotica was imagined as a woman-friendly alternative to mainstream male-oriented pornography. It also examines the emergence of and reactions to popular print erotica, erotic romance fiction, and feminist pornography. Audio erotica is both a descendant of these forms and utilises similar discursive manoeuvres in order to hail a female audience and communicate to them that their content caters specifically to their needs: it is “safe” – and potentially even self-improving – as well as being arousing.