T4T Erotica Archive is a project hoping to be a e-hub for written and visual erotic art by trans people, dykes, fags, and other such freaks. Google searches for things like t4t or butch/femme erotica give very few relevant results, with the top hits often being people asking where to find such writing, or forums like ButchFemmePlanet that have mostly been abandoned. Even more prevalent is content about people at least in some ways outwardly like us that is merely written pornography, or fan work, and have little or nothing to do with the synthesis of "the sexual" and "the erotic." This site aims to allow us to showcase our experiences with the union of those two sources of power, joy, and life.
Once the site is no longer under construction and submissions backlogs have cleared, I will begin to agregate writing posted on derelict sites and include them here.
In her essay "Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power" Audre Lorde puts it clearly:
"The erotic is a measure between the beginnings of our sense of self and the chaos of our strongest feelings. It is an internal sense of satisfaction to which, once we have experienced it, we know we can aspire. For having experienced the fullness of this depth of feeling and recognizing its power, in honour and self-respect we can require no less of ourselves."
The erotic is not simply the sexual, it is a internal experience that extends into every part of our lives if we let it. Again, Lorde:
"[...] the erotic is so feared, and so often relegated to the bedroom alone, when it is recognized at all. For once we begin to feel deeply all the aspects of our lives, we begin to demand from ourselves and from our life-pursuits that they feel in accordance with that joy which we know ourselves to be capable of. Our erotic knowledge empowers us, becomes a lens through which we scrutinize all aspects of our existence, forcing us to evaluate those aspects honestly in terms of their relative meaning within our lives."
All artistic and creative pursuits are acts that center the erotic, however, at this time, this site is dedicated to art that brings the erotic to the sexual, elevating it to something not just pleasurable, but life giving. The art showcased here is made by those who burst from the frameworks of heterosexual gender.
A link to the full pdf of Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power by Audre Lorde can be found below.
If you have created any work that you think fits with the site's ethos, please send it to t4teroticaarchive@gmail.com and I will post it on the site. You can also send work or start a dialogue about submitting your work to the.janet.hoar on Instagram.
A very very very special thank you to Darv and Nicole, without whom this website would be just another idea uneneacted and prematurely abandoned.
I am a 23 year old transfem faggot from the Midwest. I make harnesses, dabble in sewing, and on occasion do some terrible DIY drag. If you are interested in my other work or just curious about me as a person, you can find me on Instagram at the.janet.hoar .