Women Share The Books They Get Off To

The widespread popularity of Fifty Shades of Grey, often referred to as "mommy porn," speaks volumes to the power of the written word to arouse our senses and invariably turn us on. Works of literature, whether or not they are erotic fiction by label, have the power to take us to new heights of fantasy and expand our consciousness of sexual exploration. Beneath the covers of a book, we can be freed.

As a teenager, I know that Twilight was my sanctioned version of masturbation material. Say what you want about Stephanie Meyer's literary style, but she does an excellent job of building sexual tension between the two main characters, Bella and Edward. Edward was described as charming, enigmatic, and oh-so-sexy — and Bella was his innocent virgin counterpart. For two books I anxiously waited, and waited, for them to finally have sex.

The first sex scene of the Twilight series culminated in Breaking Dawn, on Bella and Edward's wedding night. They had bed shattering, super human sex. I reread the chapter over and over, caressing my most intimate areas and fantasizing about my wedding night and meeting my own Edward. Stephanie Meyer had invariably taken me away from my bedroom and lead me into a world of vampire sex and the supernatural.

We wanted to hear about the experiences other women have had when it comes to masturbating to books. They opened up to us about their favorite pieces of literature to get off to, and revealed the thematic elements and scenes that got them off the most.

1. Annie, 20:

"Twilight. Bella and Edward didn't really have any sexual interaction in the first two books, so my imagination was able to run wild."

2. Gabriela, 25:

" Bared to You by Sylvia Day"

3. Lacy, 30:

" Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen. Mr. Darcy's romanticism and chivalry is what got me."

4. Tina, 22:

" Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L James. I loved the fantasy of having a BDSM contract in my own relationship so much that my boyfriend and I actually tried it."

5. Raya, 28:

" The Bitch Goddess Notebook by Martha O'Connor"

6. Lillith, 30:

" The Snow Queen by Michael Cunningham"

7. Ana, 23:

" The Story of O by Pauline Reage.. way better than Fifty Shades!"

8. Jane, 25:

" Sex & The City by Candace Bushnell. She probably didn't intend for it to be used as masturbation material, but there are some pretty descriptive chapters of the ladies' sexual encounters."

9. Kaya, 28:

" The Unidentified Redhead by Alice Clayton"

10. Vanessa, 31:

"Asking For It by Lilah Pace"

11. Julia, 27

"As a teen I got off to the sex scene in The Lovely Bones — I still remember that line about tugging at the guy's pubic hair."

12. Lucy, 31

" Delta of Venus by Anais Nin: I was very into this book as a teenager, which was the closest thing to hardcore pornography that you could find at a public library. Basically wall-to-wall sex scenes from a woman's perspective, but it also looked cooler and more literary to carry around than some romance novel with a horny pirate on the cover."

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