No Worries If Not

Hot for the Plot: Romantasy, Heated Rivalry, Women and Erotica

Published: 6 May 2026 at 23:55 Europe/London

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Episode notes

It’s a great time to be a horny woman! Women are going offline to get off. We’re reading Romance Fiction and Romantasy, watching male-on-male hockey smut, listening to audio erotica and reading confessional sex stories. Why are we leaving video porn behind? How does erotica authored by women offer an alternative to the violence of the male gaze, and what do the feminist porn wars of the 70s and 80s have to do with all of this?

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Guests:

Sarah Maxwell, Saucy Books

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Carly Pifer, Aurore

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No Worries If Not! is produced, written and hosted by Lily O'Farrell.

The script editors are Jackie O'Farrell and Will Hilton, also produced by Will Hilton. The theme music was composed by Meg Jenkins and the title animations were animated by Angelica Lena.

Sources for this episode in chronological order:

Women on Porn, Fiona Vera-Gray (2024)

'Not just smut': Why it's happily ever after for romance books, BBC News (2025)

The female-only book club: Why women read more than men, Times Literary Supplement (2020)

Rebecca Yarros’s ‘Onyx Storm’ Is the Fastest-Selling Adult Novel in 20 Years, New York Times (2025)

Bloomsbury had its highest sales year ever thanks to Sarah J. Maas, Business Insider (2024)

‘Heated Rivalry’ Reaches 10.6 Million Viewers in The U.S. With Audience Increasing by Over 100% Since Finale, Variety (2026)

What do women really want from men? I delved into romantasy and found a good few clues, The Guardian (2025)

Dr Karen Gurney - Sex and Pleasure, No Worries If Not!

Women are feral for Heated Rivalry. What does that say about men? The Guardian (2026)

Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys: Women and Gay Male Pornography and Erotica, Lucy Neville (2018)

Pornography: Men Possessing Women, Andrea Dworkin (1981)