While it is difficult to have a sensual story without a bit of erotic involvement and vice versa, there is a fundamental difference between the two genres. Romantic stimulation seems to fuel a sensual story, while explicit sex will ignite a story sanctioned as erotica. Due to the overlap of these themes, occasionally the line between them is tough to distinguish.
Sensuality and romance spawn from a human need for companionship. Since the human race has existed there are few absolute fundamentals we need to satisfy in order to be a flourishing species. Some are obvious, such as eating and not getting eaten, but others are a bit more elusive, such as being accepted by others and always improving your nest. The one thing that is obvious and absolutely essential to a species is—reproduction. Humans pair off in a quasi-monogamist manor to produce offspring. Coupling serves other purposes as well; it is simpler to get everything done when there is another person with your best interests intertwined with your own. So men need to know that their woman can carry out the tasks of the female and the women need to know their men can provide the meat and protect the family. At this time there is no specific male or female “roles”, this leaves a curious power struggle between genders. While men and women still want all the instinctual requirements met, now they want them met without interfering in their own pursuit of happiness.
The match of two people is a complex and phenomenal statistic improbability, so when they come together—apparently fulfilling each others’ instinctual mental and emotional need—it is like the equivalent of winning every state lottery all at once. Of course finding the right person is such a subjective outcome it pans out differently for everyone. Opposites may attract, however are they right for each other?
Lust fuels the erotic stories we all love to read. With just the right amount of taboo or perversion the story can heighten sexual awareness with nothing but words. Why is this exactly? We can only theorize and conjecture but the fact is the people love sex!
Sometimes we are comforted by the idea of security, though security is only pleasant, not exciting. Our physical makeup requires certain chemicals to get our bodies ready for sex, and by ready I think you know what I mean. These chemicals are also associated with danger. Adrenaline and endorphins are released when we flee from a burning building; coincidentally they are also released when we have sex. Though, we generally are able to enjoy this sense of euphoria after sex, where as with narrowly escaping a burning building we almost certainly have aftermath to deal with. The long and short of it is that physical activity and dangerous scenarios fill us with those wonderful chemicals that make us primed for sexual activity. The erotic story merges with those physically dangerous or socially taboo moments where our hearts are racing and pumping us full of libido enriching fuel. Having control taken away or stepping outside comfort zones provides a sexual rush that intrigues us.
The human brain is an amazing tool. Where we used it to fight survival for so long it ended up developing powerful self preservation. But in today’s safe and comfortable society we rarely use its necessity. While being in constant danger is exciting, it is not comfortable, whereas being totally safe is calming but not very exhilarating, our self preserving brains are either left unused or exhausted. I prefer to be on the safer end, though I take advantage of writing to venture out into that excitement without leaving my comfortable chair.
At one point my sexual fantasies became so perverse and morbid that I grew quite comfortable with topics like sexual assault, necrophilia, robotics, abduction and murder that the most perverted notion I could fathom was the danger of a committed relationship, which was avoided for a long time.
This is the nature of eroticism and sensuality; it all depends on what you have, because we all fantasize about what we don’t have.