Why Internet Smut Is the Backbone of Queer Community

Since Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1440, the erotic written word, otherwise known as smut, has been a vital part of queer life. Though smut of all varieties has long-been considered taboo, erotic fiction has provided a unique outlet for queer self-expression and desire. Today, it’s a more popular-than-ever way for LGBTQ+ people to see themselves reflected on the page or, more often, the computer screen. “I do think that it's becoming a reclaiming,” Mr. Bitch, a Miami-based DJ who films his own erotic content, tells Them of the cultural reshaping smut has undergone over the last several years.Even through times of intense scrutiny and censorship, smut provided an escape for queer and transgender people looking to understand themselves and their desires.. In the 1950s and ’60s, following the landmark Supreme Court case One, Inc. v. Olesen, which reversed gay obscenity laws that had limited queer media, LGBTQ+ people flocked to the curtained back corners of adult book stores in search gay nudie magazines and lesbian erotica. As the AIDS crisis wrecked havoc on queer communities in the 1980s, DIY zines showcased queer and trans erotica when no one else would. That cultural salience lives on today. For those of us who came of age online in the aughties and late 2010s, internet smut on platforms like Wattpad, Archive of Our Own, DeviantArt, and pre-2018 Tumblr ushered an entire generation into sexual exploration. Queer fanfiction written about characters like Glee’s Kurt and Blaine or actual celebrities like members of British boyband One Direction frequently had entire erotic subgenres of smut with massive followings. Given the quickly shifting landscape that is the internet, queer smut the 2020s looks radically different than it did even a decade ago. Queer erotic fiction has simultaneously broken into the mainstream through mass success via literary influencers on TikTok, dubbed “BookTok.” Shows like Heated Rivalry, a television serie