Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses graphic sexual content, including discussions of bondage and sadomasochism.

The Story of O is a paradigmatic instance of erotica. While non-erotic literature tends to treat sex either indirectly or as secondary to other thematic concerns, erotica makes sexual content central. This is particularly true for sexual acts themselves. While standard literature often only hints at the details of sex between characters, if it occurs at all, erotica makes descriptions of sex explicit and crucial to the novel’s purpose. This is evident in the way characters are explored and developed in the Story of O. Specifically, the reader comes to understand who O is and what she wants without any personal context or history, nor does the reader gain character insight through accounts of the non-sexual interactions or experiences that she has in the present. Indeed, both non-sexual context and experience is mostly absent from O’s story. Instead, O’s character and story are developed through the sexual acts and power dynamics in which she is involved. O finds herself, and the reader finds O, through O’s exploration of what it means to be a sexual masochist.

Yet, for the same reason, erotica and the Story of O differ in important ways from straightforward pornography.