Luke Kennard critiques straight male authors' avoidance of sex scenes in contemporary fiction

Luke Kennard argues that straight male writers have largely abandoned writing about sex in contemporary fiction, contrasting this with female authors who incorporate it as a central narrative element. He notes that the Bad Sex in Fiction award, which ended in 2019, often highlighted straight male authors' failures in this area, with past winners including James Frey and Didier Decoin. Kennard references works by Sally Rooney and Diane Williams as examples of nuanced portrayals of intimacy, while pointing to novels like Keiran Goddard's "Hourglass" and Joe Dunthorne's "The Adulterants" where sex is conspicuously absent. He suggests that male authors' discomfort stems from insecurities about performance and masculinity, and cites David Foster Wallace's "Brief Interviews with Hideous Men" as a critique of misogynistic attitudes. Kennard's own novel "Black Bag" explores an unconventional relationship where sex remains unconsummated, and he mentions reading Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's "Venus in Furs" for research. He also highlights strong writing about sex in queer fiction, such as Brandon Taylor's work and Djamel White's debut "All Them Dogs."