Eroticism and sexual pleasure in Diane Case’s Toasted Penis and Cheese

Abstract

This paper explores eroticism and pleasure in Diane Case’s Toasted Penis and Cheese showing the wide variety of available sexual pleasures to men and women, but with emphasis on the avenues of pleasure available to the woman. Sexual pleasures in the novel are presented in binary forms with the socio-cultural and religious factors determining what are classified in these binaries as good/bad, moral/immoral, and acceptable/unacceptable. Case represents different understandings and ideologies over varied sexual behaviours and pleasure without subscribing to the inhibitions generated by these ideologies – she rather places adult consent over them. The degree of sexual satisfaction or its denial contributes significantly to the general wellbeing of the individual, and, to an extent, determines the pace of human inter-relations.