Porn vs. Erotic Literature. Is there really a difference?

Being a romance author, I get this question a lot. I mean, I write romance with sex---so it's porn, right?

Wrong.

First of all, let's tackle the whole 'mommy porn' label. I hate it. At best, it's disrespectful. Most adult books on the market today have sex in them. Why? Because the characters are adults and adults, on the whole, have sex. It's quite the concept, I know. Adults having sex? What is the world coming to?

So why is it that when a sci-fi or fantasy book contains graphic sex no one blinks an eye, yet if it's a book primarily marketed to women (aka. romance) then it's suddenly porn? It's a complete double standard and goes back to the view that we don't like to think of women as sexual beings with needs and wants of our own. Women have desires, too. They may not always be the same as those men have, but they are just as relevant.

That leads us back to what is the difference between porn and erotic literature.

Porn is sex. It doesn't get more basic than that. In porn the goal of the 'story' is for the people involved to get it on. Everything else that happens is window dressing.

Erotic literature is exactly what it claims to be. It's literature that contains erotic elements. Doesn't matter if it's romance or mystery or any other genre. Calling it porn is short sited and dismissive.

Do you read erotic literature? What are some of your favorites?