Skip to main content
SLOANE S. MONROE

Printable Worksheet

Erotic Intensity Rubric: Printable Scene Evaluation Worksheet

A practical scoring sheet for narrative desire, explicitness, consent context, tone, and confidence.

Print this worksheet on its own. The print view removes the site header, menus, footer, and page navigation. For a clean PDF, turn off browser headers and footers in the print dialog.

Use this worksheet to evaluate the erotic charge of a scene in fiction, film, visual art, or narrative media. This rubric measures erotic intensity, not simply explicitness.

A scene may be highly erotic while remaining restrained, suggestive, or emotionally focused. Likewise, a scene may be explicit without being especially erotically intense.

For the full framework, see The Erotic Intensity Rubric.

Scene Information

Title / Work:
Author / Creator:
Scene / Chapter / Page Reference:

Brief Scene Description:

Genre Calibration:

  • Sweet / closed-door romance
  • Open-door romance
  • Erotic romance
  • Literary fiction
  • Gothic / dark romance
  • Romantasy
  • Historical romance
  • Other:

Core Erotic Intensity Scores

Rate each dimension from 0-10.

Dimension Score Notes
Sensory / Embodied Erotic Cueing __ /10
Fantasy / Anticipatory Charge __ /10
Emotional / Relational Charge __ /10
Symbolic / Aesthetic Eroticism __ /10

Dimension Guide

1. Sensory / Embodied Erotic Cueing

Measures the scene’s use of bodily awareness, sensory detail, proximity, touch, voice, scent, gaze, movement, clothing, or atmosphere.

Score Meaning
0-2 Neutral or non-erotic
3-4 Mild sensual awareness
5-6 Clear embodied attraction
7-8 Strong embodied charge
9-10 Extremely charged sensory or bodily presence

Score: __ /10

2. Fantasy / Anticipatory Charge

Measures longing, suspense, delayed gratification, uncertainty, imagination, or unresolved desire.

Score Meaning
0-2 No erotic anticipation
3-4 Mild attraction or possibility
5-6 Clear tension or desire
7-8 Strong slow-burn or suspense
9-10 Maximum fantasy, longing, or anticipatory force

Score: __ /10

3. Emotional / Relational Charge

Measures intimacy, vulnerability, trust, conflict, forbiddenness, emotional risk, relational stakes, or psychological exposure.

Score Meaning
0-2 No meaningful emotional charge
3-4 Basic attraction or flirtation
5-6 Developing intimacy or emotional stakes
7-8 Strong emotional tension or vulnerability
9-10 Extreme emotional or psychological intensity

Score: __ /10

4. Symbolic / Aesthetic Eroticism

Measures atmosphere, imagery, metaphor, ritual, taboo, mystery, archetype, sacred/profane contrast, transformation, or aesthetic structure.

Score Meaning
0-2 Literal or functional; little symbolism
3-4 Mild aesthetic suggestion
5-6 Clear symbolic layering
7-8 Strong symbolic or ritualized eroticism
9-10 Maximum symbolic, mythic, or transformative charge

Score: __ /10

Erotic Intensity Score

Sensory / Embodied Cueing: __

Fantasy / Anticipatory Charge: __

Emotional / Relational Charge: __

Symbolic / Aesthetic Eroticism: __

Total: __ / 40

Divide by 4:

Erotic Intensity Score: __ / 10

Interpretation

Final Score Level Description
0-2 Non-erotic Neutral, functional, or not erotically charged
3-4 Mildly erotic Subtle sensuality, flirtation, or suggestion
5-6 Moderately erotic Clear desire, tension, or sensuality
7-8 Strongly erotic High romantic, sensual, emotional, or symbolic charge
9-10 Intensely erotic Peak erotic intensity; transformative or psychologically powerful

Explicitness Index

Rate explicitness separately from erotic intensity.

Score Level Description
0 None No sexual or sensual description
1 Suggestive Implied attraction or charged atmosphere
2 Sensual Physical awareness, closeness, or restrained touch
3 Direct Erotic intent is clear
4 Explicit Sexual content is described openly and in detail
5 Highly explicit Scene is primarily structured around direct sexual description

Explicitness Score: __ /5

Mutuality / Consent Context

Select the best description.

  • Mutual - desire is clearly reciprocal and willingly engaged
  • Emerging mutuality - attraction appears reciprocal but is uncertain, restrained, or unspoken
  • Ambiguous - mutuality or consent is not clearly established
  • Coercive / pressured - desire or intimacy is shaped by pressure, manipulation, threat, or unequal agency
  • Non-mutual - erotic attention is one-sided or unwanted
  • Harm-framed - eroticism is connected to harm, violation, trauma, or danger
  • Unclear - not enough information is available

Notes:

Tone Tags

Select all that apply.

  • Tender
  • Playful
  • Devotional
  • Anxious
  • Forbidden
  • Transgressive
  • Gothic
  • Comic
  • Clinical
  • Melancholic
  • Other:

Rater Confidence

  • High - the scene provides clear evidence for the scores
  • Medium - the scene provides some evidence, but key elements are ambiguous
  • Low - the scene is brief, ironic, culturally distant, fragmented, or difficult to interpret

Reason for confidence rating:

Interpretive Summary

In 3-6 sentences, explain where the erotic charge comes from. Does the scene depend mostly on bodily cueing, anticipation, emotional stakes, symbolism, explicitness, or some combination?

Final Evaluation Summary

Erotic Intensity Score: __ /10

Explicitness Index: __ /5

Mutuality / Consent Context:
Tone Tags:
Rater Confidence:

Primary Source of Erotic Charge:

  • Sensory / embodied cueing
  • Fantasy / anticipation
  • Emotional / relational stakes
  • Symbolic / aesthetic eroticism
  • Explicitness
  • Other:

Notes for Further Revision or Analysis