The missionary position
Erotica has many sub-categories, and I write and read quite a few of them.
Some categories just don't do it for me and even make me uncomfortable. Pseudo-incest (that is, sex between non-blood related family members - adult step-siblings and so on), bestiality, non-consent, barely legal... I don't write these, and I don't read them. As I say, they leave me uncomfortable.
In the last week or two, some booksellers have started to clamp down on these categories of erotica: All Romance eBooks, Bookstrand and others have been affected. Much of this seems to be driven by PayPal telling them they can't use its services for products it doesn't like.
That a private company can effectively ban sub-genres of literature worldwide, regardless of the fact that they are legal, makes me far more uncomfortable.
We can argue the fine points. On bestiality, for instance, it appears that erotic stories featuring werewolves are banned if sex occurs while the protagonist is a beastie, but not when it's in human guise. The fact that it's still a werewolf regardless of how it looks doesn't seem to matter. Vampires and aliens appear to be safe, for now, too. Maybe it's the fur that offends the moral police?
This may seem a trivial example to highlight, but I did so to illustrate how arbitrary the dividing line can be. And none of us have any say in the matter: the suits behind a payment company are drawing those lines on our behalf, deciding which of our perfectly legal kinks are acceptable and which are not.
So far, my work hasn't been affected, but I'm waiting.
I don't write much BDSM, for instance, but what will happen when the rules are rewritten to deal with that rather large set of sub-genres?
And what if our moral superiors decide that gay sex, or group sex are similarly beyond the bound? That really will screw with some of my subject matter!
It scares me.
This really isn't the kind position I like men in suits - or anyone else - to be taking about my work and life.
There really are alternatives to the missionary position, you know. Perhaps if they read some of our books it would open their minds?
Some categories just don't do it for me and even make me uncomfortable. Pseudo-incest (that is, sex between non-blood related family members - adult step-siblings and so on), bestiality, non-consent, barely legal... I don't write these, and I don't read them. As I say, they leave me uncomfortable.
In the last week or two, some booksellers have started to clamp down on these categories of erotica: All Romance eBooks, Bookstrand and others have been affected. Much of this seems to be driven by PayPal telling them they can't use its services for products it doesn't like.
That a private company can effectively ban sub-genres of literature worldwide, regardless of the fact that they are legal, makes me far more uncomfortable.
We can argue the fine points. On bestiality, for instance, it appears that erotic stories featuring werewolves are banned if sex occurs while the protagonist is a beastie, but not when it's in human guise. The fact that it's still a werewolf regardless of how it looks doesn't seem to matter. Vampires and aliens appear to be safe, for now, too. Maybe it's the fur that offends the moral police?
This may seem a trivial example to highlight, but I did so to illustrate how arbitrary the dividing line can be. And none of us have any say in the matter: the suits behind a payment company are drawing those lines on our behalf, deciding which of our perfectly legal kinks are acceptable and which are not.
So far, my work hasn't been affected, but I'm waiting.
I don't write much BDSM, for instance, but what will happen when the rules are rewritten to deal with that rather large set of sub-genres?
And what if our moral superiors decide that gay sex, or group sex are similarly beyond the bound? That really will screw with some of my subject matter!
It scares me.
This really isn't the kind position I like men in suits - or anyone else - to be taking about my work and life.
There really are alternatives to the missionary position, you know. Perhaps if they read some of our books it would open their minds?
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