Censorship is
rearing its ugly head again.
Erotica and erotic
romance are under attack again; this time at Smashwords. All erotic titles must
fill out a form indicating they do not fall under the following categories: incest, pseudo-incest, bestiality (shifters are
not considered part of this category), rape-for-titillation, dubious consent
(dubcon), and sexual slavery. If authors refuse to tag their books by January
1, their accounts may be shut down.
I doubt this new form of
censorship will affect big moneymakers like Fifty
Shades of Grey. No, it's only the small indie authors and publishers who
will suffer. On the other hand, author
Paul Herron brought up on Facebook that Anais Nin's rediscovered classic, Auletris, may be banned again due to
these stringent categories. Auletris
has already been banned Amazon, but it is available there now – but maybe not
for long. This book has only been published for about a year. What other
classic erotic books will be axed thanks to this form of categorization?
If you want to buy Auletris at Amazon here is the link:
Here is Paul Herron's Facebook post on the subject:
Censorship actually helped me. About six years ago, my
erotic fairy tale Purr (a short erotic
version of Puss In Boots) was banned by Amazon along with my entire publisher's
catalogue. New Dawning published Purr,
and it was attacked in much the same way Smashwords is attacking erotica now –
pulling out the usual suspects for banning such as incest/pseudo-incest, pedophilia, bestiality and dubcon. This act
actually helped sell my book. I slapped a "Banned By Amazon" sticker
on my cover and advertised the book that way. It sold like hotcakes. Amazon
later reinstated New Dawning's catalogue but the sour taste was already left in
my mouth.
My other two erotic fairy tales Trouble In Thigh High Boots (long Puss In Boots) and Climbing Her Tower (Rapunzel) also had
been caught in the censorship crosshairs. When readers learned about that, it
only ensured the books gathered more interest. It reminded me of Tipper Gore's
censoring of music CDs back in the 1990s. The stickers on
"questionable" music only told the kids which CDs to buy.
At first glance, no reasonable person would have a problem
banning these categories. However, it's a slippery slope. What else could be
considered harmful content and should be banned? Then there is the issue of
censorship based on personal preferences. No one is ordering a reader to buy
books with these themes at gunpoint. I personally do not read them but that
should not prevent those who want to read those stories from having access to
them. Selena Kitt has written plenty of incest and pseudo-incest erotic
stories. She's seen many of her works banned and she has fought banning for
years. Her publishing house eXcessica has been under fire many times for
publishing what some consider questionable and obscene content. Where do we
draw the line? Trouble In Thigh High
Boots includes lactation fantasy which has been under fire by Amazon and
other retailers. My main character Tita is a shapeshifting cat creature. Cats
like cream. Use your sexy imagination. I also include ménages and lesbian
scenes. Climbing Her Tower includes a
few scenes of questionable consent but that book does not have dubcon in it.
Where do retailers draw the line? When will the content I described be banned? Why
aren’t books containing excessive and graphic violence banned, especially
violence against women? There is a double standard here. Violence and murder
are acceptable but God forbid show a nipple and the world crashes.
The direction the evangelicals are taking the U. S. could
result in more censorship of erotic fiction in the United States at the very
least. By banning what many people would think is a no-brainer, this opens the
door to ban other erotic content the prudish may not like. I don't want to see
erotic fiction banned at all. You are free to click away the retailer's page if
you don't like the content. No one is forcing readers to buy books.
