{"id":17334,"date":"2022-06-21T03:38:02","date_gmt":"2022-06-21T07:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erotica-readers.com\/?p=17334"},"modified":"2022-06-18T06:49:12","modified_gmt":"2022-06-18T10:49:12","slug":"reader-beware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erotica-readers.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/21\/reader-beware\/","title":{"rendered":"Reader Beware"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>Image by Gerd Altmann<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a><\/p>\n To what extent are we authors responsible for protecting our readers from negative emotional experiences? Any fiction runs the risk that it will make readers uncomfortable. Indeed, some books do so intentionally. (Have you ever read anything by Chuck Palahniuk?)<\/p>\n Can we assume that readers are mature enough to walk away from books that offend or upset them? Or do we need to provide warnings when some content we write might trigger unpleasant memories, cause emotional distress or violate personal norms or expectations?<\/p>\n Society at the moment is so hypersensitive, politically correct and litigious that some publishers bend over backwards to avoid ruffling reader feathers. My publisher tacked the following warning onto the blurb for my 2014 erotic romance novel The Ingredients of Bliss<\/a><\/em><\/strong>:<\/p>\n Reader Advisory: This book contains female dominance and submission, anal sex, public sex, ethnic slurs, threats of violence and a scene of attempted rape.<\/em><\/p>\n Actually, the book also includes M\/f D&S \u2013 wonder why they didn\u2019t mention that?<\/p>\n Personally, I felt this warning was excessive. I wouldn\u2019t have objected to mentioning the attempted rape (by a criminal character, also responsible for the \u201cethnic slurs\u201d \u2013 the heroine is Chinese), but lumping that together with anal sex? This is clearly identified as erotic romance, folks! You get what you pay for.<\/p>\n I just finished reading a humorous MM erotic romance from the same publisher that has the following warnings:<\/p>\n Reader advisory: This book contains mention of physical abuse and a racist comment.<\/em><\/p>\n I saw this when I started the book, and I tried to notice these supposed red flags. The only \u201cracist comment\u201d involves a character who\u2019s deliberately trying to seem like a nasty person asking an Australian citizen of Turkish ancestry where he\u2019s \u201creally\u201d from. If there was any mention of physical abuse, it flew right by me.<\/p>\n The question of racist language in literature is particularly thorny right now, in midst of Black Lives Matter anger. I take very seriously the notion that language has power, that it shapes our perspectives and prejudices (as well as reflecting them). On the other hand, I believe we need to distinguish between the prejudices of the author and those of her characters.<\/p>\n