(Special Note: The following post was originally
intended for a review blog here in the erotic romance community. While they
originally agreed to host us during this mini censorship blog tour, they
recanted the offer after reading the post and seeing the topics that surround
the theme of censorship, citing that it wasn't a good fit for their blog.
Fluffy or moderate fiction is never censored, so this blog post, by necessity,
takes you to the fringe, to the edge of the genre, where things get a little less
comfortable. A post on censorship can do nothing less than tackle these themes,
and we thank this blog for appreciating and embracing that. Without futher ado,
please enjoy the post!)
As long as people have been writing things down, there have
also been people trying to say what is and isn't appropriate for people to
read. When it comes to erotic fiction, this is especially true. What is
permissible? What is too explicit? What is too kinky to be acceptable for a
given audience? Do publishers need to warn or label their books a certain way,
or are the themes simply unacceptable, even if they are
labeled? Censorship is a topic that isn't about to go away when it comes to
fiction, especially fiction that in any way showcases the varied reality of
human sexuality.
In my experiences, especially with our Fraternal Devotion
anthology at Storm Moon Press, there are always going to be some people who
don't want to read your book. All of us at our press knew there would be a
limited audience for our collection of brother incest short stories (duh), but
what we weren't prepared for were all the hurdles and hoops we would have to
jump through to get the book out in print and distributed. Some distribution
channels have strict rules about content, and they're perfectly within their
rights to work that way. The trouble comes when those rules are only applied to
books the higher ups don't like, rather than systematically applied to all
titles containing the 'objectionable' content. When companies get into that
tug-o-war situation, there are a few things that I wish they would keep in
mind:
A Fictional Act Isn't Real
Oh, there will be a ton of debate on the role of fiction in
shaping the minds of the public and being responsible or not responsible for
the actions of people in reality, but when you keep it simple, the fact is that
an act written in a work of fiction is, by definition, not real. Fiction provides
a very unique playground in which many themes can be explored in relative
safety. Taboo topics typically have a home in fiction, and that includes a lot
of things that will push the boundaries of readers, be it incestuous content,
harsher BDSM practices, or full-out non-consensual and dubious consent fiction.
In the real world, such things would be looked down upon quite a lot (e.g.
non-con situations would be rape, no ifs, ands, or buts about it), but fiction
allows us to divorce the acts from reality and enjoy them in ways we definitely
wouldn't in the context of reality. Fictional acts cannot be judged in the same
terms that those same acts in reality are. That would make the fiction real in
a way it simply isn't.
The Market Typically Regulates Itself
When it comes to 'questionable material' in fiction, it
strikes me as interesting that companies state there is no market for it, and
then pull it from production. Pulling it from distribution wouldn't be
necessary if there was no market for that fiction, right? I think the fear is
that there is a market for the fiction that some people find
inappropriate. The flip side of the statement 'There will always be someone who
dislikes your work' is that there will also always be someone out there who
does like your work. The fear that there are readers who
enjoy content others don't is sometimes what keeps books off the shelves. The
trouble is, there is a legitimate market for many of those topics. Incestuous
content, as an example, is a legitimate kink in the fiction community. You see
a lot of daddy-daughter kink (Big and little play when it comes to
role-playing) in the het erotica community. And twincest kink has been popular
for a long time (I first became a fan in the context of anime and in the
Lord of the Rings fanfiction community). There is a market
for books like Fraternal Devotion.
The logical move for companies is to simply let the market
regulate itself. If there is truly no market for the fiction that is provided by
publishers (or even self-published authors who put their work out all on their
lonesome), then no one will buy the book, no hype will be generated, and those
authors won't make money off their work, which for some, will be enough of a
deterrent to writing more fiction like it in the future. If, on the other hand,
there is a market for the kink or taboo that some find
'objectionable', then the fiction will find that market, and those who don't
like it will usually ignore it. The market drives itself. Those who don't like
the material in a book (assuming it is clearly labeled as having said material)
will usually not bother buying, and that's just as well. Most writers don't
want people to buy their book when those people know right off the bat that they
won't enjoy it. Let the books find their audiences or let them fade into
obscurity.
Inconsistency Makes You Look Incompetent
Every company out there has its own set of rules. When it
comes to distributors like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and All Romance eBooks,
they all have rules against specific topics being included in the fiction that
they distribute. This is normal. This is perfectly acceptable. The trouble is,
these rules are very seldom imposed consistently across the board. Incest is
permissible if it is non-consensual, forced on siblings or other family members
in extraordinary circumstances, an extension of torture, etc. Non-consensual is
fine, but the minute you have two siblings consenting to having sex with one
another, then people freak out and demand it be censored. Rape and violence
abound in erotic fiction as well as other genres like suspense/thriller and
horror. All manner of torture is allowed in graphic detail, but that consensual
golden showers scene? Oh, that's just going too far.
There is a certain double standard in many policies, not so
much in the way they are written for distributors, but in the way they are
enforced. For the most part, they aren't enforced at all,
but the moment you mix erotic content, especially if it's GLBT erotic content,
with any of the topics that might be skirting the comfort zones of some
readers, you wind up with a suppression notice and have to find another place
to take your fiction, no matter how legitimate it is or how big an audience is
looking forward to purchasing it. It's not that the policy is problematic, but
the lack of consistency in its enforcement certainly is, and that kind of
inconsistency just makes the company look silly. Now, I'm not saying that
people will stop going to Amazon or Barnes & Noble just because they're
inconsistent with their policies and censor books almost arbitrarily, but it
still doesn't make them look good. When the market could theoretically regulate
itself, their inconsistent regulation through unclear policies isn't doing them
any favors. In fact, it's making them miss out on potential sales for
legitimate titles containing legitimate kinks enjoyed by legitimate people.
That's a lot of legit, and it makes me sad that so many
distributors of fiction don't keep an open mind and try to be inclusive of
fetishes, kinks, and taboo topics, things they might not completely understand
but at least could see have substantial audiences if they took an honest look.
The refusal to carry such titles when there's no reason that stands up to
scrutiny means they're censoring.
But only titles that freak the mysterious 'them' out.
Luckily, there will be publishers who keep their doors open
to the taboo and the unusual. Tentacles, incest, non-con... Those sorts of
themes might not have the huge audiences that your traditional romance novels
have, but they still have audiences, and I hope that those audiences manage to
get their hands on the books that they love, even if they have to go through
unconventional distributors or through the publishers' websites. It might not
be the most convenient thing, but it's what we have at the moment. We can only
hope that legitimate kinks are treated more fairly in the future.
K. Piet is the Marketing Director of Storm Moon
Press and author of Making Ends Meet and 'On the
Edge', which is included in the Fraternal Devotion anthology.
She can be found on Twitter @k_piet or on her blog.
