Is Writing Or Working Within the Genre of Erotica Discriminated Against?

To be quite honest, I never thought I would ever say this, but, yes, I think it is. Up until now, maybe I've been naïve but I've never had a serious problem with what genre I write in. But, now, unfortunately, I do.

Not only does it affect my writing and my website but it also affects my new book reviewing service because it has an erotic element within its name. It doesn't seem to matter that my review service is not based entirely in the erotic genre but solely because the website name features the S-e-x word. Horror of horrors!

But, why should it be like this? Should the choice to write erotica or any sub genre of it, relegate you to the outer circles of the writing community? Should you have to worry about posting on a writing forum about the important reviewing service you provide because the title of your website contains the word Sex, regardless of whether you deal entirely or not with the Erotic genre?

I understand that not everybody likes erotica or sex but it shouldn't mean that authors or reviewers who provide a valuable service to the publishing world are pushed out and ostracized because their work is related to it.

My experience of this has just come to pass, this very day. Joining up and posting at a popular writing forum, I had my post of an offer I have currently running on my review site at Sexography promptly deleted by one of the moderators there. This, of course, annoyed and frustrated me. The reason given for the removal of my post was that erotic and/or adult posting was not allowed. Yet, not one mention of sex, erotica or adult was mentioned in the ad. Nor, is the site advertised as such. In fact, I am quick to point out as much as I can, that my review site is not a porn site despite its name and colour! So what prompted the deletion of the post? I can only imagine it was the name or domain at which my site resides.

Luckily, I've not come across that many problems with regards to this service and to clarify things, one other forum, namely Absolute Write has no problems whatsoever with the posting or advertising of this kind as long as it's writing related and it's posted in the designated category. For reference, here is the post I made:

I run a review service for books, e-books, blogs and websites and I currently have an offer running for the month of October:

Buy One and Get One Free throughout October Only!*One offer per person is allowed:It's simple! Just buy an e-book or website review package and get another one absolutely FREE!

Promo code to be given on Request: SexOct1 (In order to take advantage of this offer, you must quote the Promo Code on request.)

When you submit your e-book/novel/website for review, just give me the promo code given above and receive 2 quality reviews in return. Just state which package you wish to receive for FREE and I will ask you for the additional information after I've received payment and your review submission form info.

The usual review submissions still apply.*This offer is only available to independent authors.Even without this offer, Sexography can offer authors and writers a friendly review service with all genres accepted (your submission is guaranteed to be accepted but check out the FAQ for rules) and an extensive promotion programme for as little as $5 per review package.

For more information, please check out Sexography at http://www.sexography.co.uk

~~~

Ok, yes, the promo code does include the letters S-E-X but it's a code of reference for me; only letters in a specific order and shouldn't imply that the service or site is erotic or pornographic.

The same could be said about whether an erotic writer should have their site categorized as adult alongside pornographic sites.

Let's say you are an erotic writer or a writer of Romantica. How would you personally class your work or site? Would you mind if you were excluded from so many directories and resources because some people classed your work as Adult? Or, do you see this as an occupational hazard and really don't care? As long as you can carry on writing in your favourite genre and it's not illegal, then you can't really see much of a problem.

But, what if you don't want to be lumped along with all the pornographic sites? What if you rate the standard of your work and books as way above porn and you don't feel that this occlusion is very fair? I know I do.

So where can you expect to receive problems? Here is my list:

Signatures: Not necessarily email signatures but forum or profile signatures. If the site doesn't allow erotic or adult postings, your innocent signature informing others of what you do and where you do it, could cause your postings to be removed. The reason given that your post then contains adult content.

Directories: You may only be allowed to list your erotic homepage if the directories you submit to are okay with adult listings. Look to see if the directory has a category heading of Adult sites.

Article directories: If your article contains information about sex/relationships it could be classed as adult. Some article directories like website ones don't allow adult articles. When I've completed this article, I'm going to have the exact same problems trying to get it listed.

Topsites: You may be restricted to joining adult only topsites. This would mean your site would be in amongst all the sites advertising 'teen girls suck dick' or similar. Yuck!

Self promotion of your erotic anthology, novel or article compilation: One of the areas I've come across problems in. I'm unable to list my erotic article collection in many e-book directories because it's classed as adult.

Web traffic exchanges: You have to join adult only web traffic exchanges so again your site is viewed in amongst all the fuck-me-harder sites.

Classified Ads: Some free classified ad sites do not allow adult ads. Ironically, the same ad that was removed from the forum was accepted on a classified ad site.

Review services: The same applies here.

And the list goes on...

So, what, if anything, can we do about it? Not a lot, I'm afraid, at this point. By all means try and submit your sites to directories that don't allow adult sites or advertise your work as non-adult but don't be surprised if it's rejected. On the other hand, you may very well be surprised.