TW:
Sexual Assault
Kidnapping
Sexualization of both
Mention of incest
If I was told I could make one rule, only a minor rule, it would be to ban erotic books that are straight up rapey, and/or have a bad case of Stockholm Syndrome, unless it's a story of dealing with trauma, someone falls in love with the person saving them, or isn't an actual romance or sexualization of the stuff.
Like, I've gotten books from the food bank (they almost always ripped the covers off for some reason) that looked interesting. But then I actually read it and it's just another erotica where this big dude kidnaps this chick in a bad situation and they get sexual almost immediately, or a story where the guy is straight up making the woman prostitute herself to him for something she wants. Then la-dee-da, they end up falling in love.
Like, these are usually the books old women read. (Even those types of books that are more on the gay side of things. Mostly gay male books for straight women). But it's happened so. Many. Times.
This can't even be blamed on the success of 50 Shades or Twilight, since this schist has existed for far longer.
Like, if the book involves SA or kidnapping or whatnot, but it's not one of the MCs forcing the other or any romanticization of those, then okay. As long as it's not treated as an "Ohw-nwo! Twagedy!" or meant to be a good thing, that's fine.
For example:
Silk & Steel does have such things. One of the main characters is being sexually abused by his queen mother and she's forcing him, a gay man, to go and marry a woman from another clan to breed her warriors. And the woman he's supposed to marry is in a clan that have a tradition to "mate" in front of her people on the wedding day.
But it's treated as one of the reasons he wants to leave, why he wonders why he doesn't just let the continuous incoming assassins' kill her. It not only fuels his anger and even a bit of his need to want to let the other main character free, but it also kind of shows how victims of abuse can feel. Even if they don't actually care for their abuser, sometimes they can't help but feel stuck to them, even when they have chances to leave. (Of course, not ALL abuse victims are like this. But sometimes, like this guy, it's all they know. He doesn't really know what he'll do if he does get free.)
But oh my gods, why do these people like kidnapping and borderline sexual assault so much?
Oh ya. it's mostly old people, and it's mostly old people who agreed with the overturning of Roe V Wade and lead those creepy AF conversion camps. -_-
Can't wait for the next time a generation is of mostly old people, it'll be Gen Z. As dim as a chunk can be, at least we're not the ones making light of this (except the people who think people like Dahmer are cool. Fuk you-)
Seriously, if I could, I'd have these types of books banned. It's okay if this stuff is part of stories, just as long as it doesn't pull...this stuff. Just like if murder was a part of a story, but wasn't promoting it as a good thing.
Hel, I'm not even against eroticas as a whole. I know out there that there are consensual ones where the couple grows and there's no abuse or Stockholm Syndrome. But as far as I've found, that's what a lot of them are.
