Column #5 - Dangerous Fiction

Book burning is nothing new. Deplorable but not new. Like so much of humanity’s historically bad behavior, it just seemed to be yet another stupid ritual practiced by uninformed and easily threatened people.

I don’t know why I took it so lightly. Maybe I assumed that because almost everyone I knew was open-minded, tolerant, curious, and educated, there was no need to worry about a few tight-ass crackpots with a penchant for bonfires. I believed they’d go away after they conducted their spectacle, at which time we could all go back to reading what we wanted.

I’m finally realizing, however, that it’s no longer possible to overlook one plain and simple fact: ignorant minds fear fiction. And that fear is depriving your soul of the fuel it needs to thrive.

Wikipedia’s impressive book-burning timeline (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_burning ) provides a sobering, comprehensive perspective on mankind’s failure to embrace fiction (and nonfiction) that deviated from what was “acceptable” or moral for any given era. Unfortunately, book burning is just one way that narrow minds prevent the spread of dangerous fiction. These days, with more varied ways to express themselves creatively, fiction writers face new methods of censorship.

I got a taste of an insidious censorship method just recently. iTunes—Apple computer’s audio “library” of music, podcasts, and spoken word titles—accepted my podcast and then promptly rejected it because of “offensive” content. My podcast is called Four Minutes, Once a Week, and I read a four-minute erotic story that does contain some adult language and certainly some graphic sex, but I thought that’s why iTunes offered the “explicit” label—so people like me could label their content to warn listeners. Apple does not find it necessary to elaborate on its definition of “offensive,” and refuses to respond to inquiries from those of us who ask.

But here’s an interesting bit of information. The quirky and wonderful Violet Blue (http://www.tinynibbles.com), who was one of the early pioneers of podcasting with her show, Open Source Sex, and who has brought in thousands upon thousands of people into iTunes, was contacted by iTunes recently and asked if she would please remove the erotic stories from her podcast. They were cleaning up their inventory, iTunes said, and had decided that erotica was inappropriate for their audience. They wanted to keep her podcast (she generates no money for herself but she is a tremendous traffic producer for iTunes) sans the erotica. The rest of her podcast, however—where she provides listeners with highly specific instructions on the proper uses of sex toys, interviews porn stars, and talks candidly about achieving sexual pleasure—was perfectly acceptable and iTunes is happy to continue carrying it.

I’m crazy about Violet and believe that what she provides is always great fun and frequently informative, but let’s face it, her podcast is far more graphic than any piece of fiction I can write. And yet, it’s the fiction that iTunes wants to get rid of. The stuff that’s not true, the sexy flights of fancy that may or may not bear any resemblance to reality, the wild products of someone’s imagination—this is what makes iTunes fear the wrath of some right-wing group or religious nut job.

So, instruction is okay, even if involves naked bodies and language that could make Howard Stern blush. It is perfectly fine, apparently, to show people what to do with a dildo, but please don’t put dildos in a story where people appear to be enjoying them. Good heavens and saints preserve us. People might get ideas. They might get aroused. They might actually move beyond sexual titillation and experience a genuine emotional reaction related to sex.

Can you imagine if this erotic fiction thing caught on? Who knows what kind of pleasure might result? The prospect is too frightening to consider. (I guess this is what iTunes is thinking. It’s hard to know for sure, since their greed and their fear mingle in such a hazy blur of nonsensical confusion.)

Is erotica dangerous? Yes—to those who fear themselves, who fear pleasure, who fear emotion or any thought process that cannot be duplicated in nonfiction. Those who seek to avoid personal revelations and discoveries flee from fiction, especially erotica. Imagination and freedom threaten them. But here’s what’s even worse: they’d prefer that you didn’t read it, either, because your sexual freedom is even scarier than their own.

Erotic fiction is very, very dangerous. It will shock, inspire, disgust, and provoke you. It will make you look at yourself and the sexual world around you in ways you never imagined.

I hope that you’ll seek it out every opportunity you get.

Sage.
Custom Erotica Source

EDITORS NOTE: We contacted iTunes for comment and an explanation of their policy on explicit material. No response was forthcoming.