Comments on: Risks

By: M.Christian

M.Christian — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 16:56:33 +0000

Thanks, folks! So glad you liked the post — that means the world to me! One tiny thing I want to make clear is that I see a real difference between being safe and being proud: I am always happy with whatever I write — which is why I always use my “M.Christian” name no matter what I do (smut, sf, horror, non-fiction or whatever) — and don’t use different names for different genres. I’m a writer and to me that means writing whatever I can and whatever I want no mater what, and being proud of that. But I’m also realistic that there are people out there who, if given half a chance, would like to see me fail, at least, or burn in hell, at most — and if not me then the people around me. So my post was not about hiding in shame because we write smut but to understand the risks we face and take reasonable precautions. Be proud of what you do, sure, but be careful so you can write in safety and comfort.

By: Danielle

Danielle — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 11:05:42 +0000

that is a really intense and thoughtprovoking essay! i gladly found it over craigs blog and i oftne wonder my self about that subject…about what to say or do…i started to write pornographic erotica (ha…truly thats it:-) in a very early age…and started right away to publish it…i never had time to think about hiding my person or dividing my name from my work…so..i m pretty vissible too to quote shanna….and meassured on the whole lot of evil emails i get it makes me a target..but meassured on the whole lot of wonderful and positive emails i get too it makes me one of many many people who do love their erotic reads and who are actually the ones we write for…

By: Shanna Germain

Shanna Germain — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 15:59:58 +0000

This is a great post, M. And really thoughtful, and I\’m sure helpful for lots of people out there who write erotica.

I think I\’ve taken a very different approach to the whole thing — my choice was to be out there, in every way, to be very visible. Does this make me a target? Perhaps. But it also makes me one of many voices who are brave enough to show their faces against prejudice, lack of knowledge, hatred and discrimination. I\’m that nice, funny girl who writes erotica and pornography (I do think they’re different, but not necessary better than one another). I tell everyone who asks exactly what I do — not to shove it in their faces, but because I believe I should not be shamed by it, and neither should they. I feel safer knowing that the world knows who I am and what I do. If the police bust down my door or someone tries to take me out, then I hope that all of those who know and love me, will come to my aid. There will be no moments of \"Oh my god, she writes erotica?!!?\" because they already know.

Everyone deals with this process differently, depending on their circumstances, but for me, this is what I know:

I won\’t be silenced and I won\’t be shamed. Not in my words, not in my life, not in my loves.

Best, s.

PS — Thanks so much for the food for thought, M!

By: Shanna Germain

Shanna Germain — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 15:59:41 +0000

This is a great post, M. And really thoughtful, and I’m sure helpful for lots of people out there who write erotica.

I think I’ve taken a very different approach to the whole thing — my choice was to be out there, in every way, to be very visible. Does this make me a target? Perhaps. But it also makes me one of many voices who are brave enough to show their faces against prejudice, lack of knowledge, hatred and discrimination. I’m that nice, funny girl who writes erotica and pornography (I do think they’re different, but not necessary better than one another). I tell everyone who asks exactly what I do — not to shove it in their faces, but because I believe I should not be shamed by it, and neither should they. I feel safer knowing that the world knows who I am and what I do. If the police bust down my door or someone tries to take me out, then I hope that all of those who know and love me, will come to my aid. There will be no moments of “Oh my god, she writes erotica?!!?” because they already know.

Everyone deals with this process differently, depending on their circumstances, but for me, this is what I know:

I won’t be silenced and I won’t be shamed. Not in my words, not in my life, not in my loves.

Best, s.

PS — Thanks so much for the food for thought, M!

By: Janine Ashbless

Janine Ashbless — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 12:34:53 +0000

Wow. That’s very depressing. And I thought you had a constitutional right to freedom of speech in your country.
I’m sort of glad I live in a place where, although we don’t have a written bill of rights, people don’t much care what you do so long as it doesn’t involve children, or take place in the street scaring the horses.
Keep on writing. Keep safe.

By: Madeline Elayne

Madeline Elayne — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 23:54:45 +0000

“For you to be anti-gay isn’t just an idiotic prejudice, it’s giving the forces of puritanical righteousness even more ammunition for their war. ”

Hear, hear!

By: Hales

Hales — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 20:22:29 +0000

Great blog! I happenedto have grown up in a very liberal town with a lesbian mother and her few girlfriends over my adolecent years. Strangly I wasn’t considered damned due to her sexual preference but her her religious ones. My mother was into Indian Medicine and Shamanism followed by Bhudism. To this day no one prays over the sex I’m writing but that I was introduced to other religions. I am vocal about what I write. I don’t give a damn what anyone thinks in rl. My friends from highschool are very supportive and a good handful of them support me. I say constantly I can write from sweet romance to graphic intimacy. Don’t mistake it for porn, porn doesn’t have an emotional growth process or sexual growth process. I also say you don’t have to read me if you don’t like what I write. I have family members in church who attribute my writing to my zany imagination and leave it be. I’m sure there are those who say things but I don’t live for them but for myself. My teens know I write romance but they’re too busy with sports and the mall and friends to really care. Christina Aguliera wrote Not Myself Tonight because she was tired of women not being able to express their sexuality without being condemned. (On a VH1 special) We’ve come along way from Female Hysteria a woman’s disease decided by society in the mid 1800’s to a place where we can have some freedom but only in the dark. One day I hope society allows people to love and express themselves in any venue they choose personally and hate stops. Until then I’m going to write sexy steamy stories with Happy Endings!