Thread by @Kallmaker

Dear #Sapphic & other #LGBTQIA Authors:
Do your stories have intimacy like mainstream heterosexual stories? Have you noticed that those books don't include "contains mature themes" or "adult topics" in descriptions, nor are they limited to 18+ readers? So why are yours? Thread.

I have. And that's why I don't put such disclaimers on my books and firmly belief that you shouldn't either. #Queer #LGBTQIA #Trans #Sapphic people sharing intimacy is NOT inherently *more* mature than straight people doing the very same things.

In the parlance of US movie ratings, the very same intimacy that gets an R for a straight couple should not get an NC-17 for a queer couple and we should be actively opposed to any effort to up a level because it's queer. It's not erotica or porn just because it's not straight.

Treating our stories like that is the same thing as "citizen groups" trying to force libraries to put #queer #sapphic and #trans #writing on behind-the-desk shelves or have them removed entirely. As if our very existence is inherently dangerous to society. It's all #censorship.

Been there, done that. But that's not the point of this thread. My point, and I do have one, is that there is an organized movement to censor our existence, to render our stories and therefore our lives invisible and inaccessible (again).

DON'T CENSOR YOURSELF.

One example: Laurell K Hamilton's books are often wall-to-wall, highly descriptive, multiple types of antics and scenarios, toys, borderline consent, and they have no content warnings or age restrictions.

Thread written because I keep seeing "adult content" like warnings on everyday ordinary romances nowhere near Hamilton's standard, and it's not the site - it's the author/publisher/distributor adding it.

Don't do the work of small-minded censors for them. Don't make it easier for gatekeepers (including search engines and their algorithms!) to restrict who can discover your work.

This isn't about trigger warnings you may include in your front matter for readers who've opened a sample. It's not about labels that may be legally required in a limited number of countries.
It's about self labeling a warning that plays into censorship.

So, dearest author, stop. Don't. If it's a publisher or distributor putting these unwarranted, self-censoring (+ search-engine-killing) words on your marketing descriptions, get out your Bunny of Ultimate Light and Love and YELL about it!
Love,
Karin

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