Grrr!
Jul
28
2005

Sigh. It gets old, having to defend what I do. I get attacked on one side from other romance authors who accuse me of being a pornographer, of dragging the genre down with my very presence, of writing women who, “want to be men” and “men who want to be women.” Somehow though, the worst thing is when friends accuse me of being less feminist because I write romance and smut.

And the bottom line is that I’m sick of it. Look, I’ve never claimed to write monumental pieces of literature. My books are fun and lighthearted and I hope they are entertaining and provide people with a few hours of escape. When I do so, I do not betray who I am as a person. My characters, good and bad, male and female, all carry a seed of me within them somewhere.

For the record, there is nothing demeaning to women in my books or in the books of authors in the genre that I read. Yes, there are books in the genre that are, IMO, demeaning to women, shallow, stupid and perpetuating negative sterotypes of men and women. Of course, these books exist across genre lines.

I do not create pornography. I write erotica that is romantic and romance that is erotic. Pornography has no real connection, no depth of emotion. I have no real issues with porn, but it’s not what I write.

The presence of erotic romance in the genre is not “dragging” romance down. It is simply another sub genre for readers to enjoy should they wish to. And they do wish to, by the way. In the tune of hundreds of thousands of purchases made yearly both in ebook and print. Readers want their romance spicy, they want it naughty and they like their sex spelled out. Great. They like what I write. For those who don’t there are books for them. Asserting that erotic romance is dirty and bad simply asserts that the readers who love it are dirty and bad – and it seems to me a mistake of gigantic proportions to insult romance readers who happen to be VERY loyal. They buy our books and talk about them online and in their daily lives, without them we’d be talking to an emtpy room.

So, to the people attacking on both flanks – knock it off. I’m happy with what I’m doing, my readers like it, I’m creating strong women heroines – these are plusses. How about you all turn and deal with your own stuff instead of being so consumed with what I do?

5 comments to “Grrr!”

  1. tvaddictgurl
    July 28th, 2005 at 2:35 pm · Link

    Well said! Keep writing what you’re writing. If there wasn’t an audience for it EC wouldn’t be publishing your books.



  2. Mechele Armstrong
    July 29th, 2005 at 1:00 pm · Link

    Keep writing what you are writing. I know it gets old and is hard. But people will attack for any old reason. I like the genre and don’t understand the put downs of it. *sigh*



  3. Lauren Dane
    July 31st, 2005 at 8:18 am · Link

    Thanks you two! I will keep it up, it’s too much fun to stop because people have small minds.



  4. Anonymous
    August 24th, 2005 at 4:25 pm · Link

    I hate labels, but if forced to wear one, I choose the one with the longest history and the noblest lineage: pornographer.

    I write pornography. All the other labels are euphemisms for marketers and other squeamish sorts who “won’t even say shit if their mouth is full of it”, as my husband says.

    There. I’m glad I got that off my heaving bosom.

    DTG xxoo



  5. Lauren Dane
    August 24th, 2005 at 4:48 pm · Link

    Hello, DTG! It’s nice to see you here, welcome.

    I think we should be able to label ourselves. I don’t write porn, at least not in the modern sense, and I’m not squeamish about it, it’s just not what I do.

    Whatever you want to call what you write, I adore it. If more pornography was as good as what you wrote, the world would be a far better place.