I've had to read this post many times to know what I wanted to say because your words hit deeply.

Your analysis of Medium's hypocrisy toward sexual content is devastating. I understand that any business lives within a milieu that might cut off its financial health if its culture turns punitive. And I get Medium's decision because readers are as hypocritical as Medium's management, as you point out. It's just too bad a site that promotes writing is, in the end, merely a business. The fearlessness of authors is all that has ever truly freed us.

Your analysis of this erotic BDSM story of mine is also devastating. On the one hand, the story impacted you because it did *not" turn you on lol. On the other hand, the authenticity of the narrator's pleasure provokes you to reflect on yourself.

Can I tell you how I am so very honored by this observation?

Most readers think erotic fiction is about sexual desire. It's so much more than that. Erotic writing is about provocation. The erotic should provoke all kinds of desires--for freedom, for power, for truth, for authenticity. Probably some people can feel all those things reading about anal sex? Well, I'm all for masturbation material, but I have a pretty sophisticated palate (as you suspected).

Classic erotica authors are my touchstone. They challenge society as much as bourgeois taboos. Nin, Miller, deSade. But oh, Bataille, the greatest, sex and philosophy. I consumed these stories because unlike any other genre, including all the literary fiction we're told is "important," it's the only genre that actually challenged me to think for myself.

And I feel I should divulge that your erotic fiction has had me exploring my own sexuality. Especially when I'm physically vibrating with lust after reading about an old dude.