subject: Erotic Literature Requires Thoughtful Insightful Erotic Stories And... [print this page] Erotic literature is not an oxymoron as religious zealots everywhere would have you believe. There are relatively few but, at the same time, some very important works of Erotic Literature we can point to, as well as volumes of critical praise for many of these books and stories.
The unfortunate fact is that as a general rule, mainstream writers simply do not want to deal with the issue of writing erotica because they know it carries the label TABOO for a significant, vocal minority of the population. It is hard enough to write a book or short story and then get it published. Hoping for such a work to be recognized as literature is an extremely large additional hurdle without having to overcome the stigma associated with "Erotica" too. A courageous few mainstream writers do attempt to write "erotic literature," however, many of these writers walk a fine line, attempting not to stray too far outside the boundaries of mainstream fiction.
Erotic literature should necessarily combine significant sexual content, at least some descriptive sexual passages, along with a poignant, socially significant, thoughtful story which in some way comments insightfully on society. God knows or perhaps the gods know, however you prefer, there is plenty of fodder available to writers within sexual mores and traditions in this nation of ours which is so sexually divided. Literature affects life and erotic literature could have a positive influence on sharing sexual ideas and practices but for the zealots.
If children were taught logic and how to reason until they were past "the age of reason," the introduction of religious indoctrination at that stage of a child's education would routinely fail. Religion and religious beliefs flourish in the fertile mind of a child who is being instructed within the confines of unconditional love and blind trust. "Don't let schooling interfere with your education," Mark Twain warned. Perhaps he should have added and don't let anyone convince you that illogic is logical no matter how they wrap it.
"Indoctrination is the process of inculcating ideas, attitudes, cognitive strategies...often... distinguished from education by the fact that the indoctrinated person is expected not to question or critically examine the doctrine they have learned. As such it is used pejoratively, often in the context of theology and religious dogma." This Wikipedia defination of Indoctrination aptly uses the example of religious Indoctrination right in the definition. They could have chosen Hitler as an example, or focussed on only Muslim extremists or so called Holy Wars, but they wisely widened the scope to include all of theology.
Ironically, the Catholic Church has, thtoughout history, been one of the major proponants of "free will," but have likewise been one of the most staunch, influintial organizations throughout History in cautioning people not to use it. Free will mandates critical thought which nullifies religious indoctorination in favor of investigation. How long can the church advocate free will, thus espousing critical examination and deny the entire body of scientific discovery to date, including evolution? It's what makes real people GO CRAZY!
