decorum

Do you have “issues” with too much profanity or overly explicit (ahem) “romantic” scenes in books? Or do you take them in stride? Have issues like these ever caused you to close a book? Or do you go looking for more exactly like them? (grin)

let's say that i've learned about the birds and the bees through reading. and as i get older, i long ago stopped having issues about what others might refer to as "too graphic" and "too explicit" romantic scenes. i had a short stint as an editor of an online resource of erotic literature; i read neil gaiman, nora roberts and vc andrews; and as a pseudo-writer, i write some "romance" stories too. i have one restriction though, i don't want to read/write about it in my local language. and i have a rather valid reason for it.

during the rehearsal for the fifth grade comencement exercises, a naughty girlfriend handed me a local tabloid and pointed to a story. that was too explicit for me at that age. it was an eye opener, but it was also too "dirty" for an eleven-year-old. the words were easy to comprehend since it was written in our language, and maybe it was precisely because of that that i found it too "taboo".

some purist might argue that the change in language would not alter the meaning. afterall, the act and the actions described are the same. but still, i have those 'restrictions'...