PayPal as Arbiter of What Should Be Censored

[alfreda89]

A solid article detailing to date what is known about PayPal demanding that Smashwords and other indie distributors stop handling erotica dealing with certain themes. (IE incest, rape and bestiality.)

This, of course, means that if they're really going through with this, distributors will have to yank the Bible, Heinlein (To Sail Beyond the Sunset) paranormal romance, Real fairy tales, and a LOT of literary novels, starting with LOLITA.

What else will we lose?

NOTE: #@#%@ typos...I hate that I can't change the font when I look at things. That's when I see typos.

Comments

[jilltanith.livejournal.com]

That sort of thing is exactly why I didn't sign up for a PayPal account until I had to, and why I still don't use it if there's any alternative. For example, at BVC I ise a credit card, not my PayPal account.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I need it for biz, but I'd jump from it if I could. Right now there aren't a lot of choices, apparently.

[aishabintjamil.livejournal.com]

Not to mention the whole Game of Thrones series by George R. R. Martin. There's a whole lot of plot dependent on the incestuous relationship between Jaime and Cersei Lannister. And as I recall the books, Daenerys is *way* underage when she gets married off to Drogo.

Then there's all the classics which hark back to Greek mythology - Zeus is pretty much a poster child for all kinds of unacceptable sex practices - rape, bestiality, not sure about incest. He may have left that to his kids.

And if you insist on yanking anything with underage sex, forget Shakespeare. I think there are textual clues buried in Romeo and Juliet that prove that they're something like 13 or 14. Perfectly normal for the time period, but totally out of line with today's standards.

Not to mention the minor detail that some of the things they want to outlaw in fiction are actually legal to do in reality. That whole pseudo-incest thing, for example. There's no legal bar on marrying someone you're not physically related to if no legal relationship has been created by adoption, even if you did grow up in the same house. Then there's Woody Allen, and his marriage to his girlfriend's adopted daughter. Couldn't write that story line under these rules, but he's living it.

But the real trouble is that they're only enforcing it against people too small to effectively fight, or whose businesses are so tied to it that having their accounts frozen would put them out of business.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I missed this post, K, since I was moving at the time. You're right, R & J are considered to be in the range of 14 for her and 16 for him. Common for the time, but a no-no now. And several paranormal romances address this -- men and women who are hundreds of years old still remember older decisions, and romances that were not young but were happening at halfway through life. (If you lived to 30, 15 was not too old to marry!)

I think PayPal has backed off slightly on this (the credit card companies started it! they say) but I expect it will raise its head again.