The PayPal drama of the last few weeks feels particularly ironic now that an erotica novel is topping the best-seller charts on Amazon and the Times. I haven't read Fifty Shades of Grey, and I have no intention of doing so, because it's not my kind of book.

And while I find the mainstream media hoopla surrounding it to be patronizing at best — OMG! Women read smut! Is this okay? Should we be regulating it? Is it okay to want to be consensually dominated sexually? Moms like to have orgasms, too? – I couldn't be happier to see a book of this nature getting widespread attention. Add to that the fact that it's repurposed Twific, bringing fandom, erotica, and writing by women into the mainstream, well, maybe we can stop shaming the ladies for their reading preferences now, universe?

Much of the discourse hinges on definitions – is it smut? erotica? romance? I've read what feels like eight million reactions that consist of a litany of definitions and then an attempt to fit Fifty Shades therein. (Pardon me while I fall asleep on my own arm from boredom.)

I write porn.

I make art.

I don't see these two things as remotely contradictory. 

On the one hand, of course I don't write solely to turn people on. But as a smutmonger, I am rarely more pleased than when I get a comment to the effect of yo this was smokin' hot and totally prompted me to masturbate/fuck my partner/take a cold shower/drive off the road/have smutty daydreams. That is seriously fucking awesome. It is almost as much of an ego-boost as any comment about style, structure, or characterization. I'm proud to make you feel things, in your heart or your pants.

Whatever you call it, effective sex writing reaches through the screen and causes an effect in the reader. This can be physical, physiological, psychological, or any combination thereof. In an age when women's role to regulate own their own bodies is under attack from LITERALLY EVERY QUARTER, the right to control your own desire is a powerful tool.

I get that romance is a genre with deep and specific circumscriptions. From plots to cover art to word choice, both writer and reader know what the terms are from the outset. And that's all to the good.

But the world of false demarcations isn't helping anyone, even on the fringes of genre. The argument seems to go that it is socially acceptable for women to be aroused by non-vanilla sex within the confines of a monogamous heterosexual relationship (the romance model) and literally everything else is suspect. Smut? Ewwww. Erotica? Gasp! Never! Porn? Not on your life.

Look, readers know what they like, and what turns them on. If Fifty Shades tells us anything it's that there's a huge market for sexual material aimed at and written by women. There's no need for shaming language, and absolutely no reason why smut and romance can't get along. I'd love to see this type of content go the way of fanfic, where markup language and tags function as a general guide for the reader, without worrying so much about genre demarcations. You pick what you like based on your comfort level, and then hopefully have a killer orgasm to show for it.