PayPal censorship, a slippery slope

PayPal recently informed Indie publishing sites, like Smashwords, that they must remove works containing rape, incest and bestiality or lose the ability to accept payment through PayPal. PayPal is a necessary and often the sole checkout option of Indie book sellers and self published authors. This gives serious weight to Paypal's demands.

I know what you're thinking. Rape, incest, bestiality? Who would want to read about that? Those are vulgar and disgusting topics to write about. At first glance, even as an author, I admit to thinking I don't want to read about that anyway. No big deal, right? But then I got to thinking, where does it stop? As of writing this blog I have not seen PayPal specify exactly what works or context of this content will qualify but rather a blanket statement requiring "all" works. Initially authors of erotica, a genre dominated by women authors, will be impacted. Now erotica may not be your cup of tea but is it our right to deny an author their right to free speech or a reader's right to choose simply because we do not like it?

By allowing PayPal and the credit merchant standards they say they are trying to uphold to do this, we will be giving "them" the ability to strong arm book sellers into removing more titles and topics. No one wants to read a book about rape or incest for someones perverse pleasure of the act but what if the book is a memoir or written to help victims where the act is integral to telling the story? I'm sure we're all aghast at the thought of bestiality but as an author of Paranormal/Urban Fantasy this poses an unusual dilemma. What if my werewolves fall in love? Is telling this story considered bestiality?

Censorship of any kind, especially with the broad stroke PayPal is using, is dangerous. Not to mention unconstitutional. If we find a topic inappropriate or offensive, we as citizens have the right to choose not to buy or support that author's work. We do not need others to tell us what books are safe to read. People once said Tom Sawyer was not appropriate reading material. If we listened to them then we would have deprived generations of literary great Mark Twain. Here's a link to a list of previously censored books and their authors: www.banned-books.com. I implore you to look at the list and ask yourself, "How many books will this censorship impact; where will it stop?"

The question I have found myself asking is who will be the morality police? Who will read all these novels, short stories and poems to determine content and context? And do I want them to decide for me? No, I for one do not. I am quite capable of reading a book jacket or synopsis and deciding for myself. I don't need anyone telling me where and on what I can spend my money, all while charging a fee to do so.