Agreeing to Write Erotica is NOT an Invitation for Sexual Harassment

United States
May 14, 2018 9:28pm CST
Yesterday a fellow freelancing friend put me in touch with a client she had just completed some marketing writing for. She said he had inquired about whether she wrote erotica, and she knows that that's one of the niches that I specialize in, so she asked if I was interested in talking to the guy. I said sure. He could message me if he had a project he needed to hire a writer for. So this guy messaged me on Facebook messenger, and at first things were kept strictly professional. He even admitted to feeling anxious about telling me what he wanted written, because he thought I would judge him. I assured him there was no judgement here. I've heard it all. Unless it involves minors or incest, nothing is really taboo, as long as I'm being paid. But then things started getting weird. He wanted to know if I had a boyfriend or husband and whether or not he was okay with me doing this. I replied that I was in a long-term relationship and he had no problems with me writing erotica. I guess I should have realized that was the first red flag. Things only got weirder from there. This guy didn't want to hire a writer. He wanted someone to cyber with. He wanted the story to star HIM. He repeatedly asked me to message him certain phrases while I was working, and he even had the audacity to call me honey. Then, I found out he was messaging creepy stuff to my friend who had written some product descriptions for him. (He told her he wanted us to "compete" with the erotic story to see who "did it better.") We exchanged screenshots of our conversations with this guy, and discovered that the leather jacket he wanted the character to wear in the story I was to write for him (which he sent me a picture of) was one of the products that my friend had written a product description for. What the actual hell?? My friend realized those probably aren't even products he actually sells, he is just some perv with a weird fetish. We both ended up blocking him. But this whole situation has left me thinking. What that "client" did was NOT okay. Agreeing to write erotica is NOT an invitation for sexual harassment, or an agreement to actually get someone off. Erotica authors are NOT prostitutes. Every other client I have ever written this sort of thing for was always strictly professional, and the story was never portrayed as being for their own personal use, but for publication elsewhere. I'm just a ghostwriter, helping them meet a deadline. It's despicable that anyone would think that hiring a writer is the same as hiring a sex worker, and that it entitles them to cross boundaries the way this guy did. It seems sexual harassment in the workplace is still alive and well, even when you work from home.
6 people like this
7 responses
@sissy15 (12269)
• United States
20 May 18
I'm a weirdo magnet too so I get it. I don't even write but back when I was doing online dating I would get random weirdos writing me messages like that. It's like I didn't even say hello and they would send weird stuff. What is with people like that?
1 person likes this
@sissy15 (12269)
• United States
20 May 18
@Srbageldog That would be hilarious he definitely deserves it from being so pervy. I mean it's one thing to want it written it's another to be a creep about it.
1 person likes this
• United States
20 May 18
@sissy15 I had no problem writing that stuff for him, if he'd kept it professional. But he crossed a line. I didn't even warn him before I blocked him. I figured I don't owe him any explanation.
1 person likes this
• United States
20 May 18
Some people are just creeps. I ended up blocking that guy. I hope he has anxiety over the fact that he told a random writer on the internet all his pervy fantasies.
1 person likes this
@Courtlynn (66921)
• United States
15 May 18
I read the title, said wtf, then just had to read the post. Ugh sorry he was weird!
1 person likes this
• United States
15 May 18
Yeah...I swear I'm a weirdo magnet.
2 people like this
• United States
16 May 18
@Courtlynn Or my friend who put me in touch with him is. She attracts more weirdos than I do, if that's even possible.
1 person likes this
@Courtlynn (66921)
• United States
15 May 18
@Srbageldog maybe.. lol
1 person likes this
@Ithink (9980)
• United States
20 May 18
Those kinds are all over the place,when I used ICQ and would randomly chat to people Id say more than not those are what I got. A big reason I don't use it anymore.
1 person likes this
@Ithink (9980)
• United States
22 May 18
@Srbageldog If you figure that out let me know!
1 person likes this
• United States
21 May 18
They really are, it's disgusting. I used to get unsolicited pics sent to me on AOL messenger when I was a teenager (late teens, already an adult, thankfully, but still.) Why are some dudes such perverts?
1 person likes this
@JESSY3236 (18885)
• United States
15 May 18
He sounds like a creep.
1 person likes this
• United States
16 May 18
Definitely. No one needs to deal with that.
1 person likes this
@Plethos (13560)
• United States
15 May 18
you shouldve written about kicking him in his literary nuts.
1 person likes this
• United States
15 May 18
Indeed! He might have liked that, though.
1 person likes this
@andriaperry (116860)
• Anniston, Alabama
15 May 18
OMG! That was messed up.
1 person likes this
• United States
15 May 18
Yes it was. I don't know where some people get off thinking they can behave in such a manner.
@id_peace (14005)
• Singapore
15 May 18
Cybering these days are still popular seriously?
1 person likes this
• United States
15 May 18
Apparently. I had no idea. I don't engage in that type of thing, and it was really inappropriate for this "client" to expect it!
1 person likes this