In my previous post I wrote: 'Fictional work is traditionally where human behaviour is explored and the ills of society are exposed, and I would suggest that the abuse of children is a perfectly valid topic to address in a fictional context.'

I also agree with woodsman'sgame who said: ' I am one of the ones who objects to fictionalized accounts of child abuse that show this abuse as being erotic. I am biased, I'll admit. I hate it.'

I don't think my statement suggested otherwise. As far as I am concerned child abuse (physical or sexual) could not possibly be construed as erotic, but it occurs in society. Describing murder in a novel does not imply that the author condones murder, and the same applies to child abuse. If the way it is portrayed suggests that the author does condone it, that is a different matter.

Where it becomes far more difficult is where, following the original thread, we revisit the consequences of having a legally defined age of consent. Once an age of consent is legally defined, automatically any kind of sexual behaviour involving a person below that age is abuse, it involves a child, and it is non-consensual. Books like the classic Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov have been vilified in the past, but he described a consensual sexual relationship between an adolescent and an adult. I do not object to this kind of relationship being described in fiction. In world literature I’m sure there are many sensitive depictions of similar relationships, and some that the reader may see as erotic. I see a clear distinction between this and the abusive, non-consensual treatment of pre-pubescent children. The law makes no such distinction.

Another difficulty involves adult fantasies. I have written fantasies for women describing their favourite themes. Examples include adolescent girls having sex with older men. Sometimes they like to fantasise about having sex with their fathers. These fantasies may involve bdsm, even extreme forms of bdsm. In writing these fantasies I tried to understand what made them work for the woman concerned, and I did my best to communicate that effectively. Some of these stories have been popular with other women. I don’t regard any of this as relating to the abuse of children, nor, frankly, as a reflection of my own personal preferences. I enjoyed the challenge, and it helped me to improve my writing style.