Polly loved Tom (1928-2025). First and foremost for his for his deep catalogue of snarky, wordplay-filled, and frequently subversive songs, but jeez, he released that entire catalogue into the public domain! Also, he beat GenAI introducing false citations into papers by decades.
I formerly embraced the word “smut” for my work in no small part thanks to his song of that name. “I do have a cause, though,” he quips in the spoken introduction on That Was the Year that Was. “I’m for it.”
It’s catchy. It made a deep impression on Young Polly.
But romance author Suleikha Snyder has made a deep impression on Current Polly, arguing that the word smut is harmful to both the erotica and romance communities. I’m convinced, largely because I think the term “clean romance” is harmful and hurtful to anyone writing any other sort of romance. “Unclean romance?” No thanks.
(Ditto “wholesome,” but that’s a whole ‘nother thing. If you call your romance “clean” AND “wholesome” Polly knows they’re not safe around you.)
So I am pulling up stakes as a resident of Smutland. Henceforth find me in, uh, Eroticalia, I guess.