What would you do if a close relative decided to run for Congress?

[angela146]

... or Parliament or the Bundestag or whatever

Assuming your father/mother/brother/sister did not know that you were writing porn on Lit, would you tell them?

Is your identity concealed enough that his/her opponent can't find you and expose you in order to throw a wrench in their campaign?

Because you know damn well that the opposition will try to dig up any kind of dirt that they can find...

What would you do?

 

[3113]

Interesting question. It would really depend on which relative and what they were running for.

For example. My father is pretty conservative and he'd probably run on a conservative ticket for a conservative post. This would make my erotica writing an embarassment to him, and detimental as those who might vote for him wouldn't approve. I probably wouldn't tell him and I'd hope that my psudonym sticks and no one finds out. Conservatives seem to have ways of keeping MUCH naughter secrets under wraps, so perhaps it wouldn't get out.

Now my brother or husband, on the other hand, would be perfectly happy to run on a platform that boasted rather than shied from the fact that I was writing erotica. They'd want people to know that if elected, they'd make sure that nipples got flashed at football games rather than censored--those would be the voters they'd be courting, so instead of being ashamed of my erotica, they'd used it to get more votes.

 

[angela146]

Interesting question. It would really depend on which relative and what they were running for.

Now my brother or husband, on the other hand, would be perfectly happy to run on a platform that boasted rather than shied from the fact that I was writing erotica. They'd want people to know that if elected, they'd make sure that nipples got flashed at football games rather than censored--those would be the voters they'd be courting, so instead of being ashamed of my erotica, they'd used it to get more votes.

That would also mean that *you* would get outed. Would you be ready to have your face appear in an opposition smear ad?

 

[Weird Harold]

Assuming your father/mother/brother/sister did not know that you were writing porn on Lit, would you tell them?

Is your identity concealed enough that his/her opponent can't find you and expose you in order to throw a wrench in their campaign?

Because you know damn well that the opposition will try to dig up any kind of dirt that they can find...

What would you do?

If any of my relatives ran with a platform where my writing erotica would embarass them, I'd be inclined to out myself and HELP the opposition.

However, in general, I don't think attacking a candidates relatives is all that damaging to the candidate and often backfires on the opposition. Especially if the Candidate has the guts to say, "so what? I'm not my brother and he isn't running for office."

FWIW, the assumption that my relative doesn't know I write erotica would be wrong -- I even gave my mother an autographed copy of the Literotica Book that has one of my stories in it and she planned to show it to several of my teachers and the former town librarian.

I don't walk around town with a tattoo on my forhead that says, "Porn Author" but I don't deny it or hide it if the subject comes up.

 

[tmtrouble2006]

Hide my wallet!!! They all are the same.

 

[Liar]

1. They wouldn't be able to find me, I think. I keep my real life name out of Lit due to getting it Googled by companies that hire me for freelancing work.

2. We have a parlament member whose brother is in prison for raping kids. The voters as well as most media reacted with a collective "So?" to those revelations. It's his brother, not him.

 

[angela146]

2. We have a parlament member whose brother is in prison for raping kids. The voters as well as most media reacted with a collective "So?" to those revelations. It's his brother, not him.

Sounds like things are more civilized in the UK... but we already knew that didn't we?

Yeah, a brother is probably easier to "write off" than a child would be.

Besides, the parlament member you mentioned probably doesn't use the word "family" in every sentence of his campaign ads the way a lot of candidates do over here:

e.g. "... a strong leader who will work to protect your family from the forces of evil... ...today's children aren't raised with the kind of strong family values that blah blah blah..."

 

[TheEarl]

Sounds like things are more civilized in the UK... but we already knew that didn't we?

Yeah, a brother is probably easier to "write off" than a child would be.

Besides, the parlament member you mentioned probably doesn't use the word "family" in every sentence of his campaign ads the way a lot of candidates do over here:

e.g. "... a strong leader who will work to protect your family from the forces of evil... ...today's children aren't raised with the kind of strong family values that blah blah blah..."

Liar's in Sweden, where things are infinitely more civilised, but I think that'd be the same reaction in England. Unless my family member was running on a prudish policy of moral self-righteousness, then my erotica wouldn't be of any real interest to the political scene at large. I'm fair certain I'm disguised well enough to not get outed anyway; I'm kinda paranoid on Lit.

The Earl

 

[Alessia Brio]

There's only one reason I'm still "in the closet" re writing erotica: my kids. I don't want them to be splashed with any holier-than-thou shit from friends' parents. When they're older and better able to understand & fend for themselves, I'll not be as concerned about concealing my identity.

 

[scheherazade_79]

My best friend's running for Assembly. We discussed his campaign over a spliff, and now I'm designing his election website

 

[rgraham666]

Everyone in my family knows I write erotica. Except for my niece and nephews who are too young to understand.

I'm also not escpecially careful about hiding my real identity.

So my writing porn is no surprise. Said relative will run knowing their opponent(s) will almost certainly drag me and my profession into the fray.

 

[angelicminx]

My family, with the exception of my grandparents and the children, know what I write. Mom is constantly on me to pull my stuff off the web, because appearances are everything. However, she will stand with her fist raised defending my right to write what I want to, and publish where I want to. Dad hasn't voiced an opinion.

I haven't asked in so many words, but I get the feeling that my writing erotica embarrasses my twin brother. I do believe he would also defend my rights, and would likely use me as a platform on free speech and the idiocy of some laws.

I know my baby brother appreciates my writing abilities, he's always asking for my help on his papers. I don't think he cares what I write.

I believe I would lose my grandparents' respect, but I don't know for sure.

My daughter knows I write 'adult' stories that she isn't allowed to read. I'm working on something she is allowed to read.

Would I be prepared to be 'outed' and have my face appear in a smear campaign? Yep. I've been having to defend my actions for the last year and I've learned a lot about my ability to stand up to the opposition. I'm within my rights and will defend those rights until my dying breath.

 

[ROM]

Well, I'm pretty certain that anyone that _REALLY_ wanted to figure out exactly who the nickname "rom" belongs to could find out.... And that also goes for most other people here on lit. So hiding behind the nick probably isn't going to work.

However, I don't really think it'll matter one way or the other if it does get out.

Wasn't one of Darth Cheney's daughters openly a lesbian while her father was running a "family values" campaign that has been doing some serious gay-bashing? Seems to have worked _TWICE_ for her old man...

I wouldn't worry about it. If it does come out in the open, your relative's campaign manager will be 99.9% likely to tell your relative to respond with a positively monotone "Oh really, I didn't know that. Huh. So, anyway...." at which point it becomes a non-issue.

 

[Guest]

roflmao. thanks for the great laugh. i can't imagine any of my family... ever running for any office of any kind.
probably, my 'jaded' past and present would only help the situation.

 

[cloudy]

I come from a fairly prominent (in "their" area) southern family, so naturally there are plenty of skeletons in the closet - enough so that what I write would be of little interest.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Cry a lot and ask the heavens were we all went wrong.

 

[3113]

That would also mean that *you* would get outed. Would you be ready to have your face appear in an opposition smear ad?

Dudette! I'm a writer! I'd be overjoyed to get that kind of publicity and maybe get a ton more readers--and likely a publishing contract.

To take the question seriously, my Erotica writing isn't that smearable. If it included children or beastiality, then I'd probably be in trouble. But erotic romance? Maybe the gay stuff would get me some hate mail just because it's gay and people don't like gays, but the romantic stories are no worse than what's out on the shelves right now...and that's books in the *romance* section, not the erotica section of bookstores.

Might be a little more dicy if some of my stories were in the incest category. Most folks don't understand that one.

 

[Liar]

Cry a lot and ask the heavens were we all went wrong.

First laugh o' the evening. Thanks.

 

[SweetPrettyAss]

I think I keep my identity fairly secure. If anybody outed me, it wouldn't be a big deal. I would be a bit irritated but not much. None of my relatives would run on a phony "family values" platform anyhow.

 

[Boxlicker101]

My immediate family knows what I am doing and I make no attempt to concel my identity. My AV used to be a pic of my face and some of my illustrated poems include pictures of me.