Contest Investigation Findings and Corrected Results

[Claire]

@Blue Nobody will delete your post. People disagree with a sexist statement you made and that's it. That doesn't mean you don't get express that believe, it only means that it won't remain here undisputed.

But let me tell you what the reality for women on the forum is. Because it most certainly is not men trying to charm us by giving our writing preferential treatment.

My story "Late to the Party" just won the latest contest. It received 11 votes and has at the moment a rating of 39 from 16 different people. What do you think how many people - aside from those I speak with regularly regardless of whether I'm participating in a contest - have contacted me because they wanted to use their rating/vote to get to know me? The answer is zero. As a matter of fact, I don't recall a single incidence of that happening since the launch of the forum. Just today, my story got a 3 point rating from a user who registered in October last year and who has 0 posts. I have no idea who that person even is. If their rating of my story is an attempt to gain my favor, then they are doing a very bad job, because they fail to get in contact with me.

If we now asked @Vela Nanashi, @VictimEyes or @sinfulwords for their experience here, I'd doubt they would tell you anything fundamentally different. Maybe they'll surprise me and one of them will say "Oh yeah, a bunch of male users have hit me up shortly after giving one of my stories a rating" but I consider that to be highly unlikely.

But with your statement, whether intended or not, you call the legitimacy of our female authors' successes here into question. Take @sinfulwords' "Love of my chains story". That is the first time that we have a new user on the board whose very first story immediately achieved Popular status without any extra support from being a contest story. That is a remarkable achievement and I have no reason to believe that the rating of her story would be significantly lower if she were a man. As a matter of fact, when she first registered and used a Lenin-avatar, I thought she was a man.

But if you want to know what male attention for female authors in communities like ours can really look like, it's something like this:

Hi Claire. I’d love to read your “harder” stories. Do they come from experiences or pure fantasy?

Tony x

This is a PM I got on the Literotica forum about two weeks ago. Men thinking it's somehow okay to start a conversation with me where the first thing they do is ask whether my noncon stories are based on personal experiences. And trust me, this isn't the first time this has happened.

What I've never gotten is a first message that reads like this:

Hi Claire. I read your story Venus' Touch and I liked it a lot. Gave it a rating and added it to my favorites. I was wondering about the ambiguous ending in that story. What's your take on it?

The truth is: men who try to get a woman's attention in a kink-writing community like ours rarely take the time to engage with our writing like you seem to imagine. They usually just contact you like that "Tony X" guy I quoted and seem to think that every inappropriate question is fair game just because the woman they contacted writes taboo erotica.

So with all due respect: Even if what you said about that photography community were true, it isn't true here. Get that idea that women in our community have some advantage in terms of contests and ratings over our male writers out of your head. It is simply not true.

[Vela Nanashi]

Not on this forum...

But some (who identify as) men have approached me in pms, in inappropriate ways, and asked for where I live, how old I am, pictures, measurements, wanting to get me on discord to talk with etc, and other such things. Also for some of the ones I have decided to try role plays with, they had broken with the rules/limits that were agreed to, been disappointing when they: failed to read what I wrote in the role play, and fail to even write a paragraph reply.

I suspect that here some people may be scared of me as I have the purple of a tech admin Anyone male or female that are approached inappropriately let the mod/admin team know by the way, so we can try to help fix the issue.

[VictimEyes]

Not only do I agree with the two previous posters (@Vela Nanashi and @Claire ), I would expand on their statements.

I have, at times, felt as though I have been subjected to misogynistic discrimination by male users.

[Blue]

@Claire :
I didn't publish my comment with the deliberate intention of being sexist. It was simply an observation I was carrying over from other forums to this one. I’m sorry if it came across the wrong way to anyone. And I am, of course, relieved that this statement doesn't seem to apply here.
However, I could easily prove to you that the statement holds true—especially in photography and erotic forums. I’ve had feedback from countless models saying that the photos I took of them—which they posted themselves—were often accompanied by lewd comments or emails. I, too, have been asked repeatedly whether I’d f***ed all those pretty women or if they were willing to f***. But let’s drop the subject; as far as I’m concerned, it’s a closed issue here because it’s clearly irrelevant.

@Vela Nanashi I strongly condemn this type of sexist harassment—on which kind of forums ever. And yes, it may well be because you are a moderator on this board. The feedback from @VictimEyes shows that it is possible here, too.

@VictimEyes It’s a shame that this happens here on the forum, too.

[RapeU]

I have, at times, felt as though I have been subjected to misogynistic discrimination by male users.

That sounds like something you need to PM a member of the mod team about so that it can be addressed.

[Vela Nanashi]

Yeah, it does if it is going on here, we want to try to fix it.

[sinfulwords]

If we now asked @Vela Nanashi, @VictimEyes or @sinfulwords for their experience here, I'd doubt they would tell you anything fundamentally different. Maybe they'll surprise me and one of them will say "Oh yeah, a bunch of male users have hit me up shortly after giving one of my stories a rating" but I consider that to be highly unlikely.

Yeah I can corroborate that I’ve received no flirtatious dms on RA, all the dudes here have been nothing but respectful and cordial.

But with your statement, whether intended or not, you call the legitimacy of our female authors' successes here into question. Take @sinfulwords' "Love of my chains story". That is the first time that we have a new user on the board whose very first story immediately achieved Popular status without any extra support from being a contest story. That is a remarkable achievement and I have no reason to believe that the rating of her story would be significantly lower if she were a man. As a matter of fact, when she first registered and used a Lenin-avatar, I thought she was a man.

thanks for the airs HG! I hadn’t realized I achieved a ‘first’ in academy history with Love of My Chain I’m all giddy now ^.^

And I remember when u thought I was a dude I dead ass changed my pfp after that cause I didn’t wanna be mistaken for a man. Not that I have anything against men but I enjoy my femininity ^.^

However, I could easily prove to you that the statement holds true—especially in photography and erotic forums. I’ve had feedback from countless models saying that the photos I took of them—which they posted themselves—were often accompanied by lewd comments or emails. I, too, have been asked repeatedly whether I’d f***ed all those pretty women or if they were willing to f***.

hey, lol I’m Sinful, nice to meet you I don’t wanna over step cause i'm new here and we don't know each other but I'll offer my two cents. I don't think anyone would dispute women get more hype on the internet from men who have a notion that attention will gain them some kind of favor. Especially on apps with pictures and videos. But I think your deduction, that the reason a woman beat you in a contest was because of that phenomenon, was what rubbed people the wrong way. Sometimes women are just better writers. Now I realize Lalia was using burner accounts when she won against u, but for example Claire and Veela actually did win their contests and your comment sort of implies that their victories weren't based on merit, but the fact men voted for them cause they're ladies. It sort of diminishes their achievements. So u were tweakin there big dawg

[HistBuff]

My own experience as a male writer has been quite positive. I sometimes get PMs from readers who enjoy my stories, and some happen to be female readers. This was especially true when I was on Ravishu. The interactions were always very respectful and in good taste. Yes, very positive experience!

One thing that has profoundly touched me was the one message from a girl who had been gang-raped and told me my stories helped her understand that what happened to her wasn't her fault, because really there was nothing she could have done. This was also on Ravishu, at a time I was considering quitting writing. I had no idea that my "fun-filled stories" could make such a difference in a girl's life.