James, I had this client two years back who wrote for the newspaper: cooking, pottery, human interest. Well I told her about you, that my coach had a literary site and she got online and pulled it up and said, “He is really prolific.”
Right then and there my account flashes before my eyes and I say, “Read at your own risk. He doesn’t pull any punches and he’s really out there with some stuff. If you’re sensitive in a politically correct way then you might want to go elsewhere for your morning reading.”
She was scrolling away, saying, “This is fascinating.”
Fortunately I got out of there before she pulled up a masculinity article. However, a year later, she brought up your site and seemed to be appreciative. She’s a sweet lady—not the kind of woman you would expect to be into your subject matter.
Perhaps you should have a more comprehensive disclaimer. With all of the politically correct people out there—like those who get mad at a comedian for making a joke about an Olympic runner carrying them on their back—you might even want to customize your disclaimer—multiple disclaimers!
Oliver, you are a genius. Henceforth I shall endeavor to provide a catalogue of disclaimers to fit the many-hued sensitivity spectrum. It will take some time for my callous mind’s eye to dial in on these numerous civility scales, but at some point in the unpromised future I shall try and take your feelings—whoever or whatever you are—into account in fifty words or less.
Taboo You: Deluxe Man Cave Edition