I have not been a Literotica Member for very long, although I was reading and enjoying the works posted here for years before I signed up in order to post my own works. I tend to be attracted to only several groups here, although a well-written tale that is outside my normal bounds is often appreciated. But I always accepted the site for what it was -- a place to read and relate mostly fantasy fiction and the occasional true-life experience, for harmless stimulation and personal or shared enjoyment. The most important sexual organ is neither the genitals nor the heart, but is in fact the brain, where physical stimulation is converted to pleasure, where thoughts and emotions are interpreted, and where imagination feeds libido. The stories posted on this site by contributing authors helped me to accept my fevered imagination, and to embrace my arousal at both usual and unusual fantasies.

A favorite group of mine, from the early days, was the Loving Wives category, but after reading the recent story "Defrosting the Freezer" (http://www.literotica.com/s/defrosting-the-freezer) by qmhl1, and reading the accompanying comments, I am dismayed to admit that following a long and painful illness, LW has passed on. Sure, she has not been the erotic and playful woman she once was for several years, but seeing the reaction by the usual suspects, she has now, I fear, succumbed to her illness and slipped the mortal coil.

Oh, to have known her in her youth! How I often wish I had been there from the beginning, to have experienced the wonder of LW when she was a vibrant and sharing and adventurous category, exploring all the wonders of imagination, and was free to express the desires of fabulous characters living out experiences that were beyond the pale. To understand her long, brutal and unforgiving illness, one has to see what she once was; go back to the earlier stories, reading the adventures of married women, unencumbered by tradition and convention. In those days, fictional married female characters were free to enjoy the fruits of fantasy sexual adventures outside their marriage, either with or without their husband's approval, exploring the world of erotic variations and expanding their sexual horizons in a harmless world of words and images, enjoying all, and hurting none.

Let me state for the record that I bring my own pre-conceived notions to the group, and as you might determine from my postings, the idea of a woman coming to terms with her sexual desires, shucking conventions and mores, is a favorite slant. I suppose it is my way of convincing myself that my own fantasies are acceptable and not condemnable: it is not the attraction of a woman who cheats, but one of a woman who allows herself to enjoy, and to accept her own pleasure, and pursues it with vigor. And in the older stories of LW's youth is a gold mine of such fantasy. Adventures I would never experience, nor would want to, but in which I could allow my mind to explore and experience forbidden and exciting realms and scenarios.

Some of the responsibility for the recent demise of this once-wonderful category belongs squarely in the lap of the site itself, for misnaming the group as Loving Wives, instead of Cheating, or Hot, or the more narrow Slut Wives. But who could have seen the misinterpretation by readers so long ago? Loving Wives is a clever name, to include married women enjoying love in all its forms. Who would have guessed that current readers would read these stories of married women enjoying physical pleasures outside their vows, only to rail against the subject matter? Is it because they see it as their mission to wipe out infidelity, even in an imagined form? Is it because they have experienced an event in their lives that has hardened them to the idea, and yet they are lured back, drawn to it as a moth to flame, only to be burned, again and again, reliving their pain as self-imposed punishment? Or are they aroused by the stories, as so many have been, but shamed by their arousal, and hold others responsible for their feelings of doubt and self-recrimination?

But clearly, whatever their motivation, they have accomplished their goal; LW is now dead, passed on to another plane of existence. On her tombstone should be the tag line for the category "Tales of adventurous married women & their mates." She has been chased from this life by a small, vocal group of (and I realize this may inflame the haters) both anonymous and named readers who have, over the last years, chased the best fantasy fiction out of the category. The morality trolls, the "1*" commandos, the vicious threats of death (against fictional characters!) the insulting comments to the authors; vigorous, vehement and determined, have chased away all the best writers, daunting the experienced and accomplished storytellers, the weavers of fantasy fabric that enrich our minds and lives. They either left the site or post only in other categories.

What has been left in the last years is a shell of her former self. Gone are the well-told tales by good writers spinning quality narratives of women exploring other worlds, other men, other experiences. We are left with only newbies (I was one once -- keep writing!) who post their fantasies only to have them trashed by the peanut gallery. Granted, some of those stories are poorly written, and deserve the criticism for the lack of skill. But do they deserve the criticism because they relate fictional events that a small group of determined critics feel is immoral or wrong r evil? Is it any wonder the category has declined over the last years? Who could take that level of beating and continue?As a storyteller, I find it difficult to do the hard work of writing, re-writing, shaping, and editing until a story is ready for submission, only to have it reviled and trashed by lurkers who read a category they profess to hate.

Which bring me back to qhml1 and the story "Defrosting The Freezer", and the apparent demise of the LW category. The story is well told, with no glaring writing errors, and I thank qhml1 for his efforts and work. Well done. But it is clearly not a story that a few years ago would have been in the LW category. It is, at its basic level, a story of a married couple who have sex with each other. It clearly belongs in either Romance, or Erotic Couplings. The ice and freezer might place it in Fetish. But does the ice, henna tattoo and purchase of a major appliance qualify it for "adventurous married women & their mates"? Only in the narrowest sense. And that sense is what the commenters have forced onto the category: wives who have sex with their husbands. And based on the comments offered, they have gotten their wish. They have turned the intent of LW from what it once was into fidelity group. Those stories have a place on this site, no doubt. Several, in fact, as indicated above. But it received significant praise not only for what it was, but for what is was NOT.

Oh, Loving Wives, how we miss you.