u/Doll_Lover_

I just released my debut indie novel Aftertaste and wanted to share it here. This story has been in my head for a long time and finally seeing it out in the world feels unreal. If you enjoy character driven fiction with emotional tension and darker edges, this one might be for you.

The Amazon paperback is $12.99.
The Barnes and Noble paperback is still showing $12.99 but it is updating to $14.99.
The Kindle ebook is $6.99.
The Barnes and Noble ebook is $7.99.

Amazon: https://a.co/d/01DmKiH2

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/aftertaste-ellie-hart/1149970163?ean=9798256328702

Thank you to anyone who checks it out or supports indie authors. It means a lot.

I just released my debut indie novel and wanted to share it here. The book is called Aftertaste by Ellie Hart. The Amazon paperback is $12.99. The Barnes and Noble paperback is still showing $12.99 but it is updating to $14.99. The Kindle ebook is $6.99 and the Barnes and Noble ebook is $7.99.

Here are the links:

Amazon: https://a.co/d/01DmKiH2
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/aftertaste-ellie-hart/1149970163?ean=9798256328702

Thank you to anyone who checks it out.

I’ve been watching a trend on Threads (and honestly TikTok before that) where people are starting to call everything “sexual assault.” And I don’t mean actual sexual violations. I mean things like:

• spanking a child

• grabbing someone’s arm

• any touch without consent

• any power imbalance

• any physical punishment

It’s gotten to the point where people are saying spanking a child is “indistinguishable from sexual assault.” And I’m sorry, but no. That’s not how categories work.

I’m someone who was spanked as a kid. I was also sexually assaulted as an adult. These are not the same category of harm. They don’t feel the same, they don’t function the same, and they don’t have the same intent. The worst part of being spanked wasn’t “feeling sexualized.” It was hearing my baby brother cry in the other room and feeling scared and ashamed (yes I’ve been spanked as well and it hurt). That’s real harm but it’s not sexual harm.

What frustrates me is that when I point this out, people accuse me of “minimizing.” But I’m not minimizing anything. I’m saying that different harms exist, and we need language that reflects that.

If we start calling every non‑consensual touch “sexual assault,” then by that logic:

• diaper changes are sexual assault

• medical exams are sexual assault

• a parent grabbing a child’s arm to stop them from running into traffic is sexual assault

And when I point this out, people say “that’s not my logic,” even though it is the logical extension of what they’re arguing.

I’m not theorizing from the outside. I’ve lived both experiences. I know what sexual abuse feels like. I know what physical punishment feels like. They are not interchangeable. They are not “indistinguishable.” And flattening them into one category doesn’t help survivors. It erases the differences that matter.

I’m tired of watching people online escalate every harm to the most extreme label because it feels morally satisfying. It’s not trauma‑informed. It’s not legally accurate. And it makes it harder for people to talk about what actually happened to them.

We need to be able to say:

• “This was harmful”

• “This was abusive”

• “This was violent”

• “This was sexual”

without acting like all four words mean the same thing. Because they don’t.