Can Erotica Be Cross-Genre?

I read a lot of fiction, and although there are certain genres of fiction that I don't care so much for, I like to read from a variety of different perspectives. I always try to keep my mind open to all kinds of books, and if a book holds my interest then I don't particularly care what genre it's classified as. Most of my friends who are avid readers seem to have the same attitude towards the books they choose to read.

Erotica seems to be a sticking point for a lot of readers, though. Part of that may be due to the weird puritanical influences that still pervade a broad cross-section of American society, but it also seems like there's a widespread attitude that any written work that can be construed as "erotica" must only be intended for masturbatory aid and can't have any other value. It all goes back to the definition of the dreaded p-word: "Something with no artistic value." Since we still haven't moved past Justice Potter Stevens' nebulous "I know it when I see it" classification of the p-word, all it takes is one unfriendly reader to get a work classified as "without artistic value."

Obviously kink, and bondage in particular, play a huge part in California Bondage Sorority Book One, but I didn't write it as just a work that some people will (hopefully) find erotic value in. I spent a lot of time working on other themes that I feel should interest a wider variety of readers, such as woman-on-woman bullying, university politics, shifting attitudes towards what are considered "acceptable" punishments (outside of kink) and the voyeuristic tendencies of modern American culture. I wanted to write a book that could be enjoyed in a variety of ways, in large part because that's the kind of writing that I enjoy reading the most.

There are lots of readers who are just inherently squeamish towards kink and/or sexuality, just like there are readers who can't handle horror novels (as just one example). I'd like to think that there's a way to open erotica up to a broader base of readers by emphasizing the fact that lots of novels classified as erotica can be read in a variety of ways. I just wish that I knew how to go about doing that, except through my own writing.