... dimenticavo:

c'è una dichiarazione ufficiale fatta qualche anno fa da Harlequin Italia, qui:

http://www.deannacarlyle.com/articles/foreign.html

la parte rilevante in questo caso è:

In Italy, on the other hand, Harlequin's Blaze line is an unexpected hit, despite the fact that – or perhaps because – the edgy, erotic language has been edited out.

Italian Harlequin / Mondadori managing editor Maria Paolo Romeo explains why: "We have a different way to write about sex, less crude, less anatomical, more concentrated on sensations. It’s strange, but explicit sex scenes in English do not sound as much like porn as the same in Italian."