Targeting / HarassmentThe TRA police are everywhere, even attacking random small publishing companies

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[–]latuspodSuper Straight 16 insightful - 1 fun16 insightful - 0 fun17 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

"In this day and age where Rowling has been outed as a transphobe"

No sympathy for me for this company, sounds like they are a part of the problem that has found a problem with themselves. Maybe they will figure it out, but I doubt it

[–]Constantine[S] 13 insightful - 1 fun13 insightful - 0 fun14 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I will always have sympathy for victims of censorship and cancel culture, whether I agree with them or not. And I don't know, the person seems intelligent and decided to publish this book in the first place, so clearly has some working conception of nuance. I think that there's a difference between people who are truly rabid TRAs and those who just toe the party line to avoid (more) backlash. He's trying to save his company, after all, and given my own profession I have to act similarly at work to avoid losing my livelihood.

I think there are a lot of people who are close to getting it, but not quite there yet. And by writing them off we're doing ourselves a disservice. How many of us were there not so long ago, after all, before we peaked? It's by reaching out to those involved with stuff like this that we can change more minds.

[–]IridescentAnacondastrictly dickly 10 insightful - 1 fun10 insightful - 0 fun11 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Long and technical but worth reading:

https://newdiscourses.com/2020/09/great-silencing-america-hallmarks-woke-totalitarianism/

[–]Constantine[S] 12 insightful - 1 fun12 insightful - 0 fun13 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Background for those who may not know: The publishing world, much like academia, has been a huge testing ground for all of this shit. It's been going on for years and now nothing can get published without being cleared by "sensitivity readers."

See this NYT article on sensitivity readers: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/24/books/in-an-era-of-online-outrage-do-sensitivity-readers-result-in-better-books-or-censorship.html

Now, it seems like nothing can be published on a marginally controversial topic in the literary world without getting cancelled, which would seem contradictory with the very goal of art and the written word in the first place.

See this editor's note in one particularly egregious case of a story written by a trans author about the trans experience being retracted for "transphobia:" http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/fall_01_20/

In this Reddit post, a new small publishing company details being attacked for releasing a dystopian novel that's eerily reminiscent of what's going on in Iran right now where people are transed so they won't be LGB. This is also done to remove women from this misogynistic dystopian society. Except the book is not anti-trans (despite the fact that it comes so close, yet so far, from getting why this movement is troubling in the first place), and the company utilized multiple trans "sensitivity readers." Of course, the attacks are coming from people who haven't even read the book (much like with the short story controversy linked above).

Who loses out here? Authors, small presses and magazines, the literary world as a whole, and society at large for being told that actually thinking outside the box amounts to a culturally criminal offense.

edit: grammar

[–]yousaythosethingsFind and Replace "gatekeeping" with "having boundaries" 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Thanks for the background!

[–]reluctant_commenter 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Thank you for the context! I used to keep up with the publishing world but haven't since like 2015-- wow has it changed!!

[–]Constantine[S] 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

No problem! Yeah, there have been serious seeds of this stuff in publishing for a while, but it really blew up post-2014. It’s no accident that a children’s book author is stuck in the middle of the culture war on all this.

[–]8bitgay 11 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 0 fun12 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I had a big 5 editor take my current book to acquisitions but because it featured a trans character seemingly dying (this turns out not to be true but you don't know this until the end), they declined. They felt it was too risky that no one would read all the way to the end to find out it wasn't just another kill-your-trans-characters trope.

Gosh that is sad. And I don't remember this much care on Netflix writers that kill their gay characters for example.

Oh, we knew it had the potential to be a problem. We ran it by some early sensitivity readers, though, in retrospect the ones we ran it by were highly educated, and I hate to say it, but maybe we should have found some "everyday" readers.

That's hilarious. Yeah, actually educated people tend to get better reactions than the people who are only "educated" through social media.

apparently this commenter has a history of going after place that are transphobic (which, in general I wholeheartedly support...they are just wrong here because they didn't read the book xD)

I think OP is being way too optimistic in thinking that the person who harassed them now acted differently in other situations.

[–]Constantine[S] 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Haha, yes, he goes on about picking sensitivity readers who are too "educated" several times in the thread. He really hit the nail on the head with that one, if unwittingly. A similar problem happened with the short story controversy I linked in my background comment.

And yes, I laughed out loud when I read that last part. There's no way this person was any more discerning in other attacks he or she has lodged. The whole post just had me thinking "you are so close, yet so far, from getting it, my friend." But then again, it's getting wrapped up in situations like this that made me peak. Maybe he'll get there. It sounds like an interesting book that comes really close to getting to the main issues with this movement.

[–]RedEyedWarriorGay | Male | 🇮🇪 Irish 🇮🇪 | Antineoliberal | Cocks are Compulsory 10 insightful - 2 fun10 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

"What’s wrong sweaty? If no publisher will publish your book, build your own publishing firm!"

"What’s wrong sweaty? If Amazon and Audible won’t sell your books, build your own website!"

"What’s wrong sweaty? If PayPal and Stripe won’t process payment transactions on your site, build your own payment processor!"

"What’s wrong sweaty? If banks won’t let you use their infrastructure, build your own bank!"

"What’s wrong sweaty? If the government won’t let you set up your bank, establish your own country!"

"What’s wrong sweaty? If my country invades your new country, move to a different country that already has a military capable enough of preventing us from invading it!"

"What’s wrong sweaty? If a nuclear war happens-"

At some point, this has got to stop. All these bootlickers who defend this deplatforming will argue "it’s a private company, they can do what they want!" until they are blue in the face. But they completely ignore the fact that oftentimes, these "private firms" are being arm-twisted into deplatforming people. "Freedom of speech only protects you from the government!" cries these bootlickers, as they conveniently ignore the fact that corporations in America have more power than the US federal government. I hate these people so fucking much.