Amazon: LGBT books too “adult” to be ranked.

So…I’ve been busy as all hell lately, which means I haven’t really been writing much of anything. However, I do have some interesting stuff I want to write about, so once summer comes around, expect at the very least a post on reading the manga F. (Family) Compo, a family comedy about having trans parents.

But in urgent news, I’m stutter-posting my post on Pam’s House Blend about the Amazon Deranking fiasco.

(Logo from here.)

EDIT: Amazon has announced this is a “system glitch” that will be fixed.

Thanks to the sharp eye of author Mark Probst, it appears that Amazon is now removing sales rankings from a vast swath of LGBT books for being too “adult.”

Official Amazon.com Response:

In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude “adult” material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature.Hence, if you have further questions, kindly write back to us.

Best regards,
Ashlyn D
Member Services
Amazon.com Advantage

Which means that highly “adult” materials like Radclyffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness and the The Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students no longer have sales rankings, while blatantly ‘adult’ material such as Laurel K Hamilton’s Merry Gentry series is still ranked.

And with most of the LGBT-focused books de-ranked, the Gay and Lesbian Bestseller list is now almost entirely listing only Kindle editions (ranked on their own Kindle-exclusive list).

meta_writer is collecting related links and a list of book affected. For the twitter-inclined the official twittertag is #amazonfail. There is an online petition protesting Amazon’s decision and Smart Bitches, Trashy Books suggests Google-bombing the term “amazon rank” (see their post for more information).

Oh, the horrors that might result if one were to “introduce into the minds of perfectly innocent people the most revolting thoughts.”

Also, it should be noted that not only LGBT books are suffering: Feminist and general sexuality books have been targeted as well.

Contact Information: Amazon’s main help e-mail is connect-help @ amazon . com (remove the spaces). For other methods, try http://clicheideas.com/amazon.htm.

Or write to their CEO:
Jeffrey Bezos
1200 12th Avenue South,
Seattle, Washington 98144-2734

United States Phone: 206-266-1000
Fax: 206-622-2405

Linkblogging 11-13-08

Apologies; I’m currently buried under work and won’t see relief until Thanksgiving, so I only have a couple of links and a submissions call to fill in the space.

• In light of the racism coming out of the white LGBT community following the false Prop 8 exit polls: Pam’s House Blend has a great post on one black LGBT person’s experience in the black church, read alongside the book Their Own Receive Them Not: African American Lesbians And Gays in Black Churches.
• And from Ariel Silveria:

Deadline: March 1st, 2009

Submissions wanted for enTRANS’d, a new zine focused on transsexual issues with a feminist angle. Articles, critiques, reviews and short writings (short stories, personal anecdotes and poetry all accepted). International perspectives and experiences are not just wanted, but needed, so don’t hesitate to submit, no matter where you are.

enTRANS’d is a proposal for an anthology zine on trans writing with a feminist bent. The aim is simple: to add to the increasing visibility of transsexuality in the feminist and queer communities, feminist and queer activism, and the world at large. It is my belief, as a trans person and intersectional anarchafeminist, that it is in our best interests to make our voices heard directly. At a time when we’re making gains as a community, we’re also in danger of letting our voices be drowned by authoritative, established transphobic voices in the feminist realm, like Germaine Greer, et al.

It is my personal belief that part of our struggle has to involve talking, discussing, and provoking. If ugly arguments must happen, let them happen, for many people are ignorant and well-meaning. It’s not our duty to become educational experiences for people. However, I believe many fellow, cissexual and/or cisgendered individuals may be ignorant of our struggles, yet mean well and be willing to learn. I believe in the human heart, and I believe that the worst we can do is to stay silent and let other people speak for us.

I want us to agitate. I want trans people of all sexes and genders to be heard, our experiences understood as being as diverse as in any other group. Others won’t do it for us.

Let’s keep the momentum created by a multitude of great trans writers, online and offline, all over the world.

(Please note, this call for submissions is not limited to transsexual individuals. Allies with experience in trans issues and trans feminist activism and/or writing are also invited to contribute. Already published writing is acceptable. Please supply the url, or reference if it is a zine, book, etc.)

Submissions, questions, queries, please e-mail Ariel Silvera at ascots [[AT]]gmail —DOT— com

Linkblogging: RLE and detransitioning

Not much of a content post this time around, but some links to chew on. At Pam’s House Blend, Autumn Sandeen and LenaD discussed “Real Life Experience” and detransitioning, in this case focused on the public de-transitioning of LA Times sportswriter Christine Daniels back to her original name, Mike Penner. I find this paragraph of Autumn’s post especially interesting:

I know there are other reasons than the ones my therapist cites. Sometimes the reason is relating to faith, where one becomes an “ex-transsexual” or “ex-transgender” (the trans equivalents to “ex-gay”). Sometimes it’s because the person really isn’t a transsexual, and an unsuccessful RLE catches them before they experience transsexual regret. Since my therapist doesn’t practice conversion (or reparative) therapy, she wouldn’t see those who are detransitioning for reasons of faith. But, it is interesting that in all the years of her practice, she’s never seen a transsexual who has detransitioned due to because the detransitioner has figured out that he or she really wasn’t transsexual — all of her detransitioners have detransitioned due to external pressures.

I’m not really sure what I think on all of this and don’t feel qualified to comment; I’m more in the “listen and process” stage. However, this did strike me as interesting in light of Lisa’s post at Questioning Transphobia on “I wouldn’t wish transsexuality on my worst enemy.” If nothing else, the assertion that ‘those who detransition do so due to outside societal pressure’ matches up with her belief–a belief I agree with–that “being trans is just like being cis, except, well, for not being cis. It’s not worse or better.”