homophobia & Amazon.com

[rm]

http://vashtan.livejournal.com/490173.html
http://community.livejournal.com/meta_writer/11369.html

Amazon removes rankings from books with homosexual characters, including from at least one YA book, because they don't wish to include "adult" content in their rankings out of respect to the range of their membership.

Queer content does not inherently equal sexual or "adult" content.

We've got a big problem on our hands with this one.

If you find a targetted media product, add to list here: http://community.livejournal.com/meta_writer/11992.html

Comments

[woogledesigns.livejournal.com]

hmmm. I think the problem is perceived as being 'we can't explain what homosexuality is without explaining what sex is, and that's inherently adult.'

Possible solutions- use the same language that is used to sanitize heterosexuality to obfuscate homosexuality eg:
"Some people tend to fall in love with women, and some people tend to fall in love with men, and you never know which you are until you start to fall in love..."

Of course some people may think that being queer is a deviance and therefore has to be kept from children. Not sure what to do about that except ask amazon to take a stand, in essence deliberately disrespecting one portion of it's consumer base to ethically side with another portion.

[gairid.livejournal.com]

I just read about this and to say I am dismayed is a true understatement--infuriated is more the word.

Respect for the 'range of their membership'? Oh, give me a break. I wonder which fundie wingnut group crawled up Amazon's ass to provoke this kind of response?

[rm.livejournal.com]

I've looked up some books I know and love: unaffected. I wonder if there were complaints against specific books, if only stuff with smaller presses is being targetted or what. Even if it's one rogue staff member, there's a serious issue. They're getting a nastygram from me later today.

[saharafic.livejournal.com]

And...tweeted. I really hope this clears up, as my Kindle is needing more books...

[vashtan.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'll try and gather the cases that are affected.

[autumnyte.livejournal.com]

Oh, fuck this.

[better-late24.livejournal.com]

That's pretty damned stupid, especially since I can easily find ACTUAL adult content on their site.

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

Well, damn. I was already mostly boycotting them over they way they dick over small presses, but I hadn't quite pulled the pitchforks and torches out of the cling wrap.

Out of respect for the range of their membership? They don't want GLBTQ people to be part of their "membership"?

I'm going to need some matches...

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

What does amazon do to small presses?

[1-mad-squirrel.livejournal.com]

I'm passing this on.

[vashtan.livejournal.com]

We're collection books that are affected:

http://community.livejournal.com/meta_writer/11992.html

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Good idea!

.. how can they take the sales rank off Brokeback Mountain? That film got several Oscar nods! (Do we know if the original Proulx short story collection where it came from, "Open Range" has also been mucked-about with, or just the separate "BBM" volume?)

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

I heard about this from alex_beecroft, whose novel False Colours, an m/m historical romance, had just broken through and was ranking in top 10 historical novels-- i.e. non-romance, non-gay-- and then it suddenly disappeared entirely from the rankings.
The novel is NOT erotica, contains only one non-explicit sex scene, but the central premise features two male characters falling in love.

[vashtan.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I added that

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

I have a couple friends who work for Amazon. I'll be asking them some questions later.

[rm.livejournal.com]

One of the links contains a letter from an Amazon employee vaguely explaining the policy, which might be of interest to you in advance of question posing.

[ophymirage.livejournal.com]

completely off topic, but *iconlove*. May I copy?

[eac.livejournal.com]

This can't stand.

Forgive me for asking (rather than rereading all the attached posts to see whether I've missed it) but has anyone clearly identified the right place to send a complaint about this?

Also, when does Amazon bow down and do something to respect MY END of the range of their membership?

[sushis.livejournal.com]

I linked to this entry on my Twitter. Think I will on my LJ, too.

[chaos-by-design.livejournal.com]

That's incredibly disappointing. I just bought a Kindle, too.

[rm.livejournal.com]

connect-help@amazon.com

[baxaphobia.livejournal.com]

I heard about this from imafarmgirl Sigh.

[xtricks.livejournal.com]

Do you know, offhand if straight erotica are also being removed from the rankings?

Amazon has ton of porn of all orientations.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Not that we can find. It's almost imposible, of course, to figure out, because this is all so scattershot. But with several queer books with no erotic content in them at all (a YA book, The Well of Lonliness, others), so far we're thinking not.

[bart-calendar.livejournal.com]

Since Albus Dumbledore is gay does this mean they will no longer include any of the Harry Potter books in their rankings?

[rm.livejournal.com]

1. So far it seems to be scattershot.

2. Congratualtions on having the privilege to make light of this. Not the time or place.

[dulcinbradbury.livejournal.com]

One thing I'm unclear of is how sales rank influences searching and other sales. I'm having a hell of a time finding any information on Amazon on that.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Amazon sales rankings affect how books appear for people browsing the site. Additionally, once a ranking number is removed, the book will no longer appear in a general search, only a search for the specific title. Finally, Amazon sales rankings are often used as conditions in author contracts and my independent bookstores to help make purchasing decisions. Having sales rank removed can have a direct affect on livelihood for the involved authors.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

Un-frickin' believable :shaking head:

[blackbird-song.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the heads-up.

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Wow. Epic fail. One, way to alienate a goodly percentage of your customers, Amazon; and two, good luck finding everything — I note with some amusement that Alan Moore’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier and Lost Girls are both still ranked, and you’d think that same-sex shenanigans in comic book format would be right out.

ETA: Oh, it gets better! The Lesbian Kama Sutra, “Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,704,441.” So fiction = bad; how-to book = A-OK!

[irreparable.livejournal.com]

A couple more links for you in chronological order: Erastes first post (http://erastes.livejournal.com/373840.html), the second (http://erastes.livejournal.com/374055.html) and third (http://erastes.livejournal.com/374583.html). There's a bit about which email addy was used to contact Amazon, which might be useful. But overall, this is disgraceful behaviour/attitudes on the part of Amazon.

[stardragonca.livejournal.com]

If Amazon.ca is doing this, it's illegal under Canadian law.