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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Yet another woman - a writer - sacked after TRA campaign.

230 replies

WildishBambino · 01/07/2020 16:12

Having seen Hachette and the Blair Partnership stand up for JKR, I had some hope for the publishing industry.

There's a series of children's books called The Warrior Cats. Proper children's books, aimed at the 8-12 age range, and not part of YA fiction. Published by Harper Collins, but put together by Working Partners.

The books are written by 'Erin Hunter' which is collective pseudonym for a bunch of female writers. One of which was a Scottish writer Gillian Philip.

When JKR was attacked, Philip changed her twitter handle to include a message of support. This attracted the ire of the TRAs and also it appears the Furries (because of the anthropomorphic cats I assume). She received a huge amount of sexualised abuse via Twitter, which she just retweeted and said 'Bring it on homophobes and lesbian-haters'.

Her twitter feed is now gone, but you can view a cache <a class="break-all" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Qisq_6YhRvwJ:twitter.com/Gillian_Philip+&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=firefox-b-d" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here

As she wouldn't recant, the TRAs facilitated a mass spamming of complaints to her employer Working Partners.

Within 24 hours James Noble is the managing editor at Working Partners personally emailed complainants to say she was sacked.

This really doesn't seem to have been picked up by the media, presumably because it involves a children's author far less well-known than JKR. But it shows what happens to women who step out of line when they aren't too big to cancel.

OP posts:
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Roseburn · 02/07/2020 13:42

It's climbing up the ranks! Was 7 thousand and something when I ordered mine an hour ago It's now 6,542

Think I might have to buy the kindle version too...

StandUpStraight · 02/07/2020 13:37

This is all awful for Gillian but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t pleased to discover new books for my kids that are definitely not pushing sexist gender ideology.

BoreOfWhabylon · 02/07/2020 13:37

It's climbing up the ranks! Was 7 thousand and something when I ordered mine an hour ago It's now 6,542 Smile

Ereshkigalangcleg · 02/07/2020 13:33

It would be fantastic if we could push it up the kindle charts as a gesture of support for gillian. It's already at the 6000-ish mark which is really good and it won't take many sales to propel it into the top 1000.

I'll get it tomorrow.

BoreOfWhabylon · 02/07/2020 13:24

From a review of One Faith
Cass lives in a world not unlike ours. It may even be ours some time in the future. Religious diversity has been eradicated and replaced by the One Church. People of other faiths have been persecuted or fled into exile... Atheists and secularists are depised by the general community but below even them in the social hierarcy are the apostates. Those that have lost their faith and face complete and open discrimination by the popular mass.

How ironic

Nicetoolshed · 02/07/2020 12:43

I think I'll get the paperback for DD. It sounds great, and from the summary, I can understand why she's stuck up for what she believes in.

AbsintheFriends · 02/07/2020 12:23

Thanks bogoblin

Where do you see its ranking?

It's in 'product details' Binglebong - more difficult to find on a mobile device than on a laptop. Amazon sales ranking. I can see this one has actually slipped down a bit, but of course it's Thursday, which is release day in publishing so there will be a lot of competition today. Waiting until tomorrow to download on kindle might be a better idea.

StandUpStraight · 02/07/2020 12:11

Thanks for the hive suggestion @DangerFrog. I have ordered Firebrand. I would have ordered the lot but they’re not in stock. I have searched on a few sites now and you really have to look for these books - searching by author’s name brings up a list of random other gillians and jillians.

WendyHoused · 02/07/2020 12:03

I've emails -

I'm writing to express my disquiet at the apparent sacking of author Gillian Philips from the Erin Hunter series of titles because of her views on feminism. As the one chooses the books we buy for our children, I would be reluctant to support a company that stifles the voices of women campaigning for their rights. Should you persist in taking Ms Philips’ work from her, I will no longer feel able to purchase Beast Quest, Rainbow Fairies and any of the other series I’ve given to children over the years.

I hope you are able to reassure me I am misinformed and Ms Philips remains on your roster.

I look forward to hearing from you
WendyH

Binglebong · 02/07/2020 11:13

Where do you see its ranking?

bogoblin · 02/07/2020 10:52

@AbsintheFriends Yes that's the one

JustHereWithMyPopcorn · 02/07/2020 10:51

This surely has to be discriminatory enough to take to court?

AbsintheFriends · 02/07/2020 10:48

Just checking that this is the right book www.amazon.co.uk/Bad-Faith-Philip-ebook/dp/B07BYKVFZK/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1593682947&sr=8-1

It would be fantastic if we could push it up the kindle charts as a gesture of support for gillian. It's already at the 6000-ish mark which is really good and it won't take many sales to propel it into the top 1000.

Aside from anything else, it sounds great. 'Think 1984 without the livestock' - I'm very ready for that.

Manderleyagain · 02/07/2020 10:40

The twitter accounts in that thread where they are talking about the author putting up a rainbow heart - they all sound really young. They use words my daughter and friends use - 13 - 14.

This whole thing is really disgusting. I'm sure it tells us about the precarious employment arrangements for people on those sort of jobs, but for Harper Collins ( & and Working whatever they're called) to behave like that is so stupid & short sighted. All these organisations are telling the world - " if you can get a mob together on social media we will do what you tell us. We have no idea what type of thing we'll be pushed into doing in the future but whatever it will be is fine by us. Join the queue to push us around here."

DreadPirateLuna · 02/07/2020 10:33

I really worry about the effect this will have on literature, children's and YA literature in particular. If you can only be published by adhering to a very narrow set of beliefs, then the quality and diversity of what is published has to suffer.

TobyYoung · 02/07/2020 10:29

Students, retirees and those on benefits can join for £24.99/year. And whether you're a discount member or a part-time member you can pay monthly, so discount membership starts at £2.49/month:

freespeechunion.org/join/

Letter-writing is certainly one of the things we do, but we also offer a range of other services, including providing people with pro bono legal support in certain circumstances. We did that in the recent case of Mike McCulloch:

unherd.com/thepost/liked-tweets-nearly-cost-me-my-university-job/?=frpo

BovaryX · 02/07/2020 07:50

@TobyYoung

I really hope that Gillian Philip is able to get some redress by the involvement of the FSU. It is quite shocking that in a Western liberal democracy, authors are being sacked for wrong think. I think this is deliberate targeting. Pour encourager les autres. What is also shocking is how few powerful public figures are prepared to stand up for freedom of speech. Good luck to Gillian and FSU. This onslaught against freedom of speech must be challenged.

AnyOldPrion · 02/07/2020 03:49

It may depend which series you’re working on, how much you earn from it and whether you have invested in a mortgage based on those earnings. Given Gillian was working on spin-offs, it’s likely she wasn’t earning much, and though that differential is problematic in itself, it does mean she has more opportunity to walk away.

This is where consumerism above all else gets us. HC values profit over authors, who are largely disposable unless they are as big as JK Rowling. And the Working Partners method, where authors write under a pseudonym means they are completely replaceable.

ItsLateHumpty · 02/07/2020 01:29

The books are written by 'Erin Hunter' which is collective pseudonym for a bunch of female writers. One of which was a Scottish writer Gillian Philip.

And the other 2/3 of that collective very quickly showed their submission to the mob by posting the trans flag as a heart. The mob approves. For now.

twitter.com/selneversleeps/status/1277685132686766082

“I can’t believe Vicky Holmes punched Gillian Philip in the face”
“Can't believe Kate kicked her afterwards.“
“vicky holmes took gillian phillips to the ring and jumped off the ropes onto her“

Yet another woman - a writer - sacked after TRA campaign.
Yet another woman - a writer - sacked after TRA campaign.
NoSquirrels · 02/07/2020 00:56

We are faaaar down the rabbit hole if a writer who’s not even the named author on a series of fantasy books about cats gets canned. What a ridiculous state of affairs. Shame on both HC and WP for allowing this to be any sort of issue.

Flywheel · 02/07/2020 00:49

I tried to download bad faith on my kindle but the searches were coming up blank. Found it eventually as it says it's by Philip rather than Gillian Philip. It is a US kindle - not sure if that makes a difference, but may be useful for anyone else having the same problem.

DangerFrog · 02/07/2020 00:36

If anyone's still looking to buy Gillian's books they're still available at hive.co.uk which also lets you support independent bookshops over Amazon Smile

KayakingOnDown · 01/07/2020 23:12

The Free Speech Union is a great idea but I don't like the fact that it's £50 to join. Free speech should be free.

And it doesn't promise or seem to provide any support bar writing letters?

TobyYoung · 01/07/2020 22:56

Yes, it's me @SenselessUbiquity.

I wouldn't breach confidentiality @JinnyTheWitch. Stella, Posey and Gillian are all happy for the FSU's support for them to be made public.

littlbrowndog · 01/07/2020 22:33

I read a lot of books. On my kindle.

I never read about the author. I only want to read a good story

I think that’s what reading is about

Not cancelling authors cos of some made up stuff by kid# on twitter

Readers want good stories not red guard telling us who and what we can read

This is trying to control what we can read.

Slippery slope to a control of what we can read.

Publishers doing this sound very very like all authoritative regimes

Read what we want you to,read