ffs, amanda craig novellist dropped from mslexia

Read and enjoyed The Golden Rule last night. Strike is more my speed but this one kept me reading into the wee hours too!

Hopefully you can read the attached Vargas

I can't see the Hannah Leach tweet, I think she's locked her account. What did she/they say?

I just feel like Attwood's nearly there in her writing. I think maybe it's her characters? They aren't real enough. And I sort of liked OANTOF but...nah, again, not quite.

Dr Leach has sort of let the cat out of the bag with that tweet hasn't they? Like, isn't that the evil end game we all knew they had in mind but they kept laughing through their beards and clutch bags and saying 'That'll never happen!' And now Hannah has tweeted it. Possibly by accident while trying to type the thorn phoneme. Oops...

Aw, I loved Oryx and Crake! And OANTOF was brilliant, though I've found Winterson increasingly hard work ever since, sadly. Surfacing really was awful, though.

One of the beautifully freeing side effects of being a GC rad fem is that I no longer have to pretend that I like books by Jeanette Winterson and Margaret Attwood like I did when I was young and stupid

I wish I had known that before I waded through Surfacing but at least I was shielded from Oryx and Crake.

I've just seen this.

I AM ENRAGED.

I subbed to Mslexia for ten years or more. I actually cancelled it last month due to finances, but I'm on the verge of emailing their subs department (I had said I'll resub as soon as I can) to say I'll never resubscribe again. Is that okay, or does that make me a bully too?

She's been sacked for a thoughtcrime, hasn't she? Because all she's actually visibly done is support an anti-bullying letter?

I'm so annoyed and disappointed.

Is there one particular one we should buy on Kindle to drive her up the rankings?

The Golden Rule is the most recent one so it's probably already selling reasonably well, so I'd go for that.

'Inclusivity' again. I now feel sick whenever I see the word as I know it means 'erasing the female sex.'

Is there one particular one we should buy on Kindle to drive her up the rankings?

But I think the desperation is going rampant now.

I don't really understand what Jane Harris means. Who has complained against whom?

But those RIP screenshots

Is Dr Hannah Leach a transwoman? Just out of interest.

@Gibbonsgibbonsgibbons

And this batshittery is the ultimate conclusion - can’t organise or protect women once they are no longer a definable group mobile.twitter.com/hm_leach/status/1311290557549948935

Delighted to have found a new (to me!) author though...

Well, helpful of the individual to spell it out so clearly. When we say this, we're told it is paranoid. Yet here it is in clear form.

Again: you cannot defend what you cannot define. Women can't work together as a group to defend our rights if we aren't allowed to define as a sex class at all.

JK Rowling is a heroine, and the virulently woman-hating attacks on her, and statements like the above, show precisely what this is really about. Some very brave and decent trans women have also said this, in fact - only to be turned on, too.

Also just bought Lie of the Land. It’s so scary to me that women can lose their incomes and reputation on the say so of any old TRA, and I understand why people are scared to speak up. But I really hope that things are starting to change a bit with the support from more well known people, sunlight is helping.

One good thing, looking at Jane Harris's feed - the science writer Simon Singh has signed the pro-JKR letter. I really like him. Thank God he has the decency to sign it.

Dr Jane Harris has tweeted asking people to send evidence in screenshots of JK Rowling being abused, because it looks like someone else may have had a complaint made against them. 😑

twitter.com/blablafishcakes/status/1311312553029623809

Loads of people have responded with screenshots, but all the threats together like that is fucking.. People seriously think that level of abuse is deserved and shouldn't be condemned?

I was starting to calm down and that Bookseller article has enraged me all over again. The sheer fuckwittery of Hargrave's response. "Really, it's about trans people's right to exist and have their existence enshrined in law."

You stupid, stupid, stupid woman.

I would like to formulate a more coherent response but frankly, I don't think she's earned it.

And this batshittery is the ultimate conclusion - can’t organise or protect women once they are no longer a definable group
mobile.twitter.com/hm_leach/status/1311290557549948935

Delighted to have found a new (to me!) author though...

Just ordered 4 Amanda Craig's and picked up Troubled Blood into the bargain.

Thanks Kit! Trying to avoid Amazon!

I read everything on Kindle, so it's Amazon for me! (Also Amazon provides 3/4 of my income, so...)

Jeanette Winterson is a big pusher of homeopathy. They can have her - there's no denying that she can turn a nice phrase but rational thought was never her strong suit.

I hope they realise their name is transphobic. They should change it at once. Dickslexia sounds good.

Signing letters against bullying is not inclusive

Because that makes sense 🙄

The full Mslexia statement is quoted in the link above, along with Amanda Craig's response, but here it is for ease of reading:

"Mslexia exists to support all writers who identify as women, regardless of their prior background or current circumstances, including issues relating to their age, race, class, income, disability, sexual preference, location, health status, fertility, caring responsibilities and gender assignment. We stand against all forms of abuse and harassment.
Mslexia aims to foster a welcoming and inclusive environment that encourages women to express themselves across a wide range of literary genres in the knowledge that they, and their writing, will always be treated with respect.
Therefore, we absolutely respect any woman’s right to freedom of speech, within the law. However, if a Mslexia judge expresses views that threaten to undermine Mslexia’s climate of welcome and inclusivity, we will always ask her to step down from that role."