Open letter to The Bookseller says 'transphobia acceptable in British book industry'

What level of delusion is demanded of a person for them to work in what is the most left-leaning business in one of the most liberal societies on earth, and still imagine yourself dwelling among aspiring Nazis? Imagine looking at the politics section of Waterstones, or even the now heavily-political children’s section, and not being at least aware that British publishing might be somewhat more liberal than the public at large?

I felt like cheering at this whole article. Bloody brilliant.

Not at all, worth its own thread I think.

Sorry just started a new thread with that - its a corker.

Great piece by Douglas Murray on this.

unherd.com/2021/05/publishing-is-now-a-leftist-bubble/

YouSetTheTone you'd hope, wouldn't you, but in publishing people are educated but not always intelligent.

The fact that the letter was so badly written surely can't have failed to have registered with people. There is a lot of poorly written fiction being published but most people in publishing still know it's poorly written fiction...

Surely there are people who look at that and then look at what, say, J K Rowling wrote, and starts to compare them with a degree of critical thinking?

Sunlight...?!

discusses previous forms of discrimination in regards to “homosexuals, Jews, disabled people, people of colour, Muslims, suffragettes, even left-handed people in our past”

Previous forms - hahahahaha. No discrimination now against those people.
It's just certain others apparently.

Oh WinterTrees and WindyPudding (and everyone). You give me hope! My concern is that the vicious she/hers are taking over as the older generation leaves publishing. Thanks for that story too nauticant. We just need the bloody Grauniad to start actually reporting on it (though that Observer interview of David Bell by Rachel Cooke was excellent).

Who on earth is talking about 'pink and blue'?

It's grimly funny, isn' t it? We're so amazingly open minded, we believe that not everyone falls into a pink and blue box and people don't have to conform to gender stereotypes! We think lesbians should be allowed to love whoever they want! We even think non-white women are women! We think "trans kids are perfect just as they are" (1) We're super feminist! We think human beings are "complex and nuanced"! We believe in listening to the voices of the marginalised! We honour and respect the wisdom of indigenous people! We're anti-capitalist, anti-corporate and anti-establishment! We're on the right side of history!

And meanwhile everything they do, and every single thing they say about the other groups that they claim to support, contradicts every damn word of the above. They're a bunch of reactionary authoritarians who can't even handle the knowledge that they're reactionary authoritarians (because they're conformist to the bone) so they project their hideous backwards racist worldviews onto anyone who dares to stand up to them.

(1) actual quote from the ACLU

The paragraph about the colour wheel has been repeated twice.

The writers do not seem to have engaged with the arguments of the other side, at any point. It reads as if they think we believe in pink souls and blue souls, but the sticking point is whether there can be green [non-binary] souls.

For my part, I believe that there are 7 billion different shades of "gender" and I call them personalities.

Also, this quote Women's refuges are not underfunded because of transgender womenexisting. That's... not what anyone said. We said that some women would feel unable to use mixed-sex facilities.

There are many who are - well, if not gender critical, then at least sick of much of the gender ideology.

There are also a lot of TRA supporters, it's true.

"A very diverse group of people, a growing group, is getting very pissed off with this carry on" is what came to my mind when I was looking at the comments below a Times article* earlier today. Today's one of those days when I think that surely this house built without foundations will topple.

• www.thetimes.co.uk/article/607c8f5e-acaa-11eb-bda6-057976012425?shareToken=5f5bb7422ea99878560aef8df85625fe

Yes I'm also in children's books. I follow and like GC accounts on Twitter, but I also follow and like some she/hers and allies and some trans people - not as a cover, genuinely people I know, find funny or am interested in. I could be at risk of losing my livelihood, but I'm heartened by the Hachette stand and I get the feeling some of my contacts realise I'm GC and let it go.

I do think we're getting nearer to a tipping point where we can all join the dots. In a way, in more heavily captured industries/fields, people get more pissed off with being bullied IYSWIM, and I'm confident worms will turn.

I'm told there are other gender critical people in the industry but apart from a few I know, I don't know who the rest are

Me too! I have spotted a few others who follow some of the same accounts as I do, but obviously saying anything openly is impossible. This is why the gaslighting DARVO in that travesty of a letter is so fucking infuriating. (I've also just name changed again so dots can't be joined)

nauticant absolutely spot on. Keeping it vague to keep everyone on their toes.

Newrubylane Good to know of another one. I know there are plenty of authors who are gender critical, but harder with actual publishing people.

Children's books is steeped in it. Which is very concerning!

'Bad things are happening'

'Have you got any examples?'

'No. You bigot'

They haven't given examples of trans people being discriminated against or treated badly.

Activism has recently adopted a form in which the problem is presented in such a way that it cannot be clearly understood meaning that no one can readily provide a solution. That's because the goal isn't to get to a solution but is instead to create a context/weapon to be used to threaten and beat opponents with, with them being powerless: they can't offer anything to stop the attack and they can't put forward a denial because that would be proof of their guilt.

Yes this time it's not got much support from anyone really. Not many big names within the industry.

It is depressing working in the industry and seeing how much support this stuff gets all the time. It seems captured

it is depressing.

the article doesn't seem to have gained much traction among writers though...