David Sedaris signing WHORE in MN poster's book

[TeachesOfPeaches]

He talks about this incident in the new Adam Buxton podcast episode 79.

Provides a bit more context as to why he does this and the other outrageous things he has written/drawn at book signings.

I now think the OP was being unreasonable as this seems to be part and parcel of being a fan of his.

salem I'm sorry that you find my argument silly.

And yes, sorry to break the news, but it is extremely easy to get on the NYT sellers list. I repeat, they go by STOCK (ie pallets of books ordered by the bookstore), and NOT by the actual sales of the books. Said books ordered by the store can be sitting on the shelf for months, and later discounted, but the pre-ordering is counted as a sale, even if the book hasn't sold yet. This is very commonly known in literary circles. NYT Best Seller's list is an absolute joke. Oh, and btw, Brandi Glanville (you may have to look her up), was a NYT Best 'seller' too. Like I said, if you understand how the industry works, you know it is a worthless title that is meaningless pap.

ThisIsTheFirstStep you don't find it silly that you go to extremes? That you are being hysterical by claiming that if a person isn't rude, they are automatically 100% nice all the time? Do you usually live in a prism of such extremes?

Are you serious? It's women who are called whores so a man can't 'reclaim' the word. You sound like a deluded groupie

Actually, the word ‘whore’ was also widely used to denigrate and abuse gay men in the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic because of the stigmatising association between the illness, gay men and prostitution. You may be ignorant of that context but I can assure you David Sedaris isn’t, and since he’s a gay man he has every right to take homophobic slurs and use them as tools of empowerment if he chooses to do so.

If it is extremely easy, why don't you get on the best seller list then? It is irrelevant, he is a very very popular author, so it's hardly the point of the conversation, is it?

I'm being hysterical? But that's not misogynistic?

I have BPD, so yes I do tend to live in a world of extremes, I hope that's not too overly wild and unsanitised for you. We're not all the same as you.

David Sedaris talking about his sister's suicide moved me to tears, he is a man who wears his flaws on his sleeve.

I like his work, he's talented, but after readiing the OP's thread, I thought he's hiding in plain sight. And I'm fucking sick of misogynists hiding in plain sight and sqealing that women are spoilsports and precious and too stupid to see the inherent wit and searing irony when men put them down again.

mina do you really think that one comment makes him a misogynist? We all make mistakes, don't we? I'm sure I have too. People fuck up all the time, and as long as they are basically good people, I am willing to forgive them.

What does the NYT best seller list have to do with anything? He earns 2 million dollars a year. I don’t think it’s really in dispute that he’s wildly popular and successful?

salem Beyond that, why is it that I'm the one who is silly and extreme, but you think it's fine to label someone a misogynist because of one comment they made?

One could say that is rather extreme too.

aunt Because salem knows the industry and she's desperate for us all to know that, clearly.

Whore can only be used as a term of endearment between consenting people in on the joke. It's ridiculous to think that Sedaris can reclaim the word and call a complete stranger 'whore'.

I've heard him on the radio and have a few of his books. I think he can be very funny, but haven't seen any evidence that he's even approaching having feminist views.

AuntBeastie you seem to be doing backflips to make excuses for him. I can assure you that whore is more commonly known as a misogynistic attack on women, pre-AIDS epidemic and post-AIDS epidemic, it still is a misogynistic and abusive slur against women and further, I can assure you that David Sedaris knows this. So your excuses appear to be the type of a fan girl or groupie desperate to come up with any reason to excuse someone that you cannot possibly see as being less than infallible. One wonders if you and the other fanbots on here would be so quick to defend him if he called people the N word, or any other racial slur. I would like to think you wouldn't be so quick to defend him, but after reading through some of the sickenly sycophantic posts on here about him, I don't have that faith anymore....

zutt does everyone need to be a feminist to be a valid person now?

He writes believable, relatable female characters. That's more than most people do.

and since he’s a gay man he has every right to take homophobic slurs and use them as tools of empowerment if he chooses to do so

What shite. Being a gay man does not entitle you to call a woman a whore.

Jesus salem you really do go all out with the insults when you disagree with someone, don't you?

Fanbot, silly, extreme, sickenly (sic) sycophantic, fan girl, groupie.

Any way you can have a reasonable debate without stooping to insulting people? It's rather hard to talk to someone when they clearly look down on you so much.

but you think it's fine to label someone a misogynist because of one comment they made?

One comment? This wasn’t exactly an unprecedented one-off in his approach to book signings, was it?

He’s a brilliant, brilliant writer, but I don’t think being a good observer of humanity excuses you from being a poor example of it yourself on occasion. Nor does being able to say “I am a poor example of humanity myself in many ways, look how I express it in well-crafted prose” mean all your actions should get excused as just part of your genius and anyone who’s offended just doesn’t get the deep and profound truths you’re trying to communicate.

AuntBeastie, it is because @ThisIsTheFirstStep is desperate for us to believe that anyone who makes that list is an infallible god, hence why ThisIsTheFirstStep brought it up, in the first place. Not counting of course, that something less starry-eyed than her could perhaps have read a thing or 2 about how publishing works. Hey, according to @ThisIsTheFirstStep he made a list!! That excuses everything he says and does! fmd

Btw, I am not disputing that he is successful, my point was simply to pull up one of the starry-eyed fanbot's view that making a list, which means absolutely nothing, means he gets a free pass to abuse women.

zutt does everyone need to be a feminist to be a valid person now?

Where did I say that?

I'm just commenting that he didn't call a woman whore as a way to support women.

I don't get why people think he's funny. I tried reading one of his books and it was a pile of shite.

I agree. He is not funny, nor even a particularly good writer.

53rd I don't know, because I haven't read anything about his other book signings, I thought we were talking about this one incident.

I really doubt he thinks it was genuis or deep or profound to call someone a whore, he presumably just thought it was funny or whatever. It wasn't. So let's all have a massive go and say he's the worst type of man there is.

Threads about threads should reference them: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3328764-Never-Meet-Your-Heroes-AIBU-or-was-this-rude-Title-edited-by-MNHQ?messages=100&pg=1

Plenty of gay men are misogynistic - I’ve met a lot. Does being gay mean you can’t hate women?

The comments here just prove my point. It’s like saying “well black people have reclaimed the n-word, so what’s the big deal if he uses it?”

We are so conditioned to experiencing misogyny that even when a man writes WHORE in block capitals across a woman’s book, some people still deny it. Amazing.

@ThisIsTheFirstStep When I am dealing with someone who appears to be unreasonable and deals only in extremes, it is hard to have a conversation or skirt around the truth. You only deal in extremes, by your own admission, so maybe I was just adopting your approach.